Did it for a while in the 90s.

Actually enjoyed it.

Just that pay wasn't worth a shit.

Wait, what?
You moved from working on machines to caring for people because you don't like people?
UmK

I work in a "commercial" service department or at least thats how they marketed it to me and the technicians I have on staff. Most of my customers are municipalities or government who have their own technicians or shops and actually really know whats going on with their vehicles they either come to us because they are beyond the scope of their ability theyre to busy or theyre warranty concerns. I only have 4 technicians 3 are senior masters 2 are senior master diesel as well as gas and my 3rd younger guy built real deal racecars before he came here. Most of the time we would like to spend building transmissions for police cars to protect our streets and searching for electrical problems on an ambulance to save possibly your grandmother. Unfortunately we are located on the lot of a main dealership so often we have to stop that to look at joes warranty concern that we will not get paid for because we are not paid hourly which will in turn make my contacts at the cities and construction companies unhappy because they got back burnered for some HerBerts warranty concern.

The reason this is done is because of a thing Called csi which goes off of only surveys that some asshole who isnt happy with ford can fill out and make my pay go down because of it. Dealerships want csi because the dealer principles have implemented these programs to track their "CSI" dealer principles want good csi to allow you to own one of their esteemed dealerships. So generally speaking these are all issues created by the pay plan and the dealer principles instead of working and getting paid my guys are stopping work to find concerns they will not get paid for. If technicians were paid hourly or some other type of way the might be happier due to the fact they wont have to stress out about making a paycheck to provide for their families.

Warranty does not pay period alot of flat rate jobs do not pay correctly and then in turn you hear a customer say well that doesnt sound right or thats to much...... okay then do it yourself if its so easy, or take it elsewhere the cost is the cost the amount of time it takes is how long it takes deal with it. In my experience and I have turned wrenches and wrote service in a non commercial setting customers are very difficult to deal with and non understanding more people are like this than easy going. I know the commercial world is different but here a customer is almost completely in the way "commercial" service depts. should not even deal with joe off the street if they want to be profitable in my honest opinion.

I'm glad that some of the shade tree guys can keep you busy. For myself, I'll just keep taking care of my own vehicles like I have been for the past 35 years.  I will also keep helping out friends and family that have issues.  I won't turn a wrench for all of them, but at least help them diagnose a problem or explain what might be the issue.  For example, my mother-in-law had a $1000 quote for replacing an evap cannister.  All the car needed was a new $5 fuel cap to correct the evap leak code.

Even more 'us versus them attitude.' I would be fired very quickly if I treated my principal or his guests like a lot of the attitudes here. Even when they're not being reasonable. A little professionalism goes a long ways.

This is an interesting point. Both IT people and mechanics don't seem to be able to talk about the work they do in layman's terms. Everything is always technical jargon. Since they are basically speaking Greek to everyone, they are constantly frustrated that nobody knows what they are talking about and assume everyone is dumb. No, lol, the problem is you don't know how to fucking communicate.

Ha

Very frequently I have to explain things to people who do not have the same technical background that I do. I'm always able to explain in a way that they can understand without talking down to them. That's one of the reasons they pay me and I'm happy to do it.

yeah, but you guys were the last ones to work on it, how many times have you heard that statement?

you must have done something to the transmission

Don't kid yourself.  Not some, most.

The flip-side is that I've found that big-truck mechanics are some of the nicest people in the world.

Tough, strong, even mean-looking at times, but generally great people.

This.

Because they have miserable fucking lives, because working on cars sucks ass.

I had a new Ford (warranty) many years ago that had a grinding noise when you braked hard.  Took the service manager riding so he could hear it.  I told him it sounded like the fan pulley getting in to something when you braked hard and engine moved forward.
He told the mechanic to tear down the front brakes.  Twice without finding anything.
Finally the mechanic came to me and asked me what was wrong.  I told him and 30 seconds later discovered the fan pulley had almost cut a hole in the transmission cooler lines.
Small town, everyone knew everyone by their first name.
Mechanic wasn't too happy with the service manager.

I had a John Deere tractor when I farmed.  I called the service manager (who actually was a mechanic) and told him my tractor had popped a valved and busted a piston.
He told me that did not happen, he had been servicing John Deere tractors for 15 years and never seen that happen.
I told him he should come with the recovery truck himself so he could see his first one.
Next day I went to check on my tractor, service manager saw me coming and ran and hid behind a combine.  Guess what?
No animosity, we were friends.

35 years in parts at dealerships

I wonder why the service managers hire folks with absolutely no experience with repairing vehicles to be service writers

it really is not difficult to ask the right questions to help the mechanics fix their vehicles, just takes a little practice, but then I guess facebook is more important

Come to think of it, I don't think I've thrown a single pry bar across the shop since I switched to fleet maintenance on trucks

Edit: not to say I'm still not an asshole, I'm just a nice asshole now

Same here. I work with PhDs in genetics and statistics and MDs. They understand their field. I understand enough of their fields to translate. :-) I'm a software developer turned bioinformatician.

I recently applied to a service writer position at a dealership, was told they did not want mechanics for that position, being concerned that an ex mechanic may give too much info to the customer and take work from the shop!
I'm a mechanic of 20yrs. I no longer want to do this. I prefer having heat and A/C in the proper time of year.

With regard to the us versus them mindset,
I may not be the Macy's Santa when dealing with customers,
however I have never told one to Stay in their lane.

I fire customers on the regular.  Being booked out about 2 weeks on average means you are not giving me the privilege of working on your car, I am giving you the privilege of having your car worked on by me.

My dealer service guys got used to my giving them clear descriptions of the problems and any thing i’d Tried doing to isolate the problem.
New people there after 15 years, and it sucks.

Calls people "Dicks " + I'm Mr Professional =

No, it's not him, it's us.

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I don't really understand why people go to a dealer for service after warranty.
There are very few instances where they can handle an issue better than an independent.
Maybe reflash a BCM or some other module that needs proprietary equipment or software.
They have much higher overhead so of course their rates will be higher.
As far as knowledge, I don't care how many Certs they have.
Most dealer service people I have met are parts changers. Not their fault entirely though.
Jobs don't pay enough in a lot of cases for them to troubleshoot effectively.
I know a mechanic at a GM dealer here that is a wizard on GM. Dude is amazing with GM.
But not so good with other stuff.
If people can't handle their own maint/ repairs they should take the time to find a good
independent shop that won't bullshit them.
Or, figure out how to do it themselves which is the best way with anything.
If they don't have the motivation, time or knowledge they are going to pay for someone who does.
Like when I had a roof put on my house. Fuuuuck doing that kinda work!

I never singled anyone out and I've never talked down to or been condescending to anyone while at work even when they might have needed it.

Sounds like you mechanics lump every customer into one category so why not lump all you miserable mech's in the same one as well?

That's really all I got out of this thread.

Somewhat the same flipping cars. You make it clear that there is no warranty, do everything you can to make sure it will be dependable.
Something breaks on it and Bam! you are a liar, you should have known that water pump with 95,000 miles was going to start leaking 4 months later!
What do you mean I needed to check the fluids in it? You said it was a good car!

Have an '03 Silverado 1500 on the lift right now, he had someone change the rearend (used parts).
Brought it to us because it won't go no mo and makes a nasty noise when you put it in gear.
They didn't make sure the gears matched so it ate the transfer case and busted the transmission.
Transmission and transfer case are back in and I will be putting a set of rear gears in it tomorrow night.
The truck has no rocker panels due to rust, not worth the bill to me but he wants it fixed.
Being cheap costs a lot more later on.

So what exactly did this service writer/mechanic say to you? I need more information to form an opinion on the matter.

So what exactly did this service writer/mechanic say to you? I need more information to form an opinion on the matter.

Nah, just the Sexual Intellectuals and the people that will never be satisfied with life.
Most car owners are good to deal with, at least here.
Hell, a few years ago we helped out a family on vacation from Canada.
They have been back in the area on vacation a couple of times.
Every time they are in town they bring us some nasty Canadian Beer!

What exactly did the mechanic/service writer say to you? I need more information on the encounter.

We all fall on the curve somewhere, questions is why the guys on one end are always making the other 87% miserable.

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Which is it, mechanics, service writers, or both?

And if you keep finding that is the problem, have you determined that the only constant is you?

I sell auto parts.

BTW, that shop that doesn't want to do the $2000 rebuild on the rear end? 1) it's cheaper to install a salvage third member, $400 tops, 2) that truck could still be parked at the back of the lot in 90 days because the owner spent the $2000 on another ride and just walked away. Dealing with people making illogical arguments about repairs means they will come up with illogical actions and stiff you for the bill.

We are now back to the customer always THINKS he's right, but not even. How could they unless they too were trained and experienced mechanics, in which case why isn't it in their own garage already fixed?

Nope, it's people who demand mechanics kiss their butt and do the work in half the time for half the price who are the problem. Do you treat your dentist like that? Of course not. But the guys at the corner shop get it from all sides. Customers TRAIN mechanics to hate the public.

BTW, its not all about mechanics, either. https://notalwaysright.com/

This is the primary reason I changed careers and became a machinist. I’m looking forward to aging into a surly old curmudgeon.

I would like to take the opportunity to tell you, in the most CoC manner, to shove it!  

Make sure you get a job at a small family owned shop where the owner pockets millions and then hands the place over to his dumb ass kids.  All while telling you the place barely makes a dime and he's doing you a favor by giving you a 1% bump.

This is why I refuse to work on people computers for them.  ANYTHING that happens to that computer no matter how long ago is my fault starting from the moment I touch their computer.

I'm in IT not a mechanic by trade.  Though I do my own car repairs.

yeah, because he owes you more then he's contracted to pay you right?

Liberals, Liberals everywhere.

Lol

IT people that can't learn to communicate to their target audience never make it out of the sysadmin shop patching servers until three in the morning.

If I hear a service writer say my guys or my techs one more time I swear.

It's less painful to change a starter in the dead of winter than deal with a shop to do it for me.

They might be dicks because maybe they deal with dumb fuck customers all day everyday that think they know more than the mechanic.

I dunno...maybe because they couldn't make it as a lawyer?

My team