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Confessions of a Shop Owner is hosted by Mike Allen, a third-generation shop owner, perpetual pot-stirrer, and brutally honest opinion sharer. In this weekly podcast, Mike shares his missteps so you don’t have to repeat them. Along the way, he chats with other industry personalities who’ve messed up, too, pulling back the curtain on the realities of running an independent auto repair shop. But this podcast isn’t just about Mike’s journey. It’s about confronting the divisive and questionable tactics many shop owners and managers use. Mike is here to stir the pot and address the painful truths while offering a way forward. Together, we’ll tackle the frustrations, shake things up, and help create a better future for the auto repair industry.
Bryan Pollock [00:00:00]:
If the frickin' customer had an absolute Neanderthal working on their car, and you have the invoice, and you have the pictures, and you have the documentation to prove it, tell the customer that that guy was a frickin' Neanderthal and they need to go get their money back.
Mike Allen [00:00:16]:
The following program features a bunch of doofuses talking about the automotive aftermarket. The stuff we or our guests may say do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of our peers, our sponsors, or any other associations we may have. There may be some spicy language in this show, so if you get your feelings hurt easily, you should probably just move along. So without further ado, here's your host, Mike Allen, with Confessions of a Shop Owner, presented by TechMetric, the best software ever invented for any purpose ever.
Mike Allen [00:00:48]:
So I have reached, um, I'm reaching continually new levels of degeneracy, and I just got an email, um, Going on a spring break cruise with my oldest, uh, and, uh, the whole cruise is gonna be $66 total, which is port fees for him only, uh, because of my, uh, my really poor choices and proof that I'm bad at math in the casino. So—
Bryan Pollock [00:01:18]:
Oh, nice.
Mike Allen [00:01:18]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:20]:
Oh, anyway.
Mike Allen [00:01:23]:
Yeah, I digress.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:25]:
Oh, well, you know, sometimes it's gambling, sometimes it's a whole Corvette. What can I say?
Mike Allen [00:01:30]:
Yeah, we need to talk about the Corvette, by the way.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:33]:
We can't talk about it yet.
Mike Allen [00:01:35]:
Okay. One day we'll need to talk about the Corvette.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:37]:
It's almost handled. I wrote a gently but firmly but factually written letter to GM customer care on this 3-month out of warranty Corvette. And I'm pretty sure In the name of the owner, I did that. And I'm pretty sure I'm getting a motor put in this thing at the GM dealer for like $2,200.
Mike Allen [00:01:56]:
Perfect.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:58]:
Because how do you not like— dude, the optics are terrible. It's not— it's literally not our fault. It really isn't. But the optics—
Mike Allen [00:02:07]:
Really bad timing.
Bryan Pollock [00:02:09]:
Freaking change the oil on the thing and 40 miles later the thing explodes.
Mike Allen [00:02:16]:
I'm so glad it wasn't your fault.
Bryan Pollock [00:02:19]:
So me too, because I, I am— it's a little bit more annoying because I still have to pay even though it's not my fault. If it was, I'd have been like, these fucking kids.
Mike Allen [00:02:30]:
Wow. Yeah, it cut— it would have been cool though if you'd just bought the car from the guy, because I mean, who doesn't want a '21 Stingray, you know?
Bryan Pollock [00:02:38]:
It's to a point now where we're joking about it a little bit. Like Jim was talking about going to Harbor Freight and doing a Predator engine swap on the Corvette. The biggest— get the biggest lawnmower engine they have at Harbor Freight, drop her in there.
Mike Allen [00:02:53]:
You get some really big speakers in the back to make it sound like a Corvette.
Bryan Pollock [00:02:56]:
Yeah, yeah, like the, the, uh, Charger E or E-Charger, right? E-Charger. Have you heard one of those E-Chargers?
Mike Allen [00:03:04]:
No, that has the speaker and the muffler.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:07]:
Dude, when you ready on that thing, you can hear it from like a block away. It's insane. We service— first thing, first thing, it's that loud. Second, somehow we service 2 of them. We have 2 of them that we service. We did brakes on one. It was like, it was like $4,100 for brakes.
Mike Allen [00:03:28]:
If you make it louder, people think it's faster and they enjoy driving it more.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:32]:
It's so loud. It's ridiculous. Like, you start it and it's like— I was at the end of the road. I was like, what the hell was that noise? Oh, somebody's pulling the e-Charger in for tires.
Mike Allen [00:03:43]:
How much, uh, do the interior speakers pipe car sound into the car for the driver to think it's louder than it is? Oh, I'm sure that's what they should do, is they should pipe sound in through the speaker system so that—
Bryan Pollock [00:03:59]:
well, you know, they've, you know, that's— they've piped sound into cars for a long time, right?
Mike Allen [00:04:03]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:04]:
Did you know that? For like noise cancellation.
Mike Allen [00:04:06]:
And then, um, noise cancellation, yes.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:08]:
If you go way back to the Taurus SHO, not the Yamaha engine one, but the first generation that had turbocharged engine, it's got this black rubber tube that comes off the air intake after the air filter. And that goes to the HVAC box. So you can hear the turbochargers through the vent of the car.
Mike Allen [00:04:28]:
To the vent, resonance chamber.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:30]:
It's a resonance chamber to pipe sound in through the HVAC system so you can hear the turbos more.
Mike Allen [00:04:35]:
And you know what? People fucking loved their SHOs back in the '90s, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:04:39]:
They fucking love it. Yeah. Well, and this was— this would have been probably late '90s. No, because those were still Yamaha-engined. Those were still V8 cars. This would have been like 2007, 2008. I remember Automobile Magazine did a huge thing. That '07 SHO was amazing.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:57]:
It was like beating all the Euro cars up the Pikes Peak hill climb. That's what they did. They took it to Pikes Peak with professional drivers and it was like eating the BMWs and the Jaguars and everything. Freaking shitty ass.
Mike Allen [00:05:08]:
Were they eating BMWs and Jaguars? Well, when I think of, you know, who's going to dominate Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Jaguar's not on the list.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:18]:
No. And the other thing that I always thought about it was, it was cool that it beat them up Pikes Peak, but none of the German cars are made to run up Pikes Peak. They're all made to run 135 miles an hour.
Mike Allen [00:05:28]:
Yeah. In a straight line for a very long time at 3,000 feet above sea level.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:33]:
Yeah. So it was still cool anyways.
Mike Allen [00:05:36]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:37]:
Looking at our list, we have rage bait in the hangout.
Mike Allen [00:05:43]:
I got a letter from the Attorney General today.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:46]:
Oh, no.
Mike Allen [00:05:48]:
It's remarkably, remarkably stupid. We have We have a fixed price for coolant exchange service, right? And, um, it's fixed at— I don't, I don't even know what the price is. Let's call it—
Bryan Pollock [00:06:08]:
Let's call it like $189.99 or whatever it is, right?
Mike Allen [00:06:11]:
Call it $100, whatever, right? And if you have a very expensive coolant and my cost is really high, it's still $100. And if you have a very cheap coolant and my cost is very reasonable, it's still $100 because it's $100. It's not $100. I don't know what the number is, but whatever the number is.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:28]:
Sure, I got you.
Mike Allen [00:06:29]:
Um, and one of my guys didn't document the repair order properly, and it was a vehicle with cheap coolant. Um, and it's a fixed price menu price item. Yeah. And uh, the pricing was on there and it just said discount coolant plus $20.84. So to make it equal the fixed price, because our actual cost was lower than normal because he took, he took the placeholder coolant off and put the right coolant on.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:08]:
And, uh, you have some person that was in there for their freaking menu-priced coolant flush that's having a freaking canary because you discounted a plus number.
Mike Allen [00:07:16]:
Yeah, I said, what do you mean you added $20 to the price of the job? And should never be a problem if you just make the price what the price is and not— so I mean, I'm just gonna give the dude $20.84 back, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:07:38]:
Give him $50 and tell him to delete his Facebook.
Mike Allen [00:07:42]:
Yeah, but it's just— I was like, bro, $20, less than $21, and you wanted to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office? Really?
Bryan Pollock [00:07:52]:
You know what, we should, uh— is that too soon to touch on? Probably too soon to touch on. Probably want to get that resolved before you talk about the Attorney General thing.
Mike Allen [00:08:01]:
Yeah, I got the letter today. I'm going to write a letter back tomorrow with a check, but I mean, this will be published in a month, so We can—
Bryan Pollock [00:08:09]:
I don't know, you want to talk about you? Because I have, um, I have a good rant for what government intervention will look like that lines right up with, um, that, that I'd love to fucking go on.
Mike Allen [00:08:23]:
I just got a text message from my bank that my personal check card has been used for $674 at Game Time California. That's not me.
Bryan Pollock [00:08:33]:
Maybe that's what the dog was there for.
Mike Allen [00:08:35]:
Real time. Yeah, real time phone alert.
Bryan Pollock [00:08:39]:
What's it like to be— what's it like to be Mike?
Mike Allen [00:08:44]:
If this is not you, reply no.
Bryan Pollock [00:08:47]:
Mike's over here fighting real battles. I'm just freaking bitching about Tex and flying around in the Goodyear blimp.
Mike Allen [00:08:53]:
You know, I spent a period of my life as a ground crew technician for the Goodyear blimp.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:00]:
You did not.
Mike Allen [00:09:03]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:04]:
So listen, you were also the number 1 Tupperware salesperson in the Midwest.
Mike Allen [00:09:08]:
Number 2.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:10]:
Number 2. Sorry.
Mike Allen [00:09:11]:
Number 1 is aiming too high. Also shopping cart wheel balancer.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:16]:
Yeah. Shopping cart wheel balancers. Target gets the premium package.
Mike Allen [00:09:20]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:20]:
Nice try.
Mike Allen [00:09:21]:
Nice try, Mike. The blimp folder. The professional blimp folder is the one that people fall for the most.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:30]:
Professional blimp folder. I've never heard that one.
Mike Allen [00:09:34]:
Oh no, it's, uh—
Bryan Pollock [00:09:36]:
I hadn't heard your Goodyear blimp thing before. I just assumed it was bullshit.
Mike Allen [00:09:41]:
No, so I've got this thing, uh, my brother and I do this when we're out in a random town at a bar and we're striking up conversations with strangers that we'll never talk to again. We make up ridiculous careers.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:51]:
I knew about that. I knew about that part.
Mike Allen [00:09:53]:
And, uh, so this one is You know, they ask you, I don't really want to talk about it. You'd laugh at me. And then you get them to pull it out of you. It's like, well, I mean, you've seen like at major sporting events or races or football games, they have the Goodyear blimp or the MetLife blimp or whatever else. Well, I'm ground crew for the blimp. And, you know, you might see at the Daytona 500 on Sunday, and then it's in San Diego on Wednesday. for a football game or for on, you know, right?
Mike Allen [00:10:24]:
Right.
Bryan Pollock [00:10:25]:
Nobody knows they have 3 of them.
Mike Allen [00:10:28]:
Well, you can't fly that thing across the country in 72 hours against, against the prevailing trade winds. So what they do is actually land it and you disassemble the cab, right? And then you deflate it and you fold it up and you put it on a train and it's like 5 train cars because there's sections that you separate. Um, and so I was ground crew. I specialized in the, uh, in the packaging and unpackaging. So, you know, the guys, my family picks on me, they call me a blimp folder. Um, and, you know, but it's really cool because you get to go on rides, you know, like you get to go up in it at least once a year, you know? And so you just add on to the, uh—
Bryan Pollock [00:11:07]:
Does anybody ever not fall for it? Does everybody fall for it every time?
Mike Allen [00:11:12]:
Uh, everybody falls for it initially. The one time that crashed and burned the worst was, uh, fucking Lucas. Uh, we were at— we were in Vegas for SEMA and Apex, and we were at a bar. Uh, what's the hotel next to the Venetian? The Palazzo.
Bryan Pollock [00:11:31]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:11:31]:
Uh, we were in the Palazzo at a bar next to the High Roller section, and, uh, there were these like women from the Midwest that were there for some totally unrelated convention, and they were eating that shit up.
Bryan Pollock [00:11:43]:
Mary Kay convention.
Mike Allen [00:11:45]:
And, and it was just hilarious. And I turned around to order another round of drinks for the guys. When I turned back around, Lucas is telling them that we're actually here for an auto show and we're in the automotive industry. I'm like, you motherfucker. Oh, what a, what a, what a bitch thing to do.
Bryan Pollock [00:12:05]:
That makes me sad.
Mike Allen [00:12:06]:
Yeah, I know, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:12:08]:
Oh, gosh.
Mike Allen [00:12:08]:
I've had a couple of good alternative career stories with Lucas. I had one where I was I had a burgeoning skincare, like a boutique skincare company, and I had an exfoliating skin rub that was actually a tub of dry rub that we had gotten from the Golden Steer that night when we had dinner. And, I'd convinced this woman that she could take it in a bath and—
Bryan Pollock [00:12:33]:
And marinate herself.
Mike Allen [00:12:37]:
It would leave a comforting tingle as you apply it.
Mike Allen [00:12:47]:
Just— oh my gosh.
Mike Allen [00:12:47]:
So we should probably edit that whole part out. Was that recording?
Bryan Pollock [00:12:53]:
Was it?
Mike Allen [00:12:54]:
Oh yeah, I've been recording for 13 minutes.
Bryan Pollock [00:12:56]:
That's awesome. Oh, all right.
Mike Allen [00:13:01]:
So are we going to do an episode today or are we just going to— sure.
Bryan Pollock [00:13:05]:
Like, I didn't even think we were recording. I'm like, man, we should probably record this.
Mike Allen [00:13:10]:
We've been going the whole time, man.
Bryan Pollock [00:13:11]:
This is great.
Mike Allen [00:13:12]:
All right.
Mike Allen [00:13:15]:
I have, I have an admission to make.
Bryan Pollock [00:13:18]:
Um, I—
Mike Allen [00:13:21]:
some people might find this hard to believe, but I, I made an anonymous post in one of the Facebook groups that I was really— I was actually just being a troll. I wasn't being totally transparent and honest. I was just being a troll.
Bryan Pollock [00:13:34]:
Oh no.
Mike Allen [00:13:35]:
Should I read the post?
Bryan Pollock [00:13:36]:
Never do such a— oh, I wish you would.
Mike Allen [00:13:39]:
So I said, and this is anonymous, right? Um, I said, hey everybody, weird question. So about 6 months ago, I got tired of seeing every business in town charging 3 or 4% credit card fees while I wasn't. I decided to bite the bullet and offer a 3% cash discount. Uh, in the time since I did this, I've had a total of one person speak out against it. In retrospect, it was a no-brainer. This has got me thinking about other opportunities for extra fees. More and more, it feels like every small business in town has a default tip screen on the credit card processing. 15%, 20%, 25%, and even other for more.
Mike Allen [00:14:20]:
And I know you've all seen them, you know, at the coffee shop, they just flip the screen over and you're guilted into tipping, right? And so I said, so 2 questions. First, if I set a default tip request screen, Oh, that's so good. But I set it super low, like 5 or 8 or 10%. Do you think it would make many people upset? And second, how best to fairly split the tips up among the crew? I mean, I work in the shop some days, but I also take phone calls and write tickets as well. So I think it's fair for me to keep a portion of the tips. What are your thoughts?
Bryan Pollock [00:14:57]:
It's so good.
Mike Allen [00:14:58]:
It's one of my better pieces of work.
Bryan Pollock [00:14:59]:
Was it even on Friday? Was it on a Friday or no? No, it was on a Thursday morning.
Mike Allen [00:15:01]:
It was on a Thursday morning.
Bryan Pollock [00:15:02]:
That's right. I think somebody did comment and say it's not Friday yet.
Mike Allen [00:15:07]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:15:08]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:15:08]:
One of my friends actually took a screenshot and texted it to me and said, you're too transparent. He knew it was me. Oh my goodness. But it's still Thursday, so please wait till later to post this.
Bryan Pollock [00:15:27]:
Yeah, right.
Mike Allen [00:15:28]:
But I got a lot of, it'll go over like a turd in the pool. Um, if you, if you're working in the shop plus answering phones and writing tips, those tip amounts are low. Gotta bump those numbers up to 15, 20, or 25%, just like a restaurant. It's not too, too late to delete this post before you embarrass yourself.
Bryan Pollock [00:15:49]:
Which is anonymous, so nobody's embarrassed.
Mike Allen [00:15:53]:
Well, you know that Kieran, I mean, he knows that it was me and he's just sitting back watching the shit show laughing about it. Um, but I had some people that were like really angry. Um, some of them took the stinky bait and ran with it, and it was pretty amazing.
Bryan Pollock [00:16:10]:
Some people get really mad.
Mike Allen [00:16:12]:
And some of these people are friends, and I didn't tell them that it was me. I just, I just—
Bryan Pollock [00:16:17]:
That's okay.
Mike Allen [00:16:18]:
I just let them be annoyed.
Bryan Pollock [00:16:18]:
Just let them go. You're better off just letting them finish, Mike.
Mike Allen [00:16:22]:
Just, yeah, just relax and let them finish. It'll be over.
Bryan Pollock [00:16:24]:
Relax and let them finish.
Mike Allen [00:16:26]:
It'll be over in a minute. So that's my confession for this episode, is that I'm sure that you guys find this hard to believe, but I'm a secret internet troll. Oh, for shame.
Bryan Pollock [00:16:40]:
Oh, no.
Mike Allen [00:16:42]:
So what else is new?
Bryan Pollock [00:16:48]:
You know, just doing things, running around in the bay, not fixing cars. I don't do that. I don't work on cars. So there's definitely been—
Mike Allen [00:16:55]:
Never worked on a car in your life?
Bryan Pollock [00:16:57]:
Never, never worked on one.
Mike Allen [00:16:59]:
I did text with Tanika and Lucas today about the fact that the 3 of us are teaching a class and we don't even have a rough outline yet of what we're—
Bryan Pollock [00:17:09]:
Well, can I, can I tell you something? If you know the subject, it's— don't get me wrong, you don't want to wait till the last minute to get something together.
Mike Allen [00:17:23]:
But I know I'm, I'm supremely confident that between the 3 of us, we can put together some really strong content. So we actually— yeah, um, Tanika and I are getting together, uh, next week. We're actually gonna go to the hotel and look at the space for the hospitality suite and get that all laid out where everything's gonna go.
Bryan Pollock [00:17:40]:
Jim and I are doing that. I'm, I'm going away this coming week, um, and then after that, we'll start meeting probably once a week to make the changes we want to make, add case studies, take case studies away, so on and so forth. Um, but yeah, I mean, you still got 2 months. Well, not quite 2 months. You still have 6 weeks, right?
Mike Allen [00:18:03]:
Something like that.
Bryan Pollock [00:18:04]:
6, 7 weeks. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:18:05]:
So the rules for the class— I mean, the name of the class is There's, There's More Than One Way to Skin That Cat, right? And what we're talking about is, uh, the divisiveness that exists within the independent aftermarket because, yeah, Uh, every $300 oil changes, loss leader oil changes, all the things that people argue about. Yeah. Who cares?
Bryan Pollock [00:18:24]:
And I don't care.
Mike Allen [00:18:25]:
We're gonna— we're just gonna touch on the most common talking points that we have and how there are justifications for both ends of the spectrum and everything between in each of those talking points, and how there are people operating excellent businesses, giving excellent service to their community, and treating their people well.
Bryan Pollock [00:18:45]:
Are you on Yeah. Are you doing a class that says, like, that's kind of about coming up with your own solutions for your specific situation?
Mike Allen [00:18:56]:
You mean you don't just have to write a check to somebody every month and do exactly what they say no matter what?
Bryan Pollock [00:19:02]:
You mean that you could plan, do, check, and act?
Mike Allen [00:19:10]:
That sounds like it might be a methodology. Taught in another class.
Bryan Pollock [00:19:15]:
That sounds like something that's already been taught 3 times, but it'll be the ESO version because you'll be there, so it'll be fantastic.
Mike Allen [00:19:23]:
Yeah, well, it's the scientific method rebranded.
Bryan Pollock [00:19:26]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:19:28]:
All right, I'm gonna—
Bryan Pollock [00:19:29]:
it'll be more— and you know what too, the, uh— Where are you going? I don't know what to do with my hands. The, um, I think that you, Lucas, and Tanika would be— that'll be a, a diverse, uh, 3 shops that don't run the same.
Mike Allen [00:19:52]:
Yeah, we have 3 very different businesses.
Bryan Pollock [00:19:55]:
Uh, and yeah, because Tanika's— Tanika's right, her, her shop is in the suburbs, right?
Mike Allen [00:20:02]:
Uh, kinda. She's outside of town.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:03]:
Yeah, but she's outside of town.
Mike Allen [00:20:05]:
She's on the major artery feeding into the university town, Chapel Hill, and she runs She runs not anywhere and not anywhere near like what you run like, right? Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:15]:
And Lucas, you could— you can make the argument that Lucas's shop runs closer to what Tanika's does, but he's in the middle of nowhere.
Mike Allen [00:20:23]:
Well, right.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:24]:
If you had to like kind of—
Mike Allen [00:20:26]:
He, he— so he was very similar to Tanika, and then he built this big new building that has, uh, big new building costs. Oh, now he got— his business has had to evolve to a significant degree. Um, and then Tanika is second generation, open 4 days a week, puts money to the bottom line, and don't give a fuck about discounts or coupons or anything else. You're gonna come to her, you're gonna do it her way, or you're not gonna come, you can get the fuck out. Um, and then, you know, I'm more of a multi-location, growth-minded, loss leader, uh, customer acquisition strategy. So Uh, we're, you know, I would say that Tanika's on one spectrum, I'm on the other, and Lucas is in the middle, maybe drifting slightly more towards her side just because of his uber woke owner, uh, personality.
Bryan Pollock [00:21:16]:
Oh my God.
Mike Allen [00:21:19]:
What?
Bryan Pollock [00:21:19]:
Uber woke owner. I love it.
Mike Allen [00:21:22]:
Yeah, he's, uh, I'll say that he's like the, uh, he's the Bill Clinton of auto repair, you know, uh, Southern Democrat, smooth talker.
Bryan Pollock [00:21:32]:
Uh, oh man, I mean, I don't think he's a Democrat.
Mike Allen [00:21:35]:
I mean, I don't care if he is or not, but, uh, no, maybe he's like a, uh, he's like a good Southern Baptist preacher.
Bryan Pollock [00:21:45]:
I was just gonna say, I was just gonna say Baptist. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:21:48]:
Yeah, I can get behind that.
Bryan Pollock [00:21:49]:
I can see that. Yeah, it's good. It's good. He's probably in a better mood than people like you and me. He's probably not angry. He's probably not angry all the time.
Mike Allen [00:22:02]:
You know, I kind of— I could see Lucas being that guy who has a shirt on that says, on the outside I look calm, but in my head I've already killed you 3 times. Or is that David? Because no, David says it out loud.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:14]:
No, David doesn't look calm.
Mike Allen [00:22:17]:
Um, we text, so we were talking about We were talking about who we want to record with at ASTA Expo, and, uh, there's a long list of folks that we're hoping to sit down and chat with. But I was like, you know what, I want to record with David Roman.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:31]:
Oh yeah, this was excellent.
Mike Allen [00:22:33]:
And so, uh, Braxton texted David mid-meeting while we, like, while we were in the meeting. And David was like, not only no, but fuck no. Uh, absolutely not. It would be terrible. I hate that guy. I don't know if he said I hate that guy or not, but I think that's what he meant.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:51]:
I think he might have said I hate that guy.
Mike Allen [00:22:54]:
Yeah, we should do— we should get like David and Cecil and everyone who loves to call me a moron as much as possible. And Dutch. David, Cecil, and Dutch. That'd be good.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:12]:
Is good what you use for that?
Mike Allen [00:23:17]:
Lucas and I are gonna go try to sit down and have a, uh, have a conversation with Dutch and get it on tape soon. So I think that'll be fun.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:24]:
He's the best.
Mike Allen [00:23:25]:
We're gonna set up in his shop. I went to visit him the other day and, uh, he's got a couple— he's got his old 7.3 diesel pickup.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:33]:
Oh yeah, I know.
Mike Allen [00:23:34]:
In there. And then he's got a couple of Porsches.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:36]:
Oh yeah.
Mike Allen [00:23:36]:
He's got a Cayenne and a Carrera or something. I was like, I didn't know he was a Porsche guy, but Oh, yeah. And he's got the Cayenne torn apart doing dash work. Like, dude, I'm not sure you need to be doing dash work.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:50]:
No, I'm not sure that he cared about your opinion on that subject.
Mike Allen [00:23:53]:
It's probably accurate. He did tell me that your tool collection and toolbox is cute and that one day you might have a big boy toolbox.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:05]:
Yeah, I might have a big boy toolbox. As Dutch is sending me toolboxes off Marketplace asking me, what do you think of this deal? He wants, he wants, he wants the giant toolbox. He does. Anyway, the giant toolbox.
Mike Allen [00:24:22]:
We did count. He had 5 different welders in his shop.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:28]:
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He's, and he's a collector. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:24:32]:
Lathes and yeah. Oh yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:34]:
He's a collector and he's got all the cool stuff too. Like he's got like, not, you know, like he's got like all the You know, I like to collect too, you know what I mean?
Mike Allen [00:24:43]:
So I think he should do a series of video tours of his facility. It's pretty cool.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:47]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:24:48]:
So yeah, anyway.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:49]:
Yeah, I think he's got like 3 alignment machines or something like that because, you know, I had 2 in there, uh, while I was there. Okay, maybe he's only—
Mike Allen [00:24:58]:
one was a Hoffman, so it doesn't count.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:00]:
Oh, gross me out with a spoon.
Mike Allen [00:25:02]:
But no, you know what, there were 8 Hunter heads on one of the shelving units, so he might have 2 packed away in there. There's a lot of stuff packed away and wrapped, so Unless he's just gonna use it for collectibles.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:14]:
You know what happens is, um, people think they have a better way to do it and they go into business and they, uh, open up at like $82 an hour. And, and what happens is eventually you get to buy their stuff.
Mike Allen [00:25:27]:
Yeah. And then 18 months later, Dutch shows up with a checkbook and buys all your shit.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:32]:
Buys all your stuff. Yeah. I got a lot of stuff that used to belong to somebody else. I got a lot of that stuff. Yeah, got whole, got whole ass buildings that used to belong to other people and organizations because they couldn't make it happen. So there's that.
Mike Allen [00:25:49]:
That's how it do be sometimes.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:51]:
That's how it be.
Mike Allen [00:25:53]:
So how has business been this summer?
Bryan Pollock [00:25:56]:
Uh, very busy. I'm finding, uh, that I'm very busy and I'm finding myself Um, oftentimes more frustrated than I need to be. And, uh, it raises questions about realistic expectations of the modern workforce. And am I like just— oh man, I'm not gonna be 40 for like another 20 days. Am I just a cranky old bastard? Is that what's going on here? Well, I'm trying to figure it out.
Mike Allen [00:26:29]:
Wait a minute, are we going to celebrate your 40th birthday at the expo?
Bryan Pollock [00:26:33]:
No, no, no, no, no.
Mike Allen [00:26:37]:
I think that's just what we decided.
Bryan Pollock [00:26:39]:
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Mike Allen [00:26:40]:
Friday night at the expo in the hospitality suite is Brian's 40th birthday party. There will be midget dancers.
Bryan Pollock [00:26:48]:
I'll teach you guys how to make a Jimmy Palmer.
Mike Allen [00:26:51]:
Little people.
Bryan Pollock [00:26:51]:
Jimmy Palmers for everybody. But, um, Yeah, you feel like midget dancers for everybody.
Mike Allen [00:26:59]:
Can I get a picture of you holding up 2 midgets like this, like one sitting on each bicep?
Bryan Pollock [00:27:04]:
Or normal-sized people, whatever you want.
Mike Allen [00:27:06]:
I gotta stop saying midget. That's a derogatory statement.
Bryan Pollock [00:27:08]:
Um, is it really?
Mike Allen [00:27:09]:
People, I think, I think they find it offensive, and I don't want to cause offense unintentionally. If I'm going to offend someone, I want to do it on purpose.
Bryan Pollock [00:27:17]:
Never waste a chance to offend somebody, or however that—
Mike Allen [00:27:21]:
Yeah, but never accidentally offend someone. Never accidentally offend people. Do it on purpose or not at all.
Bryan Pollock [00:27:26]:
So I'm just starting to wonder if I'm just a cranky old bastard and I need to chill out.
Mike Allen [00:27:31]:
I think you're getting there. I think you're getting there. Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:27:35]:
Like, it's just annoying. Like, can we just— can we just do our jobs right? Like, can we just do that? Yeah, that's tricky. And I'm sure it's the same everywhere. I'm sure it's the same everywhere. And but yeah, I find myself having to having to get in there and do a fair amount of, uh, fair amount of rework.
Mike Allen [00:27:54]:
And so do you think, uh, and we talked about this a little bit online earlier, um, you feel like you've created a culture where so many of your technicians rely upon you to unfuck the hard situations?
Bryan Pollock [00:28:08]:
I've been feeding the animals hard.
Mike Allen [00:28:11]:
And so all they do is—
Bryan Pollock [00:28:12]:
I've spent so much time cutting hay, baling it, and freaking spreading it out in the pens. That now I'm too tired to teach the animals how to hunt. Like, it's, for lack of better terms, too tired or too angry or too of everything, right?
Mike Allen [00:28:32]:
So if you can't personally be the one who's teaching them, how do you help them?
Bryan Pollock [00:28:36]:
I don't know. So I don't have experience in this. So a lot of people came into automotive with a mentor, right? They worked under somebody, they shadowed under somebody. That's, uh, that was not my experience. Um, I never shadowed under somebody. Um, I never worked as an apprentice to somebody. Um, my, my great break in automotive was I was working for a Firestone and, um, all the other technicians quit and I was 17 years old and I had to figure out how to do control arms, alignments, oil. I had to do, I had to do everything.
Mike Allen [00:29:11]:
If everybody quit together as like a show of solidarity, why did they not include you in the meeting to plan for everything?
Bryan Pollock [00:29:17]:
I had just started. They just freaking— yeah, everybody quit. And they didn't— I say they quit together, they didn't quit together. They quit— they all quit like a couple weeks apart. But, uh, you know, so I went from, okay, this is a tire machine— well, not really, because I, you know, I could— I came into automotive knowing how to use a welder and stuff like that. We had to work on stuff around here or whatever. But, um, not, not in retail automotive, right? So I went from, all right, this is a tire machine and you're going to be putting away tires and this and everything. And I was putting away tires and I was mopping the showroom floor and I was cleaning the bathroom.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:53]:
And then like, hey man, Carl and Kevin quit. And, uh, this is a GM and it's, this is called a 3100 and the intakes leak. We need you to change this intake manifold gasket. That's—
Mike Allen [00:30:03]:
Well, I mean, you had thousands of those to practice on over the next several years, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:30:07]:
Oh my gosh. I got good at them.
Mike Allen [00:30:09]:
Yeah, all of them.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:11]:
All of them. I did all the intake. I did all of them, you know, and controlling, you know. So I got to— I had the crash course in automotive, and then, uh, they hired some more people. And like I said, I was like 17 years old, and they hired some guys in their 30s that really sucked at working on cars. And I'm like, holy crap, if I don't do something about learning how to actually do this, I'm gonna suck like them soon. So that's pretty much how I came up through. Uh, it was very self-driven, you know what I mean? So I, I, I struggle when people aren't— when they're not just like, oh yeah, hey, I need to go learn this, or, oh, this is hard to do, but I'm gonna figure it out anyways.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:53]:
Everybody's like, nah, fuck it, Brian pile.
Mike Allen [00:30:56]:
Yeah, just call Brian.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:57]:
Yeah, literally. And then I answer, which is, you know, that's a problem too. But it's like the, it's like the never-ending, it's like the never-ending question. Do you, do you not answer? Like, how much does it cost to not answer? Right? Because I like money too. Money's good.
Mike Allen [00:31:15]:
Well, this is a parenting question, right? Because you're parenting them. Um, my daughter is at, uh, kart camp this week, uh, karting camp. So she's there from 7 to 5, uh, every day. getting in laps and learning about picking the right line and braking points, all that kind of stuff. And in the interim, they have like, they watch a movie, they have snacks, whatever else, right? And so during snack time and movie time this afternoon, some kid just went full ballistic meltdown, like a 10-year-old, like ripping shit off the walls, throwing chairs at people, smashing computers. Like full level meltdown.
Bryan Pollock [00:31:57]:
Well, yeah, that's different because you can't spank the technicians, Mike.
Mike Allen [00:32:03]:
Well, well, somebody— so this kid clearly has never been spanked, right? If he thinks that it's okay to behave that way in public, he's never had consequences for his actions because this is not a special healthcare, special needs child, right? Because there are some children who don't have the ability to control their emotions in that capacity.
Bryan Pollock [00:32:20]:
Sure.
Mike Allen [00:32:21]:
But if this kid can be left at a week-long camp and can operate a cart at high speed, um, there's a level of cognitive aptitude that, that comes along with that, I would guess.
Bryan Pollock [00:32:33]:
But is he just copying his parents?
Mike Allen [00:32:35]:
It's gotta be what it is, right? Or, you know, my daughter's got new age hippie parents who believe that you never say no to a child or some bullshit.
Bryan Pollock [00:32:44]:
My daughter, uh, my, my oldest daughter played rec soccer this year and it was a little bit of a tough run. with some of the coaching. And then one of the kids on the team was always just mouthing off. I mean, this is rec soccer and this kid's getting warned, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth. And go ahead, don't I put 2 and 2 together finally that that kid is the assistant coach's son? And I'm like, this all makes sense. You're just, just being an asshole like your dad. Like, you can't help it. Like, that's all you know.
Mike Allen [00:33:12]:
So, you know.
Mike Allen [00:33:13]:
It's just genetic, genetic greatness.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:15]:
You can't help it. Well, it's taught. It's taught. So Yeah, I think that, uh, I think one thing for sure is that when you start talking to shop owners across the country and even in your local area, you find out that it's actually same thing, different address. So at first I was like, what is going on here? Is it freaking— I'm like looking outside. Is there a UFO up in the air? Is it freaking Bermuda Triangle? What's going on here? And then I start talking to people. I'm like, oh, this is This is a thing that everybody seems to be dealing with right now where it's like daycare. And I'm like, all right, how do we transition out of this? Are we expecting too much? Is the, is the idea of a self-starter, self-motivated person that's in the blue-collar trades that's just going to hammer it out and learn what they got to do and do the best they can, has that ship sailed? Is—
Mike Allen [00:34:11]:
I don't know. Your, your 40-hour— 40 hours average effort equals average pay rant that got all the commenters, uh, up in their feels. There's literally a dude arguing that he should be paid $100,000 a year, which is not a huge number in today's marketplace.
Bryan Pollock [00:34:29]:
No, it's not.
Mike Allen [00:34:29]:
But still, it is a big number for a lot of folks depending on what part of the country you're in, right? Sure. But he's arguing that he should be paid $100,000 a year before he has $100,000 a year value skill set.
Bryan Pollock [00:34:39]:
Oh yeah, so that he can learn. Like, like, how does that— like, who—
Mike Allen [00:34:44]:
what a fucking moron.
Bryan Pollock [00:34:45]:
Open your own shop and go pay yourself $100,000 before you can turn $100,000 in net. Go do that. Let us know. Let us know how you did.
Mike Allen [00:34:56]:
Yeah, so it's, you know, you don't know fuck all about the finances of business without telling me you don't know fuck all.
Bryan Pollock [00:35:02]:
Tell me you don't know anything. Without telling me. Well, no, not without. You just did. You told me you didn't know anything. It's all there. People are so stereotypical when you see those comments, right? You're like, you're like, oh yeah, yep, this guy here, freaking 23 years old, probably works at freaking Mr. Tire.
Bryan Pollock [00:35:20]:
You can tell by the comment. Anyways, um, so yeah, so then it has, but you know, it goes into this huge, you know, if things keep going in this direction, What are we going to be dealing with down the road as far as competency? And because to stay at— obviously the efforts aren't matching, the efforts industry-wide aren't matching. The effort will not get you to the competency level that we need to be to service modern automobiles, right? Because we look at what a lot of these people are working on, they're not even working on new shit. Freaking working on 8 and 10-year-old shit. Like, you can't get through a freaking— this problem on a 2018 and all the information's already out there and the parts are already out there and the Identifix tracks are already out there and the pattern failures are already out there and all the information's already been shared in the aftermarket. Like, dude, what are you going to do when a 2025 comes in? 2026, 2027. So—
Mike Allen [00:36:20]:
I got a Scanner Danner shop package with—
Bryan Pollock [00:36:24]:
That's a fantastic idea.
Mike Allen [00:36:26]:
10 licenses and 10 books. I ordered 10 of the books and I passed out—
Bryan Pollock [00:36:30]:
Fantastic book.
Mike Allen [00:36:31]:
And I had, uh, one of the guys that I got it for, like, I had to like beat on him to get him to set up his ScannerDanner. You have to set up a free ScannerDanner account, and then I send the user ID in to Paul and they switch it over to a premium account, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:36:46]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:36:47]:
So I had to drag it out of him. And he, and you know, in the interview, yeah, I want to be— I want to learn to be a master tech. I want to come to a shop that's not just doing you know, the easy stuff, because I'm not being challenged and I'm not learning. And I couldn't get him to sign up for ScannerDanner, which I was paying for. I gave him the book.
Bryan Pollock [00:37:04]:
And it's the easiest way to learn electrical and drivability diagnostics. It literally is.
Mike Allen [00:37:09]:
Every technician, every resume that comes— not every—
Bryan Pollock [00:37:13]:
most technicians, most technicians, that's the easiest way to learn it. Most, and not all.
Mike Allen [00:37:18]:
And most technical resumes that you get, when you ask what are your strengths, And what are your— what areas do you struggle? What's your area for growth, right? Whatever, however you want to phrase it. What do you suck at? It's always electrical, electrical, electrical. Well, giving you a world-class resource for free and everything you need to know. If you don't like book, I've got premium online access with the videos.
Bryan Pollock [00:37:43]:
Freaking flip it on on Saturday morning and watch the television while you're doing— while you're cooking eggs.
Mike Allen [00:37:49]:
He's going to work for the city. He moved his toolbox out and gave me the, uh, gave me Paul's book back and it had never been opened.
Bryan Pollock [00:37:58]:
Like, and they all want to learn. Yeah. The other, the other thing we did, I was just, I was just talking with another shop owner today. They always talk about how the training is too basic. This is too basic, too basic, too basic. They're seeing how long a basic testing problem comeback sits in their shop. Because you can't get through it. And this is a guy that thinks training is too basic.
Bryan Pollock [00:38:27]:
This technician that's dealing with this vehicle, oh no, this class is too basic. Well, they got— they have a too basic problem that the owner of that shop knows, likely knows what's wrong with it already. I know Not what's wrong with it because I haven't seen the vehicle, but I know the testing procedure off the top of my head, how the monitor is ran for that specific code. But this is a person that, oh, this class is too basic, that class is too basic, too basic, too basic, too basic. Well, here's a basic problem. We're not getting it done right everywhere.
Mike Allen [00:39:03]:
What I wish we could have access to where we could like see the data and name names is I wish I could see the backend analytics and reporting that, uh, today's class has. Because they know what you know and don't know.
Mike Allen [00:39:21]:
Uh-huh.
Mike Allen [00:39:22]:
And, and it, and it's—
Bryan Pollock [00:39:24]:
I can tell you, um, the ASE, if you ever go read— so like today's class, you can't see other people's comments on questions.
Mike Allen [00:39:34]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:39:35]:
ASE has a feedback button on the app where you can see what other people comment. And oh my gosh, are people so confidently wrong when they're like, this question's wrong, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, no, the question's not wrong. It's the question's absolutely right. You don't know what the hell you're talking about. And the worst part is, you know, just enough about this, where you think you actually know something. So you're the most annoying type of person to deal with on the face of the planet. Because you don't actually know the subject, but you think you do.
Bryan Pollock [00:40:06]:
And it's super annoying. And then that, that another fricking conversation I had today when people are talking about, well, it's going to turn to government intervention. No, here's what government intervention is going to look like. Government intervention is going to look like this. There's going to be fricking 95% of the shops out there ain't going to be able to find their own asshole with a machete, a tour guide, and a roadmap. Right. And the fricking DMV or the, the National Highway Safety, whatever. They're not going to do anything about that.
Mike Allen [00:40:36]:
Is the tour guide cute?
Bryan Pollock [00:40:38]:
No, ugly tour guide.
Mike Allen [00:40:39]:
All right, copy.
Bryan Pollock [00:40:41]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:40:42]:
I'm sorry.
Bryan Pollock [00:40:44]:
The federal— the government's not going to do anything about that though. You know what they're going to do? They're going to have shops, shops that either the shop owner or the shop owner retains somebody that knows or whatever, the shops that can actually get to the bottom of the complicated problems. Are going to realize that as everybody's, oh, work-life balance, work-life balance, as everybody's skill sets across the industry continue to shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink, and they're going to have the guy or the girl or the guys or the team, right? Because maybe somebody's not a super duper tech here, but maybe they are here, right? The team that can figure out the problem, that shop's going to know what they have, not to sound like Facebook Marketplace, and they're going to be like, you know what? F all these clowns. You want your freaking light figured out that's been to 3 other shops? No problem. It's $400 an hour, right? And what's going to happen is government intervention isn't going to go to those other shops that charge the customer to put the wrong parts on. Government intervention looks like something the New York State DMV just started. They have a whole unit dedicated to price gouging. So we're not worried about shops that are putting fucking catalytic converters on over a freaking exhaust gasket leak or a bad O2 sensor.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:01]:
But fuck, if this guy decides that he's got to make $340 an hour to work on that piece of shit because he's not billing any parts during the diagnostic, somebody's gonna be up their ass about the price. Meanwhile, I go up to the new stadium, beer's gonna be $20 a can, but they want to talk to me about price gouging. That's what government intervention looks like. It's already started in New York State. Nobody gives a shit about the shops that didn't do the job right. Let's talk about this shop that we think charged too much for that job. In a capitalist society, if it's too much, go somewhere else. There's a shop on every corner.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:32]:
I live out in the boonies. I drive past— I drive past 6 shops a day. I live in the middle of nowhere. If you think it's too much, go somewhere else. Nope. We got a whole unit dedicated to price gouging. And that's what government intervention looks like. And that's why everybody's so fucking pissed off about it.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:47]:
Because all of us that know what it looks like are already dealing with it. Hence me in New York State with a whole ass price gouging unit, but a nobody didn't fix the fucking car right unit have to deal with the bullshit.
Mike Allen [00:43:00]:
So do you know who government intervention price gouging unit is not going to fuck with?
Bryan Pollock [00:43:06]:
Who's that?
Mike Allen [00:43:06]:
Free Diet Guy.
Bryan Pollock [00:43:09]:
Oh, fuck you, asshole. Oh gosh, I'm telling you, it's, it's enraging. You freaking go over to the state, the Bills just got done with a new stadium, right? It's not the Bills, the freaking county, but they signed it over to the state, whatever, you know, politics, government.
Mike Allen [00:43:29]:
The team that's never won a championship, you got a new stadium.
Bryan Pollock [00:43:32]:
Fucking kill you. Um, anyways, um, anyhow, yes, the team that's, uh, never won a, uh, yeah.
Mike Allen [00:43:39]:
That's okay, the Sabres have pulled through. Oh wait.
Bryan Pollock [00:43:42]:
Oh, shut the fuck up, Mike. See this pen?
Mike Allen [00:43:46]:
See this?
Bryan Pollock [00:43:46]:
See this pen? Look at this. Anyhow, um, so anyways, you're gonna go there in the fall and it's gonna be for a freaking Labatt Blue Light. It's gonna be $20 fucking dollars and there's gonna be no government officials there to investigate any price gouging because they got you trapped in this little concrete prison watching a bunch of people throw a dead pig around. Right? Nobody's going to go investigate the price gouging. Auto shop charges. And then who determines, who determines? We just, this has been a conversation I've had already because somebody in our local shop owners group got a visit from the price gouging unit. Right?
Mike Allen [00:44:26]:
Okay.
Bryan Pollock [00:44:26]:
Well, he's got a really nice shop. He's got a really nice shop. Um, his technicians from, from what I gather, I don't know the details. You know how like sometimes you just look from the outside, you can tell.
Mike Allen [00:44:39]:
Yeah, he probably pays his guys well.
Bryan Pollock [00:44:41]:
He pays his guy well. Those guys have benefits. He has a whole training. Yeah. All the right tooling. He's got a training room in there, all the resources, whatever they need. Right. He's got a real nice shop.
Bryan Pollock [00:44:54]:
Well, newsflash, it costs money to do all that. So then who decides what price gouging is? Because some shithole running out of a rented storage unit charges less, he's gouging now? Like, how does that work?
Mike Allen [00:45:05]:
That's like a legit question. That's, that's some bullshit.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:07]:
Who decides? Who decides? The dude's rent's high. He's in the high rent district.
Mike Allen [00:45:11]:
The voters of New York State who put that government in place over and over and over and over.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:17]:
No, the frickin 5 counties downstate have decided, not the voters of New York State.
Mike Allen [00:45:22]:
I get that.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:23]:
Well, there's 63 counties.
Mike Allen [00:45:24]:
The major metro areas decide policy for everywhere now, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:45:27]:
For everywhere. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:45:28]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:29]:
Montreal, Canada is closer to my house But somebody further away than them is deciding. But Montreal is not close.
Mike Allen [00:45:38]:
But the 5 boroughs get to decide how your business operates.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:42]:
Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's more than just the 5 boroughs. I think, I think it might be like, you know, on the map it might be like 50. There's like 63 counties and 55 of them are pretty aligned. And there's the other, however, the other 8.
Mike Allen [00:45:58]:
Well, the other 8 are also very aligned.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:01]:
Yeah, and they're deciding for the whole state.
Mike Allen [00:46:03]:
Yeah, well, but I mean, you know, that's the majority of the population. Yeah, I know, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:46:08]:
So I get it.
Mike Allen [00:46:09]:
How do you, how do you balance that? Because, right, there's the Electoral College, right, uh, that was designed to try to strike a balance between density and, and, you know, giving representation to the people in the rural areas.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:23]:
But, um, we're not feeling very represented. Don't get me started about the people who move out of the city out here ever since COVID Oh, freaking drive me nuts.
Mike Allen [00:46:33]:
Oh, they're gonna come, they're gonna come get off your area. They fucked up their area.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:37]:
Don't get me started. Don't get me started, Mike.
Mike Allen [00:46:39]:
Anyways, that's why Texas is slowly turning into California light.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:43]:
Yep. So move to Idaho.
Mike Allen [00:46:47]:
Idaho's still just the land of extremism and, uh, malicious I remember I got a buddy who has some shops in, uh, in Idaho and the Coeur d'Alene area. And, uh, during, uh, the, the riots during COVID they were very like racially fueled riots, you know, about police brutality towards Black people and that kind of thing. Um, he was like, we heard that they're gonna bus some rioters up from California to Coeur d'Alene, so we're all getting our guns and going downtown.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:21]:
That's like every small town across America.
Mike Allen [00:47:23]:
I was like, you, are you fucking kidding me right now? You think that they care about Coeur d'Alene enough that they're gonna come and try to burn down your town a 5-hour drive away from the nearest liberal city? You know, you never know, man. Come on, buddy. Come on, man.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:41]:
What did I ask? How did we end up here? Where did this start at?
Mike Allen [00:47:44]:
I don't know. I think we were talking about, uh, we were talking about government intervention.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:49]:
Government intervention. Yeah. So anyways, that's— if you ever see me irritated about what, um, um, government intervention looks like, that's why I'm mad about it. Because not only, not only could they not fix the problem, even if they were to, they won't even address the right problem. They don't even have the capability of fixing the actual problems. They couldn't even do that. Even if they could identify them, they couldn't fix them.
Mike Allen [00:48:13]:
Well, let me ask you this, like The big problems that are there, and by the nature of the independent aftermarket, it's so disparate and so divided and so fragmented. Sure, we can't all agree on anything in the first place, much less solve any of the big problems because we all feel like there are different ways to solve them.
Bryan Pollock [00:48:31]:
I've commented before, nobody can even figure out what freaking coolant they need to put in a car, but we're gonna solve the freaking—
Mike Allen [00:48:38]:
But we are gonna have a fixed price and get a letter from the Attorney General about the coolant. Um, so, but we spend all this time talking around the problems and talking around the problems and the different viewpoints. Fuck, Lucas and Tanika and I are going to do a class about that exact thing. We're never going to fix them.
Bryan Pollock [00:48:58]:
No, that's why, that's why I have such a problem with people who are like, well, you know, I don't really, you know, there's no need to really, uh, badmouth the other shop and this, that, and the other thing. No, if the freaking customer Had an absolute Neanderthal working on their car and you have the invoice and you have the pictures and you have the documentation to prove it, tell the customer that that guy was a fricking Neanderthal and they need to go get their money back. Like, how does anything get fixed if you can't even advise the customer that they're probably entitled to their money back? How do you fix anything? How do— like, okay, you can't even tell the customer that. Okay. How do we fix anything? Right? I mean, that's what I do. And I don't— you know what, I've had situations with cars where it's a shop owner local and you make a phone call and the shop owner's like, holy crap, man, yeah dude, just freaking fix it up and run my card. You know, I've had that situation before, you know.
Mike Allen [00:49:55]:
But definitely had situations where a customer's car has, you know, had a warrantable breakdown out of town and I just call, find an independent where they are and say, hey man, Need to check this out. If we fuck this up, tell me I fucked it up and I'm just gonna pay for it to be fixed.
Bryan Pollock [00:50:09]:
Yep.
Mike Allen [00:50:10]:
And if it wasn't us, please tell me it wasn't us. This is a good customer, they'll pay for you to fix it, you know?
Bryan Pollock [00:50:14]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:50:15]:
Um, but I don't know, man. I think, um, I mean, the conversations are fun. That's why we have these conversations and record them all the time. But are we going to solve any of the issues?
Bryan Pollock [00:50:29]:
No, no, we're just strapping in for what's coming.
Mike Allen [00:50:32]:
Correction. We are going to solve the issues at ASTA Expo in the hospitality suite.
Bryan Pollock [00:50:37]:
That's right.
Mike Allen [00:50:38]:
With 2 tiny people that are there to wish Brian a happy 40th birthday.
Bryan Pollock [00:50:43]:
We are not having midgets at the— well, I shouldn't say that.
Mike Allen [00:50:47]:
I don't know.
Bryan Pollock [00:50:47]:
I don't know. Maybe we will.
Mike Allen [00:50:49]:
They're really nice dudes. And I mean, they got great dance moves.
Bryan Pollock [00:50:53]:
You know, I, uh, I'll tell you what, I, I was going to say there's no way there will be midgets there, but there was like aliens and spacewalkers there last year.
Mike Allen [00:51:00]:
So I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna— if I arranged it, would you Jell-O wrestle multiple tiny people?
Bryan Pollock [00:51:11]:
Fuck yeah. Whoa, Jell-O wrestle? Uh, it's all slippery and shit.
Mike Allen [00:51:16]:
What about—
Bryan Pollock [00:51:16]:
I gotta be able to grab a hold. I gotta be able to grab a hold. No, I can't be doing that in any lube.
Mike Allen [00:51:22]:
Okay, uh, what about, uh, just, just dry wrestling? Dry wrestling?
Bryan Pollock [00:51:27]:
Oh yeah, that'd be great.
Mike Allen [00:51:28]:
All right.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:28]:
You imagine how far I could throw one of them things?
Mike Allen [00:51:31]:
Those things.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:34]:
See ya, sucker.
Mike Allen [00:51:39]:
You throw them all the way to the Miata.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:44]:
I was on the phone with somebody the other day and they said, you know, people probably wouldn't mess with you so much if they seen how effortlessly— I can't talk.
Mike Allen [00:51:53]:
Effortlessly you threw Zeb.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:55]:
That I picked up Zeb off the ground with a bad back. He's like, the people probably wouldn't mess with you. I go, well, that's okay. They can—
Mike Allen [00:52:03]:
Did you see Zeb's invitation to the expo?
Bryan Pollock [00:52:06]:
Yes, it's amazing. I was— I think, I think I was supposed to— Maybe it'll be—
Mike Allen [00:52:14]:
it might be spliced into this episode, so I hope it is.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:17]:
But, uh, that'd be awesome.
Mike Allen [00:52:19]:
That guy's a genius.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:20]:
That's the perfect— actually, this I think this podcast is the perfect spot to have that. Perfect spot. Where else would you put that one? What other podcast could you put that clip on?
Mike Allen [00:52:33]:
Remarkable Results.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:35]:
Probably not. No, no, I can send it. I'll send it to Tracy, see what she thinks, see if she wants to splice it in.
Mike Allen [00:52:44]:
Tell her I'll give her, uh, $5 and a bottle of Busch Light.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:50]:
Ooh, it's probably gonna be a no-go.
Mike Allen [00:52:53]:
Um, Molson Ice Light? I don't know what—
Bryan Pollock [00:52:57]:
You can't have Molson Ice and Light. Do they make a— they don't make an Ice Light.
Mike Allen [00:53:01]:
I don't know.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:04]:
You're listing every gas station beer you've ever seen.
Mike Allen [00:53:07]:
Has it done 200 miles an hour at Daytona? It's my kind of beer.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:13]:
Oh gosh.
Mike Allen [00:53:14]:
All right.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:14]:
Well, anyways, after I went off the rails on—
Mike Allen [00:53:17]:
I forgot to hit record. Is that a problem? Should we start over?
Bryan Pollock [00:53:19]:
Fuck.
Mike Allen [00:53:20]:
I'm just kidding.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:22]:
Strap in. Even the dog's mad. The dog's looking at me. She's like, you fucking kidding me right now? What else is new, Mike?
Mike Allen [00:53:33]:
Oh, man. So my wife gave notice at her job over the weekend, and today was her first day back since then. And her contract said 90-day notice clause. And so she actually gave them notice to the end of the year. So she gave 4 months notice.
Mike Allen [00:53:50]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:53:52]:
And no one spoke of it all day in the office.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:59]:
They're just pretending it's not happening.
Mike Allen [00:54:00]:
It's like it doesn't exist. Like it's not a thing. So whatever. You have 4 months to figure it out. So that happened. Hired 4 guys between last week and this week. All additions, no replacements, all additions. So that's exciting.
Mike Allen [00:54:21]:
Um, yeah, it's time.
Bryan Pollock [00:54:26]:
Good.
Mike Allen [00:54:26]:
Um, it was getting to the point where I was missing about 20 phone calls a day at one of the shops, uh, just because the guys are like— I'm like, that's 20 phone calls, that's probably That's 7 or 8 cars out of those 20 phone calls, right? You would think so. That's—
Bryan Pollock [00:54:42]:
I would hope. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:54:43]:
Yeah. 3 hours per repair order. That's another, call it 20 hours a day. Um, so yeah, we added an advisor and a tech there. Then I added an advisor at another store and a tech at another store. And we've shuffled a couple guys around, kind of load leveling skillset so that we have high-level guys with guys that can learn from them. You know, that kind of thing. Um, trying not to be like Wilco and have one grumpy old guy who can fix everything but nobody else can.
Bryan Pollock [00:55:14]:
So, ah, it's not like that. It's just, I don't know, it's annoying, annoying little things lately. Annoying little things that people could do better with. I, you know, and I'm always screwing up too, but at least, you know, I feel like I feel bad about it.
Mike Allen [00:55:28]:
I don't know.
Mike Allen [00:55:29]:
Do, uh, do your guys listen to the podcast?
Bryan Pollock [00:55:32]:
I don't think so.
Mike Allen [00:55:34]:
Do they know?
Bryan Pollock [00:55:34]:
Or they might. Or they might. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. One of my guys does. And I said, I don't know who Mr. Subaru is. He goes, you recorded— he's Canadian. So he goes, you recorded a podcast with Mr.
Bryan Pollock [00:55:46]:
Subaru? And I said, no, man, I didn't. He's like, bro, I saw you. I'm like, no, no, you didn't. He actually blew his— he actually hurt himself playing kickball. The other day.
Mike Allen [00:56:00]:
That's one of the most embarrassing moments of my life was playing kickball. Um, I, I don't know why I share these things.
Bryan Pollock [00:56:12]:
This is gonna be great. I'm ready.
Mike Allen [00:56:15]:
I wound up for the big kick, and this is, uh, kickball on the beach, very wide beach at low tide. You know, we had suckered in like 8 or 9 people from other families, kids, adults, everything. And this is going to be so good. It's like slow pitch, like you pitch to your own team kickball. And I wind up for like a fricking home run. It's going to be great.
Bryan Pollock [00:56:40]:
You're going to kick it like into the stratosphere.
Mike Allen [00:56:42]:
I missed the ball.
Bryan Pollock [00:56:43]:
Oh, you were like Charlie Brown with a football.
Mike Allen [00:56:45]:
Yeah, 100%. And my— I swung so hard that I fell backwards and hit my butt and the back of my head. On the hard-packed wet sand and was injured.
Bryan Pollock [00:56:58]:
You were injured? Brought the kickball game—
Mike Allen [00:57:00]:
brought the kickball game to a grinding halt. Like, look, I never—
Bryan Pollock [00:57:05]:
You fell so hard playing a bullshit sport on a bullshit surface, you were injured.
Mike Allen [00:57:11]:
I mean, look, there was significant alcohol involved, but that's no excuse. Um, I'm pretty sure my oldest is ashamed of me to this day.
Bryan Pollock [00:57:20]:
This is the greatest day of my life.
Mike Allen [00:57:23]:
And you know what? When I came out of the concussion, I was like, fuck, I need a Miata.
Bryan Pollock [00:57:28]:
That's what happens.
Mike Allen [00:57:29]:
I need, I need a Miata and a podcast.
Bryan Pollock [00:57:31]:
That all makes sense. Freaking guy hit his head. I got it now. It's all coming together. Oh my gosh. What have I— I've had some embarrassing things like that happen. I freaking fell down the stairs once.
Mike Allen [00:57:46]:
I think I had more embarrassment from that than I did from my balls out for the customer thing. How—
Bryan Pollock [00:57:51]:
what's your embarrassment level, um, after Jeff mopped the floor with you sumo wrestling?
Mike Allen [00:57:56]:
Uh, I want you to know that, uh, if we have been playing real rule sumo, I got his back foot out of the circle before he threw me both times.
Bryan Pollock [00:58:05]:
Threw you? Threw you?
Mike Allen [00:58:07]:
Yeah, yeah. So I dominated that match.
Bryan Pollock [00:58:10]:
I feel like I wasn't paying attention.
Mike Allen [00:58:12]:
Yes, because you were prepping to murder Zeb. You're—
Bryan Pollock [00:58:16]:
I did not murder Zeb. We were gently sparring.
Mike Allen [00:58:20]:
Picked him up like this and threw him onto the couch.
Bryan Pollock [00:58:23]:
I did not pick him up over my head. That did not happen.
Mike Allen [00:58:27]:
Twirl.
Bryan Pollock [00:58:27]:
Not in that condition. Twirl.
Mike Allen [00:58:29]:
That's like a baton.
Bryan Pollock [00:58:32]:
I, you know, I'm kind of sad. I don't think there's going to be sumo wrestling this year. Doesn't seem like maybe.
Mike Allen [00:58:38]:
Well, I told him that if there was, I wasn't going to be a fucking part of it. I'll tell you that much.
Bryan Pollock [00:58:42]:
Oh, I really want to. I've been I was hoping there would be because I would 100% call out David for sumo wrestling.
Mike Allen [00:58:48]:
Well, unless Jeff paid me more, because he paid me $5,000 last year to take the fall. Oh, shut up. If he paid me more—
Bryan Pollock [00:58:54]:
No way. He didn't pay you anything.
Mike Allen [00:58:57]:
No, he understood that the Jaded Mechanic couldn't possibly lose to the ESO. It would be too bad for the optics. And, you know, I got, I got no pride. I was willing to—
Bryan Pollock [00:59:04]:
You've got no pride. I'm not a sellout, but I'll do anything for money.
Mike Allen [00:59:08]:
$20 is $20. I kept my socks on.
Bryan Pollock [00:59:14]:
Oh my gosh. Anyway, people got to get to the expo. They got to go.
Mike Allen [00:59:19]:
It's going to be—
Bryan Pollock [00:59:20]:
I'm excited about it. Flights booked, hotels booked, everything's booked.
Mike Allen [00:59:25]:
Uh, we are, uh, the, uh, ticket sales are outpacing last year, uh, already, so it'll be bigger than it's ever been. The expo floor is double the size that it was last year, and all the meals are going to be held in the middle of the expo floor. We're going to have like a dining area set out there, and there's going to be a restaurant attached to the back. Um, it's gonna be good.
Bryan Pollock [00:59:50]:
I'm, uh, I find it, I find it funny that I have to, uh, I'm in charge of 4 small humans, a dog, and a cat, but like Callie has to babysit me. She's like, hey, are you going to register as a speaker or what? And I'm like, yeah, gotcha. And that's not what she said because you know how she doesn't talk like that.
Mike Allen [01:00:10]:
Yeah, because she's super polite and super kind always.
Bryan Pollock [01:00:13]:
Yeah, super kind. She said it in the most kindest way possible. And I'm like, oh yeah, I'll probably do that. And then there was something else.
Mike Allen [01:00:21]:
I don't know. I did send her a message the other day asking a question, and she responded to me with an AI response, and I called her out on that shit. I was like, Nobody puts that many hyphenated words in their text messages. Did you just use ChatGPT to respond to me? And she was like, look, I've got a lot going on, okay?
Bryan Pollock [01:00:41]:
That's awesome. That's awesome. I told her, I said, you know, I'm kind of embarrassed that I'm in charge of 4 humans, a dog, and a cat, and that, uh, you have to babysit. I'm like, I've done this ASTA thing multiple times, and you have to But anyways, anyways, we're all squared away.
Mike Allen [01:00:58]:
So yeah, yeah, we still gotta, uh, I still haven't booked my flights for, uh, Apex and SEMA, but I promise I'll do that this week. I promised you this week, so I'm going to do that. Fingers crossed we'll get there.
Bryan Pollock [01:01:12]:
Um, are you like me and you keep waiting for the prices to go down? You're like, the fuck, why is it so fucking expensive?
Mike Allen [01:01:18]:
Never go down.
Bryan Pollock [01:01:19]:
It's insane.
Mike Allen [01:01:20]:
I'm investigating that thing that we talked about in the place with the stuff. I think it's going to be awesome. More, more to come later once we figure out if we'll get arrested or put on a blacklist for it. Um, so we'll see.
Bryan Pollock [01:01:35]:
Oh, awesome times. Yeah, it's freaking great.
Mike Allen [01:01:40]:
Good conversation, sir. Glad you're doing well. Sorry about the Corvette. I'll let you know how the Attorney General goes.
Bryan Pollock [01:01:45]:
All right, sounds good.
Mike Allen [01:01:46]:
See ya. Thanks for listening to Confessions of a Shop Owner, where we lay it all out— the good, the bad, and sometimes the super messed up. I'm your host, Mike Allen, here to My goal is to remind you that even the pros screw it up sometimes, so why not laugh a little bit, learn a little bit, and maybe have another drink? You got a confession of your own or a topic you'd like me to cover, or do you just want to let me know what an idiot I am? Email mike@confessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number is 704-CONFESS. That's 704-266-3377. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, or follow us on social media. Follow. Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership.
Mike Allen [01:02:24]:
I'll see you on the next episode.
Mike Allen [01:02:29]:
Thank you.