Most of you guys know what I do. For those that don't, I'm a field service tech. I repair the NYS vehicle inspection equipment. I travel to different repair shops all day in and around Queens, NY. Im the only tech for the area. The company I work for is the data manager and program manager for the state. Ive been doing this for the past 20 years for the three companies that have held the contract
I was a Tinsmith at Buick Motor Division in Flint MI. for 35 Years. I retired in Oct. 2003. I'm also a totally disabled veteran. Jim (Ponch)
Right now I'm the "service controller" at a Chevrolet and Cadillac dealership, which basically means I'm the guy that takes the work orders from the 6 service writers and gives the jobs out to the 26 technicians and makes sure everything gets done when it's promised. Basically I take the service writer's lies and turn them into truths. Between 100-140 work orders (cars and trucks) a day. We were farmers growing up, so I did that until my first real job at 15 converting semi trucks into grain trucks, and also helping build box trucks for ITB (look at some of the box trucks in your area and chances are they were made by ITB in Conrad, MT). Started at the local Honda/Polaris/Yamaha dealer about the same time, and kept that job till I went and got a degree in auto body and metal fabrication. Graduated and went back to the same dealership. Became a fireman, then Harley-Davidson in Great Falls hired me as service manager. Couldn't stand the costume party-dentists/lawyers pretending to be hard asses Harley owners, so went and wrenched for Ford and then Chrysler and Jeep. Moved to Alaska and did concrete very briefly. Then came back and went to be a shop foreman and then service manager at a really big Polaris/Victory/Nautique/Bennington dealer. Got tired of dealing with the public, so moved to a smaller town and smaller Polaris/KTM dealership. Really got tired of the public so now I have a job where I only deal with managers, service writers, and mostly technicians. No customers or phone calls anymore for this guy!
In high School I worked as a dishwasher/Baker assistant in the local bakery. As soon as I turned 18 worked at the BMW dealership as a parts driver them became a counter parts guy once my attire wasn't good enough for the manager I split.....graduate in 95 left BMW in 2000 started truckin from 2000-2015 same company now I'm still truckin doing flat bed work so cal local runs. I added some old photos of the trucks that we're assigned to me.
Did that for about 5 years at a 10 bay shop. It was like kindergarten sometimes. It was a flat rate shop so the complains of favoritism and "your feeding him work" never ended. I kept the "crying towel" under the counter. Plus all the personality conflicts got old real fast. It was a real high stress job all around. I was glad to get out when I did. The guy that took over for me had a heart attack.
Been on the farm since I was 9. First paying job my brother and I had, we went to the neighbor ladies place and cleaned out her chicken coops once a week. She sold eggs. After high school went to junior college, then got a job working graveyard stocking shelves while going to school. Started farming a 40 acre piece of ground, then another 40, and so on until I was farming 240 acres. My dad and I helped each other on all the farmwork. Started working winters at the sugar factory when I got tired of dicking off in the winter. Bought my first truck in 82 and expanded on that over the years along with the farm. Stopped working at the factory in 88 and been self employed since then. Still have 4 local trucks that we unload feed off railcars and deliver to dairies in the area. Have 6 long haul trucks that haul commodities all over the western USA. Currently own and farming around 1400 irrigated acres of sugarbeets, wheat, malt barley, alfalfa, and rent some out each year to a potato farmer. Started with nothing but the work ethic instilled in me by my parents. Not bad for an uneducated redneck that likes Buicks.
When I was a tech for a Local Honda car dealer, we loved our service dispatcher.. We were on second shift, 4 nights a week... and when we worked thru the appointments for that evening, we would cherry pick the gravy jobs that had come in for the next day... Best job I ever had, 50-60 hours of book time clocked every week, while I was never in the building more than 30 hours in any week.. 3 day weekend, every weekend, 4 days on Labor day and Memorial day.. and any other time a holiday fell on a monday... Fairly stress free environment, union shop, and mostly maintenance work... in that time, folks would come in and complain their "check engine" light was on.. we would roll on the floor laughing in the dispatch office.. Sure it is lady.... In 7 years, I think I fixed one legitimate engine control problem.. Made money on everything, including warrantee work and recalls.. I was also the guy who did Honda Automatic transmissions at night.. I did about 2 a year, and those were 91 Accords that the Converter clutch lining disintegrated and got spread thru-out the unit. Nice challenge to break the boredom up. For those of you who don' know, a Honda Auto trans in that time, was not a planetary unit.. it was a manual trans with clutches and a valve body.. so I would cover 2 4x9 tables with the parts.. gears, bearings, clutches, ect ect.. Was a great job for a drag racer.. was racing a lot back then, nearly every weekend somewhere in the upper midwest.. No friday at work, so that day was for prep and/or travel.. and I did not have to be back at work until 3pm on Monday.. But in 2001 the handwriting was on the wall.. Old man Honda died in the late 90's, and the kids and bean counters got control over the company.. they cheapened the product, and killed the maintenance schedule.. and it was time to move on.. to what I have done ever since... which is rewarding, but a lot more work. Speaking of which, it's time for us self-employed folks to get to work, Saturday or not.. JW
I operate this for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.Been plowing snow for the last 24 1/2 years and 20 of them on I-80 in central Pa. Before that, I operated and worked behind a drill rig drilling blast holes in stone quarries.Been driving trucks, etc... for 39 years now. Only a couple years to go till retirement.
Yep, I deal with 45 stalls full of 18-60 year old children all day haha....the longest anyone before me has made it in my job was 8 months. I'll be at 5 years in March. You have to have the stones to tell people "no" a lot and mean it, and to be able to tell people to do things they don't want to do. I always tell my guys: "There's 2 ways to go about this. You can do what I ask you to do or you can do what I tell you to do. They're both the same result, but in one scenario only you're going to be pissed, and in the other we both will be. Do you want me pissed at you?" They usually do what I ask them.
Been in various areas of construction for over 43 years. Started out as a kid working with my dad who was also a builder. Worked for several contractors through the years. Been involved in everything from a laborer to project manager. I've built residential and commercial buildings from the ground up. As well as remodel a bunch of the same stuff. Worked for 2 years running crews building 13 bridges and other drainage control on a 45 mile rail spur from a coal mine to a power plant. Spent the last 19 years doing property management and maintenance for a company that has a bunch of rental properties. I do a little of everything for them including plumbing and electrical repairs, total gut out and rebuild on newly acquired homes. Concrete work, roofing, yard cleaning, repair damage from renters, drywall and painting, carpentry, hvac repairs and smaller installs. Pretty much whatever it takes to keep things functioning on the properties. My passion in construction is taking homes that are beat down and making them into a nice custom home, or custom remodels for customers that want something really nice. The other stuff pays the bills and allow me to play with my '64 Skylark some.
Gonna move to Stockton California,won't have to work, where they are starting a test program for a "basic income" for all. Every adult gets $500.put into a bank account no questions asked to do what ever you want with. Supposedly everyone will feel better about themselves and not have to work as hard. If this works,it will be increased to $1000 per month per adult with the hope of it expanding cross the country, income redistribution. Guess whos behind all this?
I work for a convenience store chain here in the midwest. Started out back in the full service days pumping gas, checking oil, etc. I always loved cars so that was a great way to get to look under a lot of hoods. Many changes in this business over the years. This summer will be 44 years with the Company but I’ll be retiring when I turn 62 in a couple of years.
Currently I sell auto parts. I am assistant manager at our local O'reilly auto parts. going on 3 years. I've done a lot of different jobs prior, Dept manager at Walmart automotive. repaired copiers, worked at a body shop, installed and sold car audio. Military, even busted tires at monkey wards in the early 8os. Tim
I'm in the Industrial/Commercial Hvac-R field. I've been in the service side of this trade since 1991. prior to that from 1986 on I was in the sheet metal side of the industry as a fabricator of stainless steel ductwork and exhaust systems for hospital surgical rooms. I have zero plans on retiring until I'm forced to.
Since 1973 i have been and always will be a scientific glass blower. Making things for the oil industry, universitys, and laboratories, etc. Semi retired now. Trying do do more car stuff that I couldn’t do before.
Graduated from college a mechanical engineer became a union sheet metal worker in the 80's. Opened my own shop in 97 mainly doing dust collection industrial sheet metal anything welded. When the Canadian dollar was strong I built dust collectors for a Canadian company for a few years. Now more like a millwright most of my work for what was a local beverage company which was sold to a world wide beverage company travel around and set new and rework bottling lines.
At 18...Auto mechanic 1st ....3 months at a VW dealer...low pay then 8 years at an indipendat shop... then managed a shop for 3 years.....then trans shop 2 years. Then ground service at American airlines 10 years,actually best job I ever had...kind of job ya love going to....while at same time buying fixing and flipping cars. Then quit airlines to open up a restaurant that lasted 15 years till I sold it...good money but blood money...now I own a small vape shop last 5 years 1 man show..easy biz so sort of semi retired now
Engineer.... optical coatings for high end products mostly used in avionics, medical, and military applications. Our main product is displays. We can add anti-reflection coatings to reduce reflection and increase visibility, add heaters for de-fogging or extend operation range in lower temps, or apply conductive coatings for electromagnetic (emi) shielding. We also add coatings to lenses and components of optical systems. I spend a lot of my time on the production floor, keeping the vacuum coating chambers running and tweaking designs to meet spec. I do the majority of the troubleshooting and serious maintenance for the department. I'm a hands-on engineer, prefer working on equipment and sometimes fabricating in the shop, as opposed to sitting at a desk all day. The vacuum coating chambers use some very hi-tech stuff. We use electron beams to melt a material which vaporizes and forms a layer of coating on the optics. An Ion gun bombards the surface during coating to compact the layers for higher durability. (Ion guns were originally developed by the USSR as space engines!). A coating design can vary from a 4 layer design for anti-reflection (think eye glasses), to a 78 layer coating used at specific laser wavelengths. All this in performed in a vacuum chamber to eliminate the contaminants in air. The technology is very heavy on the physics, and often a challenge. Been in the field since 1992. Before that, I spent a few years in plastics manufacturing (injection and blow molding). Worked as a HVAC tech for a year in between Eng jobs, and spent a year in high school learning auto body. I did briefly work in a body shop repairing and painting golf carts and tractors, before leaving for college. Hoping to retire a few years early just to have more time for things I want to do, whether that be hiking or riding my bike, working on my cars, or helping family members with their homes. I usually enjoy my job, it just takes so much time.
Dissected lawn mower engines as a kid, rebuilt my first engine by myself at 14 (dodge slant 6), painted my first car when i was 15 (looked like crap). Went to college and became a draftsman designing stainless steel do-dads in a big factory. Got bored, went back to college and became a research scientist studying wildlife for the past 25 years (bats, birds, bears, snakes, etc.). Messing with old cars is my stress-reduction therapy because they don't bite me or file lawsuits.
