Not trying to turn this into a rant but maybe this can be a heads up for guys looking to make this their profession. For me everywhere I've worked has been the same story, incompetent mangers/owners doing as little as possible, passing responsibility down the chain,, and never ending rush deadlines. I've worked commission at a Shop where they (management) were writing 2 sets of estimates. The actual one, and one for the employees. They would shave 30% or so off the actual estimate when you got the work order. Worked at that place over a year before I found that out. You have to be really careful working commission as I have heard from other guys that is more common than you think. A common theme I've found is
dishonesty. Others would call it
lying. To the employees, to the customer. Shortchanging the Customer on the repair. Getting chastised when you object to doing that. One Shop I was at Owners wife handled the payroll. She would shave your hours unless you made sure you totaled them yourself and wrote it on your timecard!
I've decided I've had enough. I haven't had a real vacation for over 7 years. I'm almost 47, been doing it fulltime since I left college after 2 years (Lord how I wish I stayed and got my degree
) I'm not going back to late model collision repair if I can help it. Got enough savings to leave my job and am going to work out of home for a while restoring then selling a car that I have. We'll see how that goes.