Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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.
Mike Allen [00:00:00]:
And here's one of the things that also crawls up my ass a little bit. These same technicians are in here saying, oh, nobody makes that much money. You must be stealing. Oh, that's crooked. You're. You're. You're a hack or whatever else. These are the same guys that are bitching about how they can't get paid enough and techs aren't paid well enough yet.
Mike Allen [00:00:14]:
When there's a technician who is getting paid through the moon, he's got to be a thief. This whole industry is a bunch of fucking crabs in a bucket. When one starts crawling out, the other ones grab them and drag them back down because they can't stand for somebody else to be successful when they're not. Fuck you guys.
Bryan Pollock [00:00:34]:
The following program features a bunch of
Mike Allen [00:00:36]:
doofuses talking about the automotive aftermarket.
Bryan Pollock [00:00:39]:
The stuff we or our guests may
Mike Allen [00:00:41]:
say do not necessarily reflect the beliefs
Bryan Pollock [00:00:43]:
of our peers, our sponsors, or any
Mike Allen [00:00:46]:
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 in the history of ever. Do that face again right now. Do that face again.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:08]:
I will not. I will not.
Mike Allen [00:01:12]:
That was awesome. So anyway, we've had so much fun lately talking together amongst us privately about the comments in our video sections that we thought. I'm not even gonna say we. Braxton thought it would be amazing for us to just record us talking about how stupid some of the people in the comment section.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:47]:
Yeah, it was funny. One night, you guys were going back and forth for like 20 minutes ripping people in the comments, and I was like, hey, guys, that's enough.
Mike Allen [00:01:55]:
Stop.
Bryan Pollock [00:01:56]:
You need to get a microphone and a video camera. My name is Timmy Technician, and I can't math.
Mike Allen [00:02:04]:
And you know what? That was fine when you were a technician in the 70s and 80s, but evidently the level of cognitive aptitude required to be a competent technician has increased significantly, whereas the general ability maybe has not kept pace.
Bryan Pollock [00:02:24]:
Yeah, the comments are really connecting the dots for me. Really started to figure a lot of stuff out. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:02:31]:
What episode was it where you were like, it was. Was it. It was one of the ones in Tools. I wasn't there. But you were talking about how average effort equals average pay output.
Bryan Pollock [00:02:45]:
Yeah. Was that Chris Ganey? I think that was the. When the. The four of us sat down. Braxton, was it okay? Yeah, because I think the reel that just got released was actually a jaded reel.
Mike Allen [00:02:59]:
Right, right. Yeah, that's fair.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:01]:
The average. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:03:03]:
To be fair, I haven't watched another podcast episodes. I, I haven't watched any of the episodes from Tools. I hear they were great. Thank you for that. I appreciate it.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:15]:
Good luck.
Mike Allen [00:03:15]:
Do you guys, I mean, like, Brian, do you watch episodes that you're not part of?
Bryan Pollock [00:03:22]:
I don't watch episodes that I am part of.
Mike Allen [00:03:24]:
Well, yeah, I mean, that's a given because you're part of it. Like you, you were there for it. You don't need to watch it again. Right?
Bryan Pollock [00:03:29]:
Yeah. I think like if somebody says something, if somebody messages me about like one of your coaching call episodes, like, I'll try to find the section they're talking about. Not like negatively, but. No, Brian, like something to do with a report or something. Ryan doesn't watch the full content. He just goes on and just watches the reel and gets a snippet and then gets all mad.
Mike Allen [00:03:50]:
You know what I find?
Bryan Pollock [00:03:50]:
No, that's not the best.
Mike Allen [00:03:51]:
The best thing is to comment on short form content without the entire context of the conversation.
Bryan Pollock [00:03:59]:
Yes, yes. While also thinking, you know, way more about the subject than you actually do. That's very important. That's the most important part is to make sure that you think you know way more than you actually do about it.
Mike Allen [00:04:12]:
Well, I think that's most of us, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:04:14]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know everything.
Mike Allen [00:04:18]:
Do you have a favorite rage filled comment section video of. Of recent memory?
Bryan Pollock [00:04:29]:
I mean, my honest, honestly, my favorite one is. And you know what? I'm not even a huge fan. But my, my favorite One is the 358k technician. Just because the lack of. Just because the lack of listening skills. Right. The lack of. Now I didn't listen to that whole episode.
Bryan Pollock [00:04:49]:
I didn't listen to any of it, quite honestly, other than the real. Pertaining to that specific. And I was able to make out that the previous employer of that technician would not pay him the extra dollar an hour to get him to like 28 or 29, whatever it was.
Mike Allen [00:05:07]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:07]:
And we have comments full of people saying, I'm gonna read one. The math is not mathing at $28 an hour flat rate. Nobody said anything about him making that right now they said he quit that place. Yeah, yeah. 240.3 hours per week. Nobody listen, Michael, Nobody said anything about him making $28 an hour. Still, it's, It's a fantastic.
Mike Allen [00:05:31]:
Reggie, who's our top producer, flat rate technician, wanted $1 more an hour, 27 to 28.
Bryan Pollock [00:05:37]:
That was Reggie.
Mike Allen [00:05:38]:
Yeah. And they wouldn't, they wouldn't give me permission. It got rejected. I was in no control of my people. It was over. This, this guy who turns 110 hours of flat rate a week. $1. They wouldn't give him a dollar.
Mike Allen [00:05:51]:
Where's Reggie today?
Bryan Pollock [00:05:54]:
He made $358,000 last year.
Mike Allen [00:05:57]:
He's an automotive technician working in the shop who made $350,000 last year. He's on track for close to 400. The reason I asked the question about where Reggie is right now is because I was going to go find that and try to hire him, but they had already hired.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:11]:
Let's make sure that we understand a couple things. That's, that's Matt and I assume that's like maybe like his, one of his managers, right hand guy. Okay. Yeah, that's his right hand man. And he said they wouldn't, they wouldn't, wouldn't let me give, wouldn't give me permission. Which implies that if it was at Matt's shop, he wouldn't be saying they. In that situation. You weren't involved in this conversation and you never.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:39]:
Nothing.
Mike Allen [00:06:39]:
This is, haven't listened to the full conversation.
Bryan Pollock [00:06:41]:
Right. This is basic. So this tells a lot of things about the people in the comments. So we have people in the comments that couldn't deduce from that video what was going on there. And then they wonder why they're not making a lot of money. I bet you if they couldn't figure that out, they're probably not that great at do going through like logical based diagnostic procedures there. It's probably. If you can't get there from here or right on that one, I don't know how you're going to actually fix anything.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:12]:
It's, it's, it really opened my eyes.
Mike Allen [00:07:14]:
So many comments were the math ain't mathing or $28 an hour times 110 hours times 52 weeks doesn't work.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:23]:
Yeah, he doesn't make 28 anymore, man. It's obvious in the, in the video. Like what are you even talking about?
Mike Allen [00:07:29]:
Oh my. Well, my favorite one was a dude who said there is no auto tech in the United States making $300,000 a year. Even if he's fed like a racehorse, he's only bringing in 70 to 80,000 a year.
Bryan Pollock [00:07:46]:
And I was like, guy, hey, I got a message for that guy. If that's what he believes based on what he's making right now with what he's doing. You know the biggest lie everybody was ever told Is that you can be whatever you want. I'm not going to be an Olympic high jumper. No matter how hard I try, it's not going to happen. Or a pole vaulter or you name a plethora of things.
Mike Allen [00:08:11]:
Maybe if you kill everyone else,
Bryan Pollock [00:08:16]:
all the other people and unfortunately, auto repair has gotten complicated. And it's not for everybody. It's on. That's. That's the friendliest way I can say it. It's not easy, man.
Mike Allen [00:08:36]:
It's not easy.
Bryan Pollock [00:08:37]:
And it's extra hard if you can't figure out that Reggie was not making $28 an hour anymore. Because neither Reggie or Matt's right hand man are working for they anymore.
Mike Allen [00:08:50]:
No, but for real, for a long time it was Aaron Stokes was Lightning Rod, and then it was Todd Hayes, and now it's Matt Curry. So people just want to shit all over anything that has Matt Curry's name attached to it. But like, I mean, he apparently has a very good business that does incredible numbers, that has incredibly happy customers and very happy employees.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:13]:
Well, I mean, we can make. We can make sense of this whole deal pretty easily. Right? It's not this 358k in, in Fairfax, Virginia. This isn't hard to make sense of. Right. The guy's making what, 65, 70 bucks an hour? He probably doesn't have much else to do. So he probably locks himself in the place for all the open hours. Which I had actually said that I had actually figured that based on, you know, 25 years of doing this, when you see something like that, you're like, all right, how's this possible? Fairfax, Virginia, Okay.
Bryan Pollock [00:09:42]:
It's expensive to live there, so that means the guy's probably getting paid a lot. And then I was like, well, if the guy freaking. You know, man, a guy, most people probably aren't gonna turn 110 or 120 in 40 hours. But I'll tell you what, if a guy locks himself in the place six days a week and then after I said that you had disclosed like a couple days later. Yeah, they have to tell him to go home.
Mike Allen [00:10:01]:
Yeah. It's one of. It's one of the wealthiest demographics in the country. And the guy works high traffic. Yeah, Incredibly high traffic. He works six days a week on
Bryan Pollock [00:10:11]:
a store that focuses on. Yeah, yep. In a place that focuses on not having super duper insanely technical ass kickers. Not that they don't do any dye. I'm not, I'm not trying to say they don't fix anything. I'm just, I'm just saying that they. Anything.
Mike Allen [00:10:27]:
They don't. They don't get bogged down by hero. Yeah, they don't. They're not getting bogged down with hero work. They're doing the stuff that you can make money on.
Bryan Pollock [00:10:33]:
They're. They're bolting a lot of parts on. Right. Which is. Which is fine. That's a business model and the tech, too.
Mike Allen [00:10:40]:
Want to see real wrenching? That's ego talking. That's ego talking.
Bryan Pollock [00:10:44]:
That's fine. It all depends on what your goal is. That if. Even if it's not, let's pretend that there is a judge and it's not real wrenching. That's still 358 grand a year, which, you know, if he's there six days a week, he's probably got a file, single and zero, because it doesn't have a lot of home life. So the government probably takes 125,000 bucks and then this, that, and the other thing, rent, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He probably ends up with 100 grand left over in Fairfax. Not bad.
Mike Allen [00:11:08]:
I bet his bass boats paid for. I bet he's okay.
Bryan Pollock [00:11:12]:
Yeah. Anyway, I just did.
Mike Allen [00:11:15]:
I got a lot of chuckles out of that clip just because there was so much rage. And here's one of the things that also crawls up my ass a little bit. These same technicians are in here saying, oh, nobody makes that much money. You must be stealing. Oh, that's crooked. You're. You're. You're a hack or whatever else.
Mike Allen [00:11:30]:
These are the same guys that are bitching about how they can't get paid enough and techs aren't paid well enough yet. When there's a technician who is getting paid through the moon, he's got to be a thief, right? This whole industry is a bunch of crabs in a bucket. When one starts crawling out, the other ones grab them and drag them back down because they can't stand for somebody else to be successful when they're not you guys.
Bryan Pollock [00:11:55]:
Oh, my gosh. That was amazing. I can't. I'm gonna edit that. Remember, I couldn't remember how to get back to my second screen. I. It was on the wrong side. I just liked it when Matt Curry posted the guy's W2.
Mike Allen [00:12:12]:
Yeah, he did. With permission. He redacted the name and address and posted home and was like, suck it, fellas. Here it is.
Bryan Pollock [00:12:21]:
Yeah, yeah. And I'm not. You know, I'm. Like I said, I'm not. I'm not. As you know, I'm not a Curry super fan. Right? You know that I'm not a Curry super fan, but there was nothing confusing about that video. And you know, if a lot of these guys were knew as much as they claim to know and were actually as experienced as they claim to be, they would see how that is totally possible.
Bryan Pollock [00:12:44]:
Does it happen every day? No. Is it the first W2 I've seen over a quarter million dollars a year also no. From a technician in a bay. It happens. There's guys out there that are, you know, they're the top 1% in the top 1% shops with the top 1% process that, you know, turn a quarter million dollars a year. And it's very few and far between, but it, it's a thing that happens.
Mike Allen [00:13:11]:
I think the problem is that a disproportionate number of the keyboard warriors in the comment sections all think that they are one of those 1 percenters.
Bryan Pollock [00:13:24]:
Yeah, they're not. Which is okay.
Mike Allen [00:13:28]:
And look, here's the deal. I'm not one of the 1 percenters of shop owners. I'd be lucky if I was, you know, in the 50th percentile. Just give me top of the bell curve, I'll be happy. But the folks that get all the hate, they are the 1 percenters, the Stokes and Hayes and. Well, okay, it depends on what your definition of success is.
Bryan Pollock [00:13:50]:
Sure.
Mike Allen [00:13:50]:
If it's just net profit, then they're 1 percenters. Right. But everybody has to choose how to define what their.
Bryan Pollock [00:13:59]:
Yeah. Which in their mind, in their, in the, you know, they've, they're achieving their goal. Yeah, right, that's their goal.
Mike Allen [00:14:07]:
If your goal is to be in your town and to be the guy in your town that everybody comes to when there's a problem that nobody can fix and you can fix it and to have the house, have your vehicles paid for and have no debt and, and make good money for you and your lifestyle choices, then great, then that's your definition of success. And you don't have to be open seven days a week or six days a week or even five days a week for a lot of, a lot of folks that are out there. And that's great. And screw anybody who wants to say that that definition of success is less important than I want to build a roll up target for a billion dollars. They're both definitions of success for different people. Sure. But that's one of the big problems that we have is that we all judge everyone else in our field based on our personal definition of success.
Bryan Pollock [00:14:59]:
So anyway, yeah, agreed.
Mike Allen [00:15:03]:
Our service advisors on average work about 10 hours a day. So you have a 10 hour day. We've looked at every single inbound and outbound phone call for the last period of time. And on average across the company, a service advisor spends two and a half hours on the phone per day. Now we're down to seven and a half hours. How long do you think a really good intake process and write up process goes from the time they walk in the door to the time you hang the keys on the dispatch board? And we agree that that's 10 minutes. How long from the time that they walk in the door until they leave with their keys to check out. That's prob a five or six minute conversation.
Mike Allen [00:15:31]:
Typically, sure, 15 minutes per customer. But we're doing 6.8 cars per advisor per day. So that's two hours and 20 minutes a day. Now we're at five hours of the day. Well, you know, we need to audit repair orders, review the repair order, make sure that all the right parts are on there. Sometimes we got to go back and ask questions with the technician, that kind of thing. So we, we told them 20 minutes per car on that too.
Bryan Pollock [00:15:49]:
Okay.
Mike Allen [00:15:50]:
We're trying to be really giving on that. So again, seven minutes or seven cars a day, rounded up two and a half hours now. Now we're at seven and a half hours. So we get two and a half hours if it's not on the phone because the sales conversation happens on the phone. Right. And that already accounted for. And if it's not greeting a customer or checking a customer out and it's not RO audits, what are the other two and a half hours going to?
Bryan Pollock [00:16:09]:
My favorite comment is fantastic. Rage bait. Well done, Braxton.
Mike Allen [00:16:14]:
My favorite, my favorite one is don't pay attention to me. I'm just here for the comments from people that don't understand what parody and sarcasm is. Keep it coming, bros. Oh yeah, yeah,
Bryan Pollock [00:16:26]:
yeah, I see him. Rage bait.
Mike Allen [00:16:31]:
So there were some service advisors that were and some coaches getting up in their feels in that comment section.
Bryan Pollock [00:16:39]:
Oh yeah.
Mike Allen [00:16:40]:
Suddenly it's a little bit awkward when you turn the same magnifying glass that technicians have been under for the last
Bryan Pollock [00:16:46]:
40 years and you track service advisor movement six minutes at a time, all day, every day.
Mike Allen [00:16:54]:
I mean, what does Becky Wet say that the value of a technician is by the minute. So what is it? I mean, if it's, I don't know, whatever the number is called, $10aminute for technician, then it's got to be at least like, you know, a buck 35aminute for service advisors, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:17:09]:
Oh, That was such good rage bait. Because everybody's like, there's no, there's no way I'd work for a. A shop that tracked my time like that. And I'm thinking, bro, everybody that's freaking working on cars in the back is probably under that magnifying glass like for their entire careers selling their soul six minutes at a time. One comment. I remember this guy's a joy to work for.
Mike Allen [00:17:42]:
I'm a raging to work for.
Bryan Pollock [00:17:44]:
Trust me, I do have. Do you have a high sense of urgency, Mike?
Mike Allen [00:17:48]:
Personally, no. I'm a piece of shit. But I really expect it from my. So anyway, I remember when my dad first got a consultant, went to his first coach way back when. It was when technician time management first filtered out of the dealership world into the aftermarket. And you had punch cards and you had to punch X time. So you punch in and out of every car that you're working on, but you also punched for what specific purpose? You are not working on a car. I'm on the tool truck.
Mike Allen [00:18:17]:
I'm waiting for parts. I'm waiting for authorization. I'm going to the. There was a. A code for bathroom time. I mean, that level.
Bryan Pollock [00:18:29]:
You're not going to believe micromanagement. Oh, you're not going to believe this. You won't believe it. But man, if you go work at a machine shop, they have punch cards too for job times. You're not going to believe it. It's. You know, they might get paid hourly, but they're micromanage month. That's nice.
Bryan Pollock [00:18:47]:
Let's see. 10 minutes intake is laughable. 20 is more likely if it takes you 20 minutes to write up Ms. Jones for oil change inspection. You got to go, bro. You're not. You ain't working. Nope.
Bryan Pollock [00:18:59]:
Bye.
Mike Allen [00:19:00]:
I think that's got to be a case of I'm applying the filter of my life to every possible interaction. And that might be a shop that doesn't even do well services. Right. That might be a specialty, you know, whatever. But can you imagine if we had clock in and out of their time spent on tick tock or I'm sorry, advisors time during the day.
Bryan Pollock [00:19:21]:
What's the. What's the one they've been on lately, though, where they. With the iPhones, where they play billiards? They play pool back and forth on iPhone.
Mike Allen [00:19:30]:
There's all sorts of games built into iMessage.
Bryan Pollock [00:19:33]:
Yeah,
Mike Allen [00:19:35]:
6.8.
Bryan Pollock [00:19:36]:
I don't have an iPhone.
Mike Allen [00:19:37]:
Seems to be the problem. Yeah, I agree. I need more cars. 10 minutes for a write up is funny. I mean, like, how advanced does the problem need to be on a car for it to take more than 10 minutes to write up? How often do you need a 20 minute conversation for the intake process?
Bryan Pollock [00:20:01]:
I mean, 10 minutes is a long time to have a back and forth about somebody's car. I would, I would go out to
Mike Allen [00:20:08]:
the car with the customer and doing a walk around and building.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:11]:
I would argue, I would argue, I'm gonna make the argument and there. This will be another rage bait for Braxton. I would make the argument that a lot of service advisors are going to start to get irritated when the write up process takes more than five minutes. When they have to do their job for more than five minutes. They start to get irritated when the customer wants to talk about, what's that?
Mike Allen [00:20:32]:
They need a safe space break.
Bryan Pollock [00:20:34]:
Yeah. They're like, oh, this guy wanted to talk about getting his balls checked on Tuesday at the Dr. And this, that and everything and blah blah, blah. It's like they're five minutes in, five minutes in, they're done with the conversation with the customer.
Mike Allen [00:20:48]:
Yeah, I. So you might find this hard to believe, but I was a really mediocre service advisor. I know that you were super.
Bryan Pollock [00:21:01]:
Oh, I can't believe it.
Mike Allen [00:21:03]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:21:04]:
You can't fix cars or write service. Yeah. Or run a shop right where you belong. You're right where you belong right now.
Mike Allen [00:21:11]:
Can't run a shop effectively.
Bryan Pollock [00:21:13]:
Those who can't fix or service right own.
Mike Allen [00:21:17]:
Those who can't do any of those things have a podcast.
Bryan Pollock [00:21:23]:
Those who can't who? Those who don't work on cars just have a podcast talking shit about service called Confessions of a Shop Owner. One of our listeners snuck up behind me while I was shoulder deep into the fender well of a Chevy the other day and said something like, wow, you actually work on cars. Which honestly was the rare instance. I was doing some actual mechanical work. So it's kind of funny that I was actually working.
Mike Allen [00:21:48]:
So how many of your employees listen to your podcast?
Bryan Pollock [00:21:55]:
Actually, today one of them asked me. They're like, what's up? You know, Mr. Subaru? I'm like, nope. I was on the phone with Justin Morgan and he's laughing in the background as I'm gaslighting this guy, saying, I don't have any idea who Mr. Subaru is. He's like, I seen you talking to him on Tick Tock. I'm like, that was somebody else, man. Man.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:12]:
Wasn't me.
Mike Allen [00:22:14]:
That was some other Sasquatch who doesn't work on cars.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:16]:
That was some other weirdo who doesn't work on cars. So few.
Mike Allen [00:22:25]:
No technician in America makes more than 70 or $80,000 a year. And that service advisors have the hardest.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:33]:
Are inherently lazy. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:22:35]:
Have the hardest job in the shop and should not be micromanaged. Okay.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:40]:
Yes.
Mike Allen [00:22:41]:
So we're two clips in. We have solved two of the biggest problems in the industry already.
Bryan Pollock [00:22:45]:
How many times in these groups have I responded to people? What do you mean by a tech? And they're like a guy that I can give everything. And I go here's the deal. I don't know everything. I know a lot of really smart people. I haven't met a guy you can give everything. I haven't met a guy that you're going to give a European immobilizer problem to and then he's going to rebuild a GM 10 speed and then he's going to put injectors, whatever. He's going to correctly diagnose some diesel injectors. Not just sling them in there.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:09]:
Right. And then do whatever else. Like, like it's, it's not going to happen. It's not a person, guys. The person doesn't exist anymore. People are big mad at that one. Yeah, they're big mad. Where do we find that one? Cuz everybody thinks they're the atac.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:25]:
Oh yeah.
Mike Allen [00:23:26]:
Oh.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:26]:
All the guys that are supposedly doing it was unbelievable. Oh you ain't never met me. Well I ain't never heard of you so you're probably not doing it. Let's see, let's see if we can find it. Someone said I've done all that within a 24 hour span. Plenty of us exist. We just don't exist captive inside a shop.
Mike Allen [00:23:47]:
Lol.
Bryan Pollock [00:23:48]:
What does that even mean? He's like a free range. He's like a free range chicken. What is he talking about?
Mike Allen [00:23:55]:
You went back and forth with him
Bryan Pollock [00:23:57]:
for a while and the and the deal is is even if they are doing it, they're not doing it efficiently. They make them no money doing it. So I think that's the reality.
Mike Allen [00:24:07]:
The underlying problem with this conversation is the very definition of a tech. Like this is something that Carm Capriotto has talked about a ton is how bad for the industry that names a tech btec, CTECH have been. And you know he has proposed, he's got a whole white paper out and he does speeches about it but he's proposed a whole different naming or nomenclature for different specialties and skill sets. But what I think an A Tech is versus what you think it is, versus what Dutch thinks it is, versus what Matt Curry thinks it is. Maybe four totally different technicians, right? And so the problem is that 80% of technicians that are out there also, and like, they are one of those four definitions.
Bryan Pollock [00:24:50]:
So what's, what's really funny is like, I. I'm really good at memorizing things that have happened. And that's how I. That's how I get really good at not getting screwed the same way twice. There's a guy in the comments you. I am that guy. He goes, I am that guy. Right? And I'm not going to read the rest because I don't want to call him out.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:11]:
Call him out. But dude, he burnt a vehicle down in his shop and he's asked some of the dumbest questions I've ever seen. Technically you're not. You're not that guy, bro. I've seen the questions you ask on Open Forum. You are not that guy. You're not. How did he know that?
Mike Allen [00:25:29]:
He burned a shop, a car down in his shop.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:30]:
I can't disclose any other information or else it would.
Mike Allen [00:25:35]:
So if I were to say his name right now, would that make it weird?
Bryan Pollock [00:25:39]:
Definitely would make it weird, Michael.
Mike Allen [00:25:44]:
I will choose to move on to an alternate comment.
Bryan Pollock [00:25:48]:
Yeah, but like, you see the questions they ask, they're not that guy, right? It's like, it's like I just, you know, Jeff Barnes and I have a funny joke about guys that, you know, in the auto shop owners hangout. There's all sorts of auto shop owners that know everything technically there is to know. And then two weeks later they're like, I have no communication on an 03 Chevy. And you're like, does it have an aftermarket radio? And they're like, yeah, how'd you know? And I'm like, yeah, cuz you're getting yanked by the oldest freaking radio class 2 interface in the book. But meanwhile, you knew everything. Yeah. Because you're not that guy. But you knew everything two weeks ago.
Bryan Pollock [00:26:24]:
Like, how do you, how do you not know that?
Mike Allen [00:26:26]:
I'm not that guy, but I know three guys personally who can do all that stuff, plus fabrication and bodywork and carpentry. It takes a certain type of the tism, though,
Bryan Pollock [00:26:38]:
but they. And you know what? Given enough time, anybody, but not anybody, a lot of people can do all that. But can they do it efficiently? Right? So if they can't do it efficiently, I think they're not that guy.
Mike Allen [00:26:52]:
The real unit, the real unicorns out there, though, they're a little bit weird. It takes a weird. It takes a weird hombre to develop a high level of skill and if. And efficiency across all the different systems and complexities that, that you guys face this guy.
Bryan Pollock [00:27:13]:
I'm. I'm contemplating on sending this video to my old shop foreman. Yeah, they had some problems. They had some ego issues. He knows people see him. He knows people who thought they were that guy, but weren't that guy. That's in most cases. Listen, I know some pretty sharp dude.
Bryan Pollock [00:27:32]:
I know some people that are so smart in certain areas, it freaking blow your mind.
Mike Allen [00:27:37]:
But they're also as far as doing how much they don't know. And so they don't have the ego.
Bryan Pollock [00:27:42]:
Yeah. And they don't like, they're like, you know what? I'm not gonna really get involved in this because I'm not that guy. Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:27:50]:
So. Hey, I have a question. No, I don't. I forgot what I was gonna ask. It was gonna be profound, though. It was gonna be awesome.
Bryan Pollock [00:28:00]:
Sorry. Becomes increasingly difficult when cars are designed to. Yeah. I don't know if cars are designed so technicians can't fix them. I think that the technology outran the training personally, if that was the case, I mean, let's, let's face it, if cars were designed so technicians couldn't fix them, the Lemon Law buyback would be three times as much as it is and nobody'd be making any money. I don't think they do that. There's people fixing the cars.
Mike Allen [00:28:31]:
I don't even think that the training hasn't kept pace with the evolution of technology. The training is available and out there if you want it enough to search it out.
Bryan Pollock [00:28:43]:
Yeah.
Mike Allen [00:28:43]:
Tell you how, how much you've made the comment about average effort equals average pay over and over and over. And yeah, you see what average is for technician compensation. And it's terrible because of all the factors that we've discussed ad nauseam. Right. But those same dudes are like, I'm not gonna study at night. I'm not gonna look at scanner Danner at 8:00pm I'm not gonna read case studies. Well, then you're gonna be average your whole career because you're not putting any in any extra effort. Yeah, you get a gold star trophy just because you completed the race.
Mike Allen [00:29:19]:
That's not how it works. Now that you're in the real world.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:21]:
To me, most of the people that I would consider the top end diagnostic people in the country have their notes and are in group chats at 8, 9, 10 and 11 o' clock at night, asking questions and bouncing ideas off people.
Mike Allen [00:29:38]:
It's weird. They never text me and ask questions.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:41]:
I know.
Mike Allen [00:29:42]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:29:43]:
Well, most of them are doing that. Most of them are researching. And it's not like, hey, have you guys ever run into this and name the symptom? It's like, hey, I tested this, this, and this. I read this. This is how I think it works. But this is what I'm finding. And that's not going along with how it works. And it's.
Mike Allen [00:30:01]:
And here are the readings I'm getting.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:02]:
Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Not. It tests good. Good. Everything tests good. Well, the car is not broke, Timmy. What do you want me to tell you?
Mike Allen [00:30:10]:
Yeah, I owned it out.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:12]:
I own. Oh, my gosh. Ohm is not a verb. Ohm is a noun. Testing is a verb. But nobody tests anything. Yeah, this is.
Mike Allen [00:30:26]:
So what you're saying is. What you're saying is, by definition, half of people have below average intelligence, and more than half of them are in the comment section.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:40]:
Yeah, more 200% of that half are in the comment section. Oh, gosh.
Mike Allen [00:30:52]:
Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to this podcast. I mean, commented on this video clip.
Bryan Pollock [00:30:59]:
I mean, I don't know. This guy didn't even spell tech right. He. You know, I. I don't know, man.
Mike Allen [00:31:05]:
Well, I mean, it's spelled tek, right?
Bryan Pollock [00:31:08]:
Let's talk about. Let's talk about. Let's talk about this comment. Reading comprehension, right? We all just listen to the clip of me talking about how it doesn't exist and shop owners need to quit looking for it. Right? That's literally what I just said. No context required, Right? Pretty clear what I said. Ah. This guy is looking for a unicorn.
Bryan Pollock [00:31:27]:
He doesn't understand what an A tech is like.
Mike Allen [00:31:30]:
Bro.
Bryan Pollock [00:31:32]:
Bro, what are you. What are you talking about? An A tech can do those things. No, I don't understand. I'm looking for a unicorn. But then an A tech can do things. I was. No, I'm saying that you can't. I'm not looking for it.
Bryan Pollock [00:31:47]:
What are you talking about? I'm not looking for it. I just said it don't exist. Why would I look for something ain't real? The heck, weirdo. Like, what is he talking about? It's about proper testing, interpreting results. Nobody. Nobody expects a doctor to do everything. Like what?
Mike Allen [00:32:06]:
Brian, I want you to know.
Bryan Pollock [00:32:09]:
And a tech can do those things. A paragraph later. Nobody expects a doctor to do everything. Which one is it, buddy? What are you even talking about? Yeah, these Guys don't want to go home at 8 o' clock and ready or watch training. But they'll spend 40 minutes typing out a four paragraph comment on a video that contradicts itself six times in five with. Well, there's only like three periods in the whole thing. Contradicts itself six times in the paragraph. What are you talking about, bro?
Mike Allen [00:32:36]:
I'm not gonna say anything mean about this guy because if the picture on his profile is real, he could break me in half with his pinky. But Brian, I want you to know you sound like someone that only worked at one American Guard dealership your whole career. The rest of us have been doing bumper to bumper repair for decades. Brian, just so you know, you, you've been a Chrysler guy your whole life and that's it.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:02]:
Yeah, I don't know anything about that. Thanks. Yeah. Never, never had to work on different varieties of cars. Never, never.
Mike Allen [00:33:10]:
Andrew Fisher even stepped in and comment and replied to that comment.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:14]:
Oh, did he? I'm not surprised. He's like, he's so funny. He's like, dude, you make so many people mad. And I love it. I'm like, they don't. I don't know, everybody thinks that, like they're all, oh, yeah, I'm super tech. No, you're not. You know, I freaking, I thought I was super tech.
Bryan Pollock [00:33:32]:
I got a lot of cars that ain't fixed also, you know, people. And the best part is the, the most ignorant things somebody can do think that they have cars that aren't fixed because they just didn't come back to you, dude. I mean, I know I have a bunch of cars that aren't fixed, but who knows how many that I don't know about are out there where they're like, f that guy. I ain't going back to him. He ain't fixed my car. I gave him two tries. You don't know. Could you imagine having such an ego and being so ignorant to think that you don't have cars that weren't fixed? I mean, get out of here, weirdo.
Mike Allen [00:34:03]:
Look, one of our interview questions is. Yeah. When's the last time a car kicked your ass? Right? Because everyone has had a car kick your ass. We all have. For sure.
Bryan Pollock [00:34:15]:
For sure.
Mike Allen [00:34:16]:
Period. And the number of dudes who are like, never. I've never been beat by a car. Really?
Bryan Pollock [00:34:24]:
Even if, even if they don't know about it. Even, even if they don't know about it, they are not as experienced as they say they are. If they really believe that a car didn't go somewhere else that they didn't get fixed. Right. If they really believe that I know that I have them coming from other shops to me, I'm sure that mine are going somewhere else here and there that weren't fixed. Right. It's. It's.
Bryan Pollock [00:34:48]:
Dude, I've. I couldn't imagine. I couldn't imagine being so ignorant to think that you don't have cars that didn't get fixed. That's weird, man. That is bizarre. Well, that's people that's like you, if you're one of them. People you probably need to see like a psychiatrist, which everyone can prescribe drugs.
Mike Allen [00:35:11]:
They're just in our comments.
Bryan Pollock [00:35:14]:
The world is safe. My, my latest thing is when I see somebody write something super dumb, I offer to buy them out of their Facebook account. Like I just offered somebody in Zeb's comments the other day. I said, For 200 bucks, I will give you 200 bucks to delete your Facebook and never come back on here so I don't have to read anything so stupid ever again in my entire life. That's great.
Mike Allen [00:35:40]:
That's. That's amazing.
Bryan Pollock [00:35:43]:
Anyways, let's go to Matt Lawson.
Mike Allen [00:35:45]:
What's your next one? You can't do a $99 fluid transmission service on a modern day vehicle and change 12 quarts full synthetic ATF. It's not possible. So we call it a vanity flush. I got a can job in the system and what's supposed to happen is put the brake fluid service on and then they put v brake fluid service in there. And it's got the description of what's probably actually happening at that vanity service, which is if I pay your technician point two to go do a brake flush. Right now we're charging the customer 89. He's sucking the vacuuming out the master cylinder and putting it back in out the master cylinder and pouring some pretty fluid in the top side. And so that's what the description says.
Mike Allen [00:36:20]:
Man, he got so much hate for that. And it like just total lack of understanding again of what we're talking about.
Bryan Pollock [00:36:27]:
So that's. So I've never listened to that one before. I've never listened to that reel.
Mike Allen [00:36:33]:
What you're talking about is. Okay, yeah, you've never.
Bryan Pollock [00:36:36]:
Let's see if I can grasp what he's talking about. I can. I think that as a sales tool or a coaching tool, he's saying how not possible or how not transparent it is to act like that service is actually getting done for that price.
Mike Allen [00:36:57]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:36:57]:
Is that close?
Mike Allen [00:36:58]:
He has built A comparison that he puts on the estimate. Here's the vanity flush that, you know, Joe's quick Lube is doing for $90.
Bryan Pollock [00:37:09]:
He's using it as a sales tool. Right.
Mike Allen [00:37:11]:
Here's what we do for $229 or whatever that number is.
Bryan Pollock [00:37:14]:
Actually flush it.
Mike Allen [00:37:16]:
And this is compare them side by side. Yeah. And see the difference. Right. Like, so our coaching company. Not our. The coaching company that Matt is the director of, coaching, for, which I am a client of Elite, got calls from Elite clients upset that he was advocating for that type of service.
Bryan Pollock [00:37:40]:
Really? That they couldn't understand what was going on. Now, mind you, I didn't even see, because the way Braxton has this set up with the screen share, I didn't actually see the video play. I guess you don't have to see to listen.
Mike Allen [00:37:50]:
You could hear it.
Bryan Pollock [00:37:51]:
Yeah, I could hear a play I like. That's not. I got out of it. He was using it as a sales tool to show how his service was better and how what they say they're doing, what they say they're doing for $89 isn't. You know, you're not getting the service you think you're getting for $89. Right.
Mike Allen [00:38:08]:
Well, I wanted to be like, hey, tell me which. Which Elite client called to complain about that? Because I want to call and have a conversation with them because they clearly didn't listen to my whole podcast. You should listen to the show guy.
Bryan Pollock [00:38:18]:
Yeah. Listen to the whole thing.
Mike Allen [00:38:19]:
I digress.
Bryan Pollock [00:38:21]:
Well, you didn't have to listen to the whole thing. That's the thing. That's the thing, though. There was enough there to figure out what he was talking about. I'm just a stupid grease monkey. I figured it out. It wasn't difficult. I don't know.
Bryan Pollock [00:38:34]:
Yeah, people are weird.
Mike Allen [00:38:37]:
That's one.
Bryan Pollock [00:38:38]:
Where are some of the comments? Let's start. Let's start.
Mike Allen [00:38:40]:
I'm going. I'm going to that video now so I can look at the comments.
Bryan Pollock [00:38:44]:
I really like Matt, basically because I used to watch a lot of nascar, so I. I tried to not fanboy too much when I met him the first time.
Mike Allen [00:38:51]:
You guys know I have. I have his hero picture signed, autographed from ebay that he did when he was a driver. Hang on.
Bryan Pollock [00:38:59]:
No way. Oh, my gosh. Are you freaking kidding me?
Mike Allen [00:39:08]:
Hunt Damarest of Parmelas got this for me and gave it to me when we saw each other last time. It's got his bio in the back. He's standing in front of his car wearing Mossy Oak with a shotgun over his shoulder. I mean, that's just amazing. So I've got it on a little stand.
Bryan Pollock [00:39:28]:
I love everything about that.
Mike Allen [00:39:29]:
Yeah, I put it up in the background at one of our recent recordings and didn't even mention it to him. And he spotted it and knew and knew what it was. It was amazing.
Bryan Pollock [00:39:41]:
I can't find that one. Look at that. It's in the chat. I can understand the. Oh, is it? Oh, I'm sorry. I can understand. Oh, geez. I can understand the cop.
Bryan Pollock [00:39:52]:
I can understand what he said, but I can't find it. Hey, you dummies. Don't mind me. I can't actually find it, but at least I know what he said.
Mike Allen [00:40:03]:
Yeah, at least you understood the context based on, you know, what you had available to interpret. Anyway, it just further. It reinforces. You know what? No, I'm not gonna say that. That would be rude, and I don't want to be rude.
Bryan Pollock [00:40:22]:
Say it. Say the mean thing, Mike.
Mike Allen [00:40:26]:
No, no, Tanika. I'm not gonna say the thing. Tanika said the thing today. Are we allowed. We're probably not allowed to talk about that. We should save that for her show. Ooh, Tanika, can we be on your show together? Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:40:44]:
The. The last episode of Downshift with Tanika. The last one.
Mike Allen [00:40:50]:
The farewell episode.
Bryan Pollock [00:40:51]:
The farewell episode. That's not right.
Mike Allen [00:40:56]:
No, but I will tell you that I feel like if you're coming in for the content and not just the yuck, yuck, yuck, you know, dick jokes that, you know, I do. The episodes with Matt are some of the most content dense, quality episodes that we do, because that's what it's like to have a coach. Right? It's a coaching call.
Bryan Pollock [00:41:19]:
I'm told they're pretty informative.
Mike Allen [00:41:22]:
Yeah. Well, there are 18 of them out there right now, so you can go back to episode one and follow through the process if you want, but which isn't touched on a lot of content,
Bryan Pollock [00:41:33]:
which isn't difficult to be good, considering the rest of us is just you and I being idiots. Or you or I.
Mike Allen [00:41:39]:
Sometimes you and you or I sometimes you and I. Yeah. I would say I've heard that the episodes from Tools were way better than most of the ones that have me in it.
Bryan Pollock [00:41:49]:
So I don't know. I have a lot of adhd. I feel bad for the people trying to listen.
Mike Allen [00:41:56]:
Yeah, Weapons grade.
Bryan Pollock [00:41:59]:
That's terrible, man.
Mike Allen [00:42:00]:
What else you got, Braxton?
Bryan Pollock [00:42:02]:
Give it to me, baby. Let's play another one where Brian pissed off all the Internet people, You want to see me start vibrating? Put somebody on a job that's got three hours on the ticket and put them in a different bay than what their toolbox is in. I will start vibrating. I'm like, why is that guy walking an extra eight steps every time to go get his tools? I'm like, this is freaking crazy.
Mike Allen [00:42:20]:
The comments in that video were unhinged.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:25]:
They were so bad. They were so bad. I. I don't think it makes sense for a guy to work in a different bay than where his toolbox is. Sorry. It doesn't. It's. It's all wasted, unaccounted for time that I'd like to use.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:40]:
I'd like to use that same tracking method on the service advisors, to be quite honest.
Mike Allen [00:42:44]:
We're back to managing by the minute.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:47]:
Yeah, it's like, oh, yeah, here they are. There's only 96, but there's a lot of. Let's see here.
Mike Allen [00:42:53]:
Only 96.
Bryan Pollock [00:42:55]:
Only 96 angry people that think that.
Mike Allen [00:42:59]:
I love that. And Rachel.
Bryan Pollock [00:43:01]:
Rachel Bear Claw. Do you even work on cars, bro? Come on. She knows.
Mike Allen [00:43:08]:
You know, she had one of the best content suggestions ever early on in our recording where Braxton kept making fun of me for having too much headspace. And in our first few recordings, I actually would get pillows and put them in my office chair and like, hop up on my office chair so that my headspace was good. And we should have this montage video cut of where I hop up on the chair and then my feet are dangling like a kid swinging back and forth.
Bryan Pollock [00:43:36]:
It was an outstanding. It was an outstanding suggestion. What I love is all the people that actually know me making the super sarcastic comments. It's fantastic. Tommy Markham. This guy couldn't lead a small staff running a one window ice cream joint and clearly couldn't fix a tire. Josiah Martin. This guy never clearly never worked a day in his life.
Bryan Pollock [00:43:58]:
I mean, it's great.
Mike Allen [00:44:01]:
I mean, when's the last time you actually touched a car? Brian? Always the dumbest takes from you. I love to see it. I don't know who Steven Thompson is, but he thinks you're an idiot.
Bryan Pollock [00:44:14]:
That's okay. I don't care. He doesn't. He doesn't. He's not a customer at the shop, so it don't matter to me. Yeah, let's see. When the last time I touched a car about 4:48 today. And I did not fix it after working on it for an hour and a half.
Bryan Pollock [00:44:31]:
So. Which is. I have my Google. I have my Google Document with all my testing though, and I will get figured out what my next plan of action is tonight and get her fixed tomorrow morning.
Mike Allen [00:44:45]:
You know what I was tinkering with today is I got. Came in the mail, the new NAPA Accelerator VR headset for training GS's and apprentices. Sorry, that was the.
Bryan Pollock [00:44:59]:
The Napa one.
Mike Allen [00:45:00]:
Yeah.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:02]:
Do you know I have to say something funny. Can I, Can I. Can I say something funny about the Napa people at Asta, about this VR headset? The guy that was in charge of that had no sense of humor, and I said that. I walked up to him, I said, dude, if you can't virtually cross thread a bolt while you're trying to flat rate the control arm in this car, said, that's a BSVR trainer. And he didn't even crack a smile.
Mike Allen [00:45:28]:
He probably didn't know what the fuck you were talking about because the dude who's in charge of.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:31]:
He didn't.
Mike Allen [00:45:32]:
The dude who's in charge of it is like a film producer because he was having to set up all the cameras and do all of it in the lighting and everything. And, and he's not a technical guy. They. They hired a movie guy for that.
Bryan Pollock [00:45:44]:
Yet you're doing a podcast and not wrenching. Yeah, I know. Doesn't look like he walks much at all, honestly. You. I lost 65 pounds in the last five months, asshole. Doesn't your toolbox. Doesn't your toolbox have wheel? Patrick? My toolbox probably weighs more than your daily driver. Let's see.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:09]:
Yeah. Yeah. If you can roll your box from bay to bay, you don't have that many tools.
Mike Allen [00:46:15]:
You don't have a box. You have a seven drawer cart.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:20]:
No, this guy, he just asked me, doesn't your toolbox have wheels? I. I think I put more mileage on my toolbox than I do my car. I do. That's. That's a weird comment.
Mike Allen [00:46:32]:
Just for frame of reference, everyone that's listening, if you don't know, Brian has one of his spare snowmobiles on top of his toolbox.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:40]:
Yeah, it's not. It. My. My toolbox weighs with the snowmobile on top. My toolbox weighs 5,000 pounds empty. I'm not rolling it from one end of the shop to the other. It's not, it's not safe. It's not safe to roll that amount of weight on a regular basis.
Bryan Pollock [00:46:54]:
Plus it's got a lot of stuff. Plus it's got a. It's got like a network cable running to it for all the crap. Talkers that can't even program a car. So I can do remote Autel expert for those people. So, you know, it's kind of not, not very convenient when you have that amount of wiring running to your toolbox to roll it around. Plus, it's not, it's just not efficient, man. It's just not efficient.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:19]:
Only one correct solution leave the auto industry. Okay? This guy's all over in the shop. That's why they have a locker docker. I know what a locker docker is. Snap on, hasn't made. Dude, you got, you got to go on Marketplace. Get those. They quit making them because so few people bought them, Brandon.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:35]:
So get over.
Mike Allen [00:47:36]:
What's a locker docker? Oh, that's the one where you have the roll cart that rolls.
Bryan Pollock [00:47:39]:
The tool cart that rolls into the locker so you have all that waste, wasted space. I have to tell you, I've seen some of these people organize, organize their toolbox. And if I organized mine like they did theirs with everything all spaced out to take up as much room as possible, apparently I'd have to buy another one the size of mine.
Mike Allen [00:47:56]:
Well, you want to spread it all out so the toolbox looks full. Because you spent way more than you needed to on a toolbox that was double the size you need.
Bryan Pollock [00:48:03]:
Because I, I spent $18,400. You know what? Let's not even get started on the guys. I see people. This is going to go down a whole other road. I see guys that make poor financial decisions that are listing the toolbox like it's just my bottom roll cab for more money than I paid for my top to bottom setup. And I gotta wonder like, did you really roll that much in Finance at 24? Can any of you answer that for me? Like, I feel like a lot of them people are in these comments.
Mike Allen [00:48:35]:
They don't actually know what they actually
Bryan Pollock [00:48:37]:
paid for their toolbox because they just pay a weekly payment. Oh, there's one a week. They find out 27,000 for 72 years. Who knows? I don't know what they do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People were angry. Let's play one of Mike getting the Internet mad ready.
Mike Allen [00:49:00]:
I. No, I've never said anything to get people mad. It's always Brian. A lot of the students in the automotive programs don't ever graduate because they're working part time at a dealership or something else. And they get told, you don't need to finish your program. Just come on full time with us and we'll finish your training internally and you can go to. You, you Know OEM training, but then they get pigeonholed into the quick lube and GS work for a couple years, and they get mocked and made fun of and yelled at and everything else, and then they. They wash out.
Mike Allen [00:49:24]:
You need to invest time and attention into the development of a young technician.
Bryan Pollock [00:49:30]:
A lot of the comments thought Mike owned a dealership. I remember that. That was.
Mike Allen [00:49:36]:
There's been a couple of these that have gone hot where they assume I'm a dealer guy. Yeah. I think it's because of my douchey white shirt and sport coat that makes me scream dealership vibe. Maybe. Does that mole on my forehead look a little unhealthy? Is that still there? That's my.
Bryan Pollock [00:49:54]:
Is that a camera trick? What's going on?
Mike Allen [00:49:57]:
What side My head is that? Can you see it?
Bryan Pollock [00:49:59]:
I don't know. Lance it off. Is the camera reversed?
Mike Allen [00:50:05]:
I can't tell. That looks unhealthy in the picture to me. Do you think I have the C word?
Bryan Pollock [00:50:11]:
That'll be fine.
Mike Allen [00:50:13]:
Yeah, whatever. It's cool. Just rub some whiskey on it.
Bryan Pollock [00:50:19]:
Yeah. Why do so many. Is that why so many people think you own a dealership? Because you got to wear the freaking shirt and sport jacket everywhere? I'm happy I don't go to the events you do.
Mike Allen [00:50:26]:
You know, I think it's like a
Bryan Pollock [00:50:28]:
pain in the ass. I got looks like a major pain.
Mike Allen [00:50:30]:
Peer pressured into dressing like that by Lucas years ago because he would always come in, like, a suit and tie. And like, I'm here. I'm. I'm fatter than all of my suits right now. So I've got to have the top button unbuttoned. Right. You see how the buttons unbuttoned there? It's because. Don't connect anymore.
Mike Allen [00:50:49]:
And if it does, I sound like this when I talk because I can't breathe. So, yeah, I just gotta. I gotta go back to hoodies and T shirts so that people take me seriously as an aftermarket guy, I guess. You know, the other one that made the people get all angry was the one where I was talking about loaner cars, how I don't owe you a loaner car. And everybody assumed I was a dealership, service department manager, or dealer owner. And they were like, yes, you do own me a loaner car. And I was like, go yourself. That was because you can't read or, you know, contextual clues weren't.
Bryan Pollock [00:51:24]:
That was. That was truly amazing. That one made people mad. Me saying I wasn't gonna tear down the Volkswagen made people mad. Then it made a Matter when I shared the picture of the completely still assembled engine out of the car, sitting on the pallet, going back. Just because you're too dumb to articulate to a warranty company why it needs an engine without taking it apart doesn't mean that everybody else's like, some of us can. Some of us can, like, you know, stick a borescope in, get the pictures and articulate why it needs an engine and what the failure was or the fact that the failure isn't going to be found because it's catastrophic. And get the warranty company cover engine.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:02]:
It's not a big deal.
Mike Allen [00:52:03]:
Or maybe you've established a relationship with the warranty company and the adjuster such that they just fucking trust you because they need to send an adjust.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:10]:
They didn't even send an adjuster. Yeah, because I gave him so much information, they. I didn't have to take the engine apart and they never sent an adjuster. Imagine that.
Mike Allen [00:52:21]:
Imagine Brian just said, is it sucks to suck.
Bryan Pollock [00:52:24]:
Yeah, sucks to suck, bro. I don't know what to tell you. It's terrible.
Mike Allen [00:52:28]:
What it all boils down to is that people lack the mental acuity to connect the dots with out a full set of data. So what you should do, if you find yourself looking at one of our videos and you're like, man, Mike's an asshole, or Brian's never worked on a car, or Braxton's a terrible editor, you
Bryan Pollock [00:52:52]:
should be like, fluoride's making the frog gay.
Mike Allen [00:52:54]:
Yeah, before I comment on that, I should watch the entire episode and visit the sponsor on each of the show, note links or.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:04]:
Or at the very least, just listen to and comprehend what you're watching. Because let's face it, most of those. Most of those people are pissed off about things that they just there wasn't context required. They're just. They're just dumb.
Mike Allen [00:53:20]:
Most of our listeners are very smart. Most of the commenters on our reels and shorts are dumb as a box of rocks. So if you want to be smart, listen to the whole episode and don't just comment on the video.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:34]:
Take that. Yeah, too easy.
Mike Allen [00:53:37]:
Yeah, bring it up.
Bryan Pollock [00:53:41]:
Say ring it up.
Mike Allen [00:53:43]:
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 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 mikeonfessionsofashopowner.com or call and leave a message. The number 704 confession. That's 704-266-3377. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe or follow. Join us on this crazy journey that is shop ownership. I'll see you on the next episode.