Billyman
05-30-2003, 06:11 PM
The vast majority of auto technicians all over America are paid on a commission basis. We get paid for the hours we turn out from the start of the pay period to the ending (weekly). Some of the lucky ones get salary plus commission. If these people turn fewer hours than an X amount, they have a guaranteed salary. If they turn more hours than the minimum, it opens a whole new can of worms and they are paid as if on straight commission.
My situation is somewhere in between and a little different all the same. I’m on straight commission with a twist. If there are not enough jobs to generate my minimum hours, I get salary based on X amount of hours. Now that is ONLY if there isn’t enough work to be done. If there’s plenty of work to be done but for whatever reason I still didn’t generate my minimum, I can only take what I turned that week.
Since I do 90% of all the performance and fabrication work and there is no such a thing as “book time” to refer to for such, I have to keep up with the amount of time spent on a job to be paid accordingly. Now since one cannot generate as many hours by this method as going by “book time” on regular production work, the hourly pay rate is increased to offset the shorted hours per week.
Lately, things have been a bit slow for every shop in town. If fact, we’ve been the busiest shop in town and still haven’t had a whole lot going on. We’ve been steady, but not busy, just enough going on for me to stay slightly above my minimum.
Well this week, things have really been crawling. Lots of standing around, shooting the shit, cleaning this or that just to past the time. Every morning of Fridays, our service manager gathers up all the information that’s been logged throughout the week of who did what and their hours. He prints out each technician’s information and hands us the paper to keep with our own records (and to show us what we’ve done and open discussion or disputes about hours or things that my have been missed). Well everybody’s hours sucked this week, it was expected, we all knew, but no biggie to me (so I thought).
I told Larry (the service manager) that I should be getting by minimum so it’s no big deal. He said he’d have to see Jeff (the owner/boss, and whom I’ve the agreement with) since that was between Jeff and myself and something he has no control over. I just said; “k”.
I got my paycheck and there was no minimum, just the hours pulled for that week. I went to Larry and asked; “He said no huh?” He told me that was what Jeff said and he was apologetic about it but there wasn’t anything he could do. I told him of course not, don’t sweat it, it’s out of your hand and I know how to handle it.
It was time to go to lunch at this point and I told Larry I wouldn’t be back after lunch, I’d probably see him Monday. He said he understood and was apologetic again. And again, I told him that I wasn’t mad or pissed and anyone, especially not him, He told me to have a good weekend and I replied; “you too, but before I go, there’s something I’ve got to do”. He and Chris (a friend and co-worker) just looked at me as I walked into the office. I came out with a dictionary. Chris asked me what I was doing and Larry had a puzzled look on his face. Just about that time, Jeff came walking through the shop so I stopped him and handed him the dictionary. He too looked at me puzzled and asked what it was for.
My reply?
“I want you to look up two words, ‘honor’ and ‘agreement’, once you have understood what each means, put them together, use it in a sentence if you will so you can understand what I’m saying when I tell you ‘fuck you’. I’ll see you when you figure all that out”.
Chris looked at me grinning and said; “You’ve got the biggest balls of anyone I’ve ever met, respect dude, respect”.
I smiled, threw out a “laterz guys”, and left.
Maybe this is T-dome material.
My situation is somewhere in between and a little different all the same. I’m on straight commission with a twist. If there are not enough jobs to generate my minimum hours, I get salary based on X amount of hours. Now that is ONLY if there isn’t enough work to be done. If there’s plenty of work to be done but for whatever reason I still didn’t generate my minimum, I can only take what I turned that week.
Since I do 90% of all the performance and fabrication work and there is no such a thing as “book time” to refer to for such, I have to keep up with the amount of time spent on a job to be paid accordingly. Now since one cannot generate as many hours by this method as going by “book time” on regular production work, the hourly pay rate is increased to offset the shorted hours per week.
Lately, things have been a bit slow for every shop in town. If fact, we’ve been the busiest shop in town and still haven’t had a whole lot going on. We’ve been steady, but not busy, just enough going on for me to stay slightly above my minimum.
Well this week, things have really been crawling. Lots of standing around, shooting the shit, cleaning this or that just to past the time. Every morning of Fridays, our service manager gathers up all the information that’s been logged throughout the week of who did what and their hours. He prints out each technician’s information and hands us the paper to keep with our own records (and to show us what we’ve done and open discussion or disputes about hours or things that my have been missed). Well everybody’s hours sucked this week, it was expected, we all knew, but no biggie to me (so I thought).
I told Larry (the service manager) that I should be getting by minimum so it’s no big deal. He said he’d have to see Jeff (the owner/boss, and whom I’ve the agreement with) since that was between Jeff and myself and something he has no control over. I just said; “k”.
I got my paycheck and there was no minimum, just the hours pulled for that week. I went to Larry and asked; “He said no huh?” He told me that was what Jeff said and he was apologetic about it but there wasn’t anything he could do. I told him of course not, don’t sweat it, it’s out of your hand and I know how to handle it.
It was time to go to lunch at this point and I told Larry I wouldn’t be back after lunch, I’d probably see him Monday. He said he understood and was apologetic again. And again, I told him that I wasn’t mad or pissed and anyone, especially not him, He told me to have a good weekend and I replied; “you too, but before I go, there’s something I’ve got to do”. He and Chris (a friend and co-worker) just looked at me as I walked into the office. I came out with a dictionary. Chris asked me what I was doing and Larry had a puzzled look on his face. Just about that time, Jeff came walking through the shop so I stopped him and handed him the dictionary. He too looked at me puzzled and asked what it was for.
My reply?
“I want you to look up two words, ‘honor’ and ‘agreement’, once you have understood what each means, put them together, use it in a sentence if you will so you can understand what I’m saying when I tell you ‘fuck you’. I’ll see you when you figure all that out”.
Chris looked at me grinning and said; “You’ve got the biggest balls of anyone I’ve ever met, respect dude, respect”.
I smiled, threw out a “laterz guys”, and left.
Maybe this is T-dome material.