“I’ve been doing this for 30 years!”

Worst fucking argument for justification of your logic EVER.

I can’t stand older men in my industry who are thinking like it’s the 1980’s in terms of repair process. Things fucking change. Vehicles change. Repair process changes. Administration of the process changes. And it’s just inconceivable that someone might know more than them.

just spent an hour of my time explaining to an estimator why I needed to remove a door for the painter to paint INSIDE THE JAMB

FUCKING MOTHER FUCK

ok I’m better

 

One sentence response:

“You’d think you’d be better at it, then.”

 

Easy there Junior...with the coming of age you too will realize that all men are created equal...all assholes.

 

l.mao... cracks me up everytime.
Then show those "vets" the mfgs instructions or recos

 

Well what I said was “30 years doesn’t mean shit if you’ve been doing it wrong the whole time”

 

That works too.

 

I am one of those "been doing for 30 years" (shit i'm that old?!?) and realize a lot of shit has changed with cars and repair processes...A LOT. Anyway sorry you interacted with a dick today, continue with a good day!

 

Well my issue is that I get paid based on the labor points on the estimate. The operation has to get done regardless, and him arbitrarily deciding he doesn’t want to add it to the estimate means I don’t get paid for doing it. And he works for OUR company not the insurance company.

 

Man...when I started planning the new house build it became evident real quick that things have changed a lot since I entered the tech industry 20+ years ago and left construction. Shit changes and you don't really know how much when you are involved in it everyday but when you step away and come back 20 years later it is a huge learning curve again.

 

All slow bikes handle good.

 

compared to what, even older bikes?



My issue is not his age. I know plenty of older men in my industry that are “with it” in terms of modern repair standards. it’s these crotchety douches who stayed in the same position for 30 years and never moved up because they obviously have no potential for growth or expansion professionally or mentally.

 

And therein lies the problem. Most people have such a pride issue that they won't let it go even if they realize they have been doing it wrong for 30 years. Humility and the desire to better onesself even if it means changing your ways is pretty rare these days. I have often found in the construction industry that the longer someone has been doing something the worse they get because they slack off or just don't care any more.

 

There's the problem.

My older brother is an autobody master. Between moves, he picked up a job as an insurance adjuster (same thing as an estimator, afaic). The shady shit he had to do to satisfy his employer was too much for his work ethic and he couldn't cut that tie soon enough. I learned more than I cared to know about insurance companies from his stories.

Maybe your estimator is low-balling the price so it can be unscrupulously adjusted after the work starts?

 

My manager will fire anyone who double tickets. He’s just confused as to what his job and my job fundamentally are. He thinks (and I asked him this exact question) my job is to fix cars and his is to write the estimate. But that isn’t the case. My job is to use my experience to extract as much money in labor and parts as is administratively justifiable. And his job is to justify it to the insurance company so upon scrutiny there are no issues and payment can be administered to the claim. If my job was to just fix cars I’d be on a salary. And so would he. But we are not.

 

When you have 30 years experience Ill be interested to hear you.

 

i have 30 years experience I’m 40 now and started wet sanding cars at 10.

my dad AND my grandfather were also in the industry. so you can say I have 3 generations of experience

 

I rest my case.

 

And this is why I work on my own vehicles...and almost got eaten

 

Man I am ALWAYS watching how other people work, and REGULARLY I see someone doing something different than me and I’m like “huh, that seems way more effiecient” and I switch my methods on the spot. It goes both ways. You have to be open minded about the fact that you might not know everything and every moment is a chance to grow. I carry things from almost every other tech I’ve come across in my career. I can always extract one little thing from their way of work that might make my job better/easier/ more efficient. And I dump the habits that keep my from growing.

 

Ugh. I've been there.

Effing CAFE standard-DOD/AFM Lifters.