Grease the Wheels Podcast

On this week’s episode of Grease the Wheels, we are covering a topic with a tagline that we all know and love, “that’s not my job!” Things like: topping off the washer solvent, checking tire pressures and windshield wipers, dealing with spent tires or the detritus strewn all over your bay- that stuff. When you’re flat rate, you’re right, it’s not your job! You’re not getting paid to do those things. You’re doing to get paid exactly what’s on the repair order. If we don’t get paid for it, we’re not going to put the effort forward especially when it is something time consuming like a “complimentary inspection.” We also add an essential question to your arsenal for job interviews: “how do you get non running cars into the shop?” Because if they have a stupid answer like, “well the technicians push them in”, run! Because when you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. Bottom line, when jobs are not getting done in the shop, take your service managers to task, because all of your time is accounted for on the repair orders and if they don’t want to do it, they will hire someone else to pick up the slack.

Also, Uncle Jimmy does math and talks about the geopolitics of snow tires.

Grease the Wheels is paid for by listeners like you through our friends at Patreon.com/greasethewheels. We love our listeners and love to give them extra content, swag, tee shirts, and all of the good stuff that makes you a part of the Grease the Wheels Nation. So stop in and check out what we have to offer as far as extras, and if you love the show send us a few bucks. It’s exactly like buying us a beer!

On this week’s episode of Grease the Wheels we are going over a subject that we find very touchy: losing tools. Where do they go, why they go there, and what happens to them when they get there? First off, nothing ruins Uncle Jimmy’s day more than losing a tool, but we’ll get into that a bit later. Some of us can’t function when we lose tools. For the most part, we can afford to buy a new tool when we lose one, but we really don’t want to! We don’t know if you feel the same way about your tools, but for the most part we use them for so many different jobs that earn us money, and they are valuable because of the magic that we can do with these tools. We can do pretty much everything we want to do to a car with our tools. This is compounded when its an important tool for the job that were doing, and it can absolutely derail our day. Sometimes the reason you lose a tool can make the situation worse. Sometimes its the timing of losing a tool that aggravates you: losing a tool at 4:30 on a friday because of a waiter is a special brand of hell. Some of us lose lots of tools, but somehow it is never equitable because when you lose an expensive tool, you will never find another expensive tool right away to balance out the books. If you lose a tool and it ruins your day, all we can say is that you’re not alone. All we can say is, have solidarity and help people out when people need to find their tools

Also, Uncle Jimmy goes on a much more explicit version of Homer’s Odyssey for his 11mm wrench, and finds it about a quarter mile from the shop after 3 days being missing in action.

Grease the Wheels is paid for by viewers like you through our friends at Patreon.com/greasethewheels. We love our listeners and love to give them extra content, swag, tee shirts, and all of the good stuff that makes you a part of the Grease the Wheels Nation. So stop in and check out what we have to offer as far as extras, and if you love the show send us a few bucks. It’s exactly like buying us a beer!

On this week’s episode of Grease the Wheels, we’re talking about leaving your job for good. This one is near and dear to our hearts and probably yours too (hopefully not, but probably).

We’ve experienced every which way to leave a job, with the exception of faking your own death.

Leaving a job and knowing where you’re going next is fairly important. However, because of the technician shortage, this frees you up in contrast to other industries where there are more bodies than open positions. Were not saying that you should pull some sort of outrageous stunt to get fired, because a lot of the time the things that you do at a shop will end up following you around and possibly even black list you in certain circles.

The generally accepted way to leave a job is by giving your employer a 2 weeks notice and if you’re wondering if you’re valuable employee this is a quick way to figure it out. They may offer you more money to stay or they may offer you whatever you want to keep you there. This can backfire greatly if you think you’re a better employee than you actually are. Managers often take it personally when you say that you’re going to leave, so you have to be wary of this. The most important thing is to let them know the real reasons why you’re quitting. Tell them the truth, and you might want to be ready to leave at that moment, because the truth hurts. Also, after you leave for the next 6-8 months, all of the problems that they have, no matter what they are, are going to be your fault. Even if it has nothing to do with the employee that left the job. This is going to happen no matter how you leave, it’s just too convenient.

Also, Uncle Jimmy outlines the perfect way to rage quit a job and reminds us: if you’re going to burnout of your former job with your toolbox in the back of your truck, make sure it’s properly fastened down.

This episode of Grease the Wheels is sponsored by toolheadzcrate.com. Toolheadzcrate.com is a monthly subscription box filled with all sorts of discount codes, coupons, tee shirts, and things that give you a little taste of some of your favorite tool companies. They ship out the 15th of every month, and at 35.99 plus exact shipping, it’s a lot less than what you owe your tool guy. Plus one lucky winner every month gets their golden wrench box with well over $100 worth of stuff in it. Cheap Box, better stuff- Toolheadz Crate: the only crate made for the listeners of GTW!

Also, we have set up our own Patreon campaign to help pay for our storage and some of our upcoming projects. Check out https://www.patreon.com/GreaseTheWheels for exclusive access to new projects, swag, outtakes, and an inside look at the making of GTW! We have long held that we have the best listenership on the entire internet, thank you so much for your contribution.

On this week’s episode of Grease the wheels, we are talking about people thinking that they can do our job. It’s basic human nature to think that you can do something because you have seen someone else do it. However, “monkey see, monkey do” technicians often cause catastrophic failures. Because these technicians are paid next to nothing, they don’t get fired despite finding out pretty much right away that it’s a lot harder than it looks. This doesn’t just account for other technicians, we’re really talking about anyone who says those famous last words, “oh I can do that!” We’ve all seen people who think that they can do things themselves and have completely destroyed their car, and then they have to bring their car to you. However hands down the worst, “oh I can do that” comes from management that has never been a technician, and often leads to some explosive interactions. Bottom line, if someone tells you that they can do your job, point them to your toolbox and let them have at it. Because they will be proven wrong, very quickly. For those of you that are technicians, carry on, keep doing what you’re doing, and be appreciative of the people that know what they’re doing. No one is going out there and going into this field, because they think that they think they can and they are being proven wrong.

Uncle Jimmy talks about his mental health and discusses his nominee for “piece of shit of the year”.

This episode of Grease the Wheels is sponsored by toolheadzcrate.com. Toolheadzcrate.com is a monthly subscription box filled with all sorts of discount codes, coupons, tee shirts, and things that give you a little taste of some of your favorite tool companies. They ship out the 15th of every month, and at 35.99 plus exact shipping, it’s a lot less than what you owe your tool guy. Plus one lucky winner every month gets their golden wrench box with well over $100 worth of stuff in it. Cheap Box, better stuff- Toolheadz Crate: the only crate made for the listeners of GTW!

Also, we have set up our own Patreon campaign to help pay for our storage and some of our upcoming projects. Check out https://www.patreon.com/GreaseTheWheels for exclusive access to new projects, swag, outtakes, and an inside look at the making of GTW! We have long held that we have the best listenership on the entire internet, thank you so much for your contribution.

On this week’s episode of Grease the Wheels were talking about some of the horrible things we do to cars. Sure, customers are great at doing terrible things to cars but often times when we do terrible things to cars it’s completely on purpose. We don’t have any qualms about this because at the end of the day cars are consumer products: you buy them, you use them, and when you’re done you throw them away. But before we throw them away, we can have a lot of fun with them. Shooting cars for example is great stress relief and an absolute riot because cars make for wonderful target practice. There are few things as satisfying after a long day of fixing cars, especially when you factor in assault rifles and shotguns. As mechanics we try to make every repair 100% correct. When cars are long past their due date, you almost have to hit them with huge estimates to scare these customers off. At the end of the day it becomes a sort of dance between customer and mechanic about where the line is on some cars. How much money are we going to put into this car that its no longer worth fixing, and the customer doesn’t even want to put gas into it for fear of losing $20.

Also, Uncle Jimmy imitates HAL 9000 in a conversation about cars gaining sentience to say that aftermarket spoilers are stupid.

This episode of Grease the Wheels is sponsored by toolheadzcrate.com. Toolheadzcrate.com is a monthly subscription box filled with all sorts of discount codes, coupons, tee shirts, and things that give you a little taste of some of your favorite tool companies. They ship out the 15th of every month, and at 35.99 plus exact shipping, it’s a lot less than what you owe your tool guy. Plus one lucky winner every month gets their golden wrench box with well over $100 worth of stuff in it. Cheap Box, better stuff- Toolheadz Crate: the only crate made for the listeners of GTW!

On this week’s episode of Grease the Wheels, we have a message for the service managers and shop owners out there. They’re thinking, “God I hate Uncle Jimmy. He keeps telling techs that they are worth something and they should be paid well!” If you’re in charge of the things that happen to technicians in your shop, these are the things that you need to know to keep them. Number one is actually the pay. It’s not necessarily the pay right now, but we can see how much you charge the customers and having a pathway to making more money is important. The only reason that techs show up is because you are paying them. Number two is having a healthy respect for your technicians and this is a give and take social transaction. When management think that you’re not doing the job right, or even worse, think that they can do the job is a fast way to lose respect for them. Number three is making sure that all of the parts of the shop are working properly. If a tech gets bad CSI because the customers car wasn’t properly detailed, that isn’t on the tech. Also we discuss shop equipment working properly and days off because of the physicality of the job.

This episode of Grease the Wheels is sponsored by toolheadzcrate.com. Toolheadzcrate.com is a monthly subscription box filled with all sorts of discount codes, coupons, tee shirts, and things that give you a little taste of some of your favorite tool companies. They ship out the 15th of every month, and at 35.99 plus exact shipping, it’s a lot less than what you owe your tool guy. Plus one lucky winner every month gets their golden wrench box with well over $100 worth of stuff in it. Cheap Box, better stuff- Toolheadz Crate: the only crate made for the listeners of GTW!

On this Week’s episode of Grease the Wheels, we acknowledge that a lot of people who are not auto technicians listen to this podcast. In the spirit of this newfound information, we’re taking a few minutes to fill in the people who are not techs on what it’s like. First off, not everyone’s experiences are the same but there are a lot of things that most of us have in common. Most mechanics get their start as youngsters, taking stuff apart and sometimes putting them back together. This then goes to bikes, and as we get older, cars. Then our parents get on our asses to get jobs or go to school, so many of us end up going to some kind of technical school. From there we get thrown into shops to learn the rest. The one big thing here though is that almost no one gives a fuck about you. We also spend a ton of time on our feet and throwing around very heavy car parts such as rims and tires, so bad backs are as common as the low pay. We also typically dress poorly and this causes a major image problem that people think we’re dumb. However, due to the incredible number of systems, physical properties, and manual dexterity that this job requires, very few of us actually are. However, none of us are perfect so comebacks happen to all of us.

Also, Uncle Jimmy gives a review of all of the fluids in a car based on smell.

This episode of Grease the Wheels is sponsored by toolheadzcrate.com. Toolheadzcrate.com is a monthly subscription box filled with all sorts of discount codes, coupons, tee shirts, and things that give you a little taste of some of your favorite tool companies. They ship out the 15th of every month, and at 35.99 plus exact shipping, it’s a lot less than what you owe your tool guy. Plus one lucky winner every month gets their golden wrench box with well over $100 worth of stuff in it. Cheap Box, better stuff- Toolheadz Crate: the only crate made for the listeners of GTW!

On this episode of GTW, we’re talking about the law. The laws of man, the laws of physics and even Murphy’s law, which isn’t necessarily a real thing, but sometimes as a mechanic it feels just as real as the other two. The laws of physics are really kind of important to know as an automotive technician, because they are absolute. They happen 100% of the time. Things like pressure, heat causes things to expand, and the transfer of energy are something we deal with every day in brakes, air conditioning, and getting off bolts. The laws of man are much more subjective and subject to change. Often times the laws of physics and the laws of man come into direct contrast with one another, such as pedestrians having the right of way. Also, we talk about the enforcement of laws and their subjectiveness to the people enforcing them. Inspections, winter beaters, and what every states definition of speeding is are also on the docket.

Also, Uncle Jimmy rebrands Heisenberg’s Law of Entropic Uncertainty to be about your car, house, and dog.

This episode of Grease the Wheels is sponsored by toolheadzcrate.com. Toolheadzcrate.com is a monthly subscription box filled with all sorts of discount codes, coupons, tee shirts, and things that give you a little taste of some of your favorite tool companies. They ship out the 15th of every month, and at 35.99 plus exact shipping, it’s a lot less than what you owe your tool guy. Plus one lucky winner every month gets their golden wrench box with well over $100 worth of stuff in it. Cheap Box, better stuff- Toolheadz Crate: the only crate made for the listeners of GTW!

On this week’s Grease the Wheels, we are finding out what we should know about new guys before they get hired. From actual knowledge, personality, or sense of humor you are going to want to hire people that fit the environment that already exists in your shop. Now it’s not a secret that fewer and fewer people are entering this trade, and it’s not a coincidence that the attrition rates of these new guys is very high. However, if they are placed into shops that they are going to fit in, they might stay in the industry long enough to make it a career. Figuring out the knowledge of new techs is an important thing to do, but it might be best not to turn new hires directly onto your customers cars if they are untested and unproven. The real question here is, what would you want to know about a new mechanic hire BEFORE they get into the shop?

Also Uncle Jimmy says another sentence that has probably never been spoken out loud: “taking the test as if you are Adolf Hitler and The Pope.”

This episode of Grease the Wheels is sponsored by toolheadzcrate.com. Toolheadzcrate.com is a monthly subscription box filled with all sorts of discount codes, coupons, tee shirts, and things that give you a little taste of some of your favorite tool companies. They ship out the 15th of every month, and at 35.99 plus exact shipping, it’s a lot less than what you owe your tool guy. Plus one lucky winner every month gets their golden wrench box with well over $100 worth of stuff in it. Cheap Box, better stuff- Toolheadz Crate: the only crate made for the listeners of GTW!

On this week’s episode of Grease the Wheels, we’re talking complainers and complaining and we’re going to separate the two of them and get to the root of the matter.We have all worked with complainers, some of them are completely validated and others are just insufferable. As mechanics though, depending on where you work there is a lot of completely justifiable stuff to complain about: service advisors not selling easy work, bringing in cars that should be in a junkyard, terrible working conditions, low pay, disgusting shops, and the list goes on and on. The main difference between the people who are insufferable and the ones who are justified are how they approach the endgame: are they offering some sort of solution to their complaints? Pay complaints will always be fairly valid because of the wide gulf between shop rates and what the mechanic gets paid, but the fastest way to increase your pay, especially in this climate, is to Grease the Wheels.

Also, Uncle Jimmy says, “I’m not going to complain about complainers” about 4 times.

This episode of Grease the Wheels is sponsored by toolheadzcrate.com. Toolheadzcrate.com is a monthly subscription box filled with all sorts of discount codes, coupons, tee shirts, and things that give you a little taste of some of your favorite tool companies. They ship out the 15th of every month, and at 35.99 plus exact shipping, it’s a lot less than what you owe your tool guy. Plus one lucky winner every month gets their golden wrench box with well over $100 worth of stuff in it. Cheap Box, better stuff- Toolheadz Crate: the only crate made for the listeners of GTW!