Sorry that may have been harsh. I didn’t mean to be, just wanted to give him some advice for the future and kind of what I was told starting out. FOG, I apologize my friend!

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Only diesels in this driveway.
2005 E320 CDI 243k Black/Black
2008 Chevy 3500HD Duramax 340k
2004 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 220k

Sometimes us young guys take a few firings and harsh words to learn. I had to learn my place when I started working at a shop.

Definitely a different atmosphere than a lot of other jobs us young adults are able to get. I now work in an office alone, it's much nicer.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission (my only daily driver)

Instagram: @maximed93

When it comes down to it, our guy was going to learn near nothing / not make much progress in that toxic environment. About the only benefit might have been a a few lines on a resume though this could be seen as a detriment in the eyes of some independent shops ( RE: learned bad habits from a chain store. )

I'd still be pushing our guy towards industrial machinery repair at a factory if there is any manufacturing in his area ( not fixing copy machines / printers ) or building trades such as electrical / HVAC / mechanical contracting. Remember, the end goal is to be in a less physical environment as you are nearing retirement so keep an eye towards management level of whatever trade you select.

Industrial repair is good, fleet maintenance is also a good field. The draw back to fleet maintenance and industrial is you tend to operate within a narrow field of expertise. Not necessarily a bad thing but it can be limiting.

I started out as a pin setter mechanic for a bowling alley and by various missteps along the way ended up managing support for a fleet service for 300+ vehicles serving three states.

You didn't make a perfect pizza the first few times you made one and I imagine you went through a few employers before you found one which fit you.

Learn something every day and in time, people will start asking YOU for solutions.

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“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

No it's ok Jake, I wouldn't have lasted long therr anyways. I took 97SL320's advice and wore ear muffs when using the an impact or other noisy equipment (the cheetah!) and the manager told me I'M NOT allowed to wear them because they obstruct my hearing. I don't wear them constantly.

Little does she know, ear plugs are more effective than ear muffs. This ticked me off, without any hostility in my voice or posture I asked why? She said it's company policy, then she got irritated I even asked her a question in the first place.

I'm not a smoker, everyone there smoked in the shop including the manager, imagine the new guy asking them to smoke outside because I smoke is uncomfortable for me.

When I asked questions about a ticket the manger would often tell me to go away or leave her the hell alone for the time being because she was busy.

When oil filter type, specs, and capacity where missing and if I where to ask her to provide the specs she'd get pretty mad.

Stupid stuff like that is what irritated me.

Now what lead to the demise? I asked to have an actual face to face discussion, I told her if she can't talk to me without swearing at me with every other word then I don't want to hear what she has to say. Then she let me go.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

A little add on was the blatant favoritism and the massive cover up.

Their "master tech" if irritated will get angry, start swearing at other co-workers and then leave for an 1 hour and a half to get DRUNK and comeback to work.

He's the shop drunkard, didn't know they existed.
Yes I had a mess up, too, I forgot to tighten the valve stem body after replacing a tmps kit, customer had a slow leak and it had to get towed back, ouch on me.

However, we had a WHEEL OFF on a truck, we know who worked on that truck, YET there's no somehow no record of that truck being here... She hated me, was no changing that.

It was and is a cesspool.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

I would like to do fleet maintenance, but for some reason they want them ASE's. Looks like I have to put in the grind for them.
Yes, the last place I worked at the employers and employees cherished me, and I cherished them. I was titled "Thin crust master or Thin crust God" because I was able to make a thin crust pizza with flat and even dough all the way around, and the pizzas came out looking wonderful, eventually coworkers noticed and only came to ME for thin crust pizza.

Hopefully I get to the point when people as me for solutions. I can see myself in that position. I appreciate your response!

I hate to vear off again but I need to write this before I forget it.

A car came in for an oil change, my ticket, after inspecting the car everything looked GOOD except for two blown tie rods.

As I move around to the back of the vehicle I begin wiggling parking brake hardware for play, I just so happen to pull back on the rear caliper and it moved. I was like "naw it's just floating calipers, WAIT did it just move backwards on it's vertical axis?!"

Pulled it further back and somehow the top caliper bolt was sheared in two! Some num nut overnighted it with an impact, head of bolt was a little rounded too.

Immediately I informed the manager. She and the customer arrived at the car to look at it. I explained to her and the customer that this particular caliper isn't bad but in it's current state does not have the stopping power it originally had. I advised that all she needed was a new caliper bolt and for the old one to be extracted.

That particular wheel free spinned with tires on it, no drag at all.

But here's what ticked me off.

I was sitting in the desk waiting for orders essentially, I heard her bring up the caliper. She said the caliper was DRAGGING! HOW IS IT DRAGGING, I screamed in my head, then at that moment I realized we have one or two possibilities here.

She was wholly ignorant of the situation and was simply regurgitating the same corporate dribble about bad dragging calipers.

Or she was LYING!

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

Welcome to the real world kid .

It sucks and until you learn how to deal with it,. you're going to be very unhappy .

BT, DT, paid my dues 50 years ago and am still doing honest mechanical repairs .

Don't give up .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Noble profession. Work at a reputable shop with other good employees. If you feel like running a business, open your own shop after you have experience.

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-- Chris

'95 E300, 216k miles, Silver Surfer
'05 E320 CDI, 138k miles
'07 S550 4matic, 69k miles

Gone but not forgotten:

'76 300D, 350k miles?, SOLD in 1995
'75 240D, 300k miles, SOLD in 1991

I'll address the rest of your posts but I had to address this one now.

The manager knows absolutely nothing about an automotive / industrial environment, hearing protection is critical and any company policy against it is illegal. Once hearing is damaged, _ IT WON'T RECOVER, EVER_ .

Not only is noise damaging to hearing, it is immensely fatiguing as it triggers the " Fight or Flight " response leaving a person constantly on edge whether they realize it or not. Even worse is when someone has a radio blasting in the corner and then has to go to the bar to drink themselves silly to " recover " .

Ear muffs shave off sound peaks not totally block sound so it is possible to have a normal conversation with someone as long as the muff wearer knows not to speak louder so they can hear themselves at normal levels.

I've used high rated ( 26 NRR ) muffs since 97 and they work great when grinding, sawing, running the mower / tractor. Muffs are also helpful in diagnosing mechanical noises as they shave off the roar leaving more mechanical sounds.

One small point in your post, I've found good muffs muffs to be better than plugs because they cover the side of your head and can be put on / off rapidly.

https://www.howardleight.com/

https://www.howardleight.com/hearing-protection/articles

Pretty mentally toxic atmosphere to work in. Probably many places are today. I only experienced one. When I was still in school .

I worked 40 hours on the backshift loading and unloading trucks. Primarily because it was unionized and I needed the money.

I was totally amazed what the employees put up with. I eventually concluded they either did not know better. Or for their abilities it was a high paying job for the times. I was able to show many of them easier ways to do their job and the foreman kept clear of me. Just by example.

The fore man was an old driver type being very abrasive and unreasonable. To the vast majority. I still feel sorry for all those guys I left behind. The only relief was I suppose they did not know any better. Most had been there for years and the turnover was very small.

Deregulation eventually occurred. So I wonder today if that job is still unionized. If not it only would only pay about the same today as it did more than fifty years ago. With Canadian trucking regulations that industry made real money at that time.

Perhaps it was a watershed for me. It made me far more cognizant of others situations. You will find far better employers.

A mentor is sometimes available but probably pretty scarce today. To help guide a person along a path. We really do not have a effective official mentoring system of this nature in place to the extent of some countries.

Our fathers can sometimes help but in far too many cases cannot. When you add in the amount of single parent families in society today. Further reduces what can be instilled in children by parents.

It pretty has to be a one on one in person situation. As the mentor does an assessment of what a person can absorb and more accurately determine many other things. That have a substantial bearing on the situation. Advice otherwise is usually limited in it's effectiveness. It may or may not apply to a given individual. It is still usually better than nothing though.

Anything that makes a person reflect on things seems to me worthwhile.

There are also some hazards when changing tires on rims. Plus working around cars. Safety cages when inflating tires should be mandatory. There are at least ten shops that change tires on rims in town. Not one local machine has them.

I was just wondering if a rock solid commitment might be gotten by the forces to work and learn in a military service pool. They provide all the tools and educational classes. Or would you just get a promise and land up in a jungle somewhere with a weapon?

Much of their more modern military equipment will have most of the current electronics on board today. Heavy trucks for example would be good to bite your teeth on. I suspect without knowing that a heavier equipment type mechanic is generally better compensated than a car mechanic.

I have also worked in a toxic atmosphere. It isnt fun by any means but if it is how you get by, so be it. I spent 5-6 years at a terrible company because it was the only job i could get and it developed my resume. Now i have a job a lot of people would kill for, but it wasnt without a lot of sacrifice along the way. It sucks but maybe you need to bear with it for a bit. You dont get there on day, week, month, or year 1.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

So after getting fired I got work at a temp agency doing construction.

I might see if I can work their full time, and the foreman is a good guy.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

what did you get fired for :O ?

The way I read it, he told the manager to treat him with respect, and he used hearing protection which was "against company policy" to save his hearing. Probably did a lot of other things right too.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC