That's parenting at fault FWIW.
Couldn't agree more. Parents should make the kids take out the trash and the Xbox should be in it.
The reason people "don't want to do dirty jobs" is a 50 year plus war against trades via the education system. Trades are for losers, is all I heard my educational career. We devalued the HS diploma until it is worthless, and fed into a system of higher education which charges people for a degree to do the same job their father did with a HS diploma. I work with my hands for a living. Society at large considers my work to be "low class". Who strives to do "low class" work?
Agreed, but it's kind of hard to make a living selling cell phones.
My grandfather got a job with a HS diploma, in a bearing factory. He bought a house, married my grandmother, raised 3 children, retired at 65 with a pension and healthcare coverage for LIFE in what most would call a "Cadillac plan". They had two cars, and his wife stayed home to raise the children. He did serve in the Korean War, and had the ups and downs of life we all experience. Part of the reason people "don't want to work" is because the deals employers are offering keep getting shittier.
That was in the old days. When the cheap stuff came from Taiwan and India while the trash came for China. Now, nobody can compete with China because of wages alone. Chin Zi Chang is willing to stand in line hoping to get picked to go to work in a factory making wrenches for the equivalent of $0.85 per day and he is willing to work extremely hard for that money in the hopes that he will get picked again the next day. Even if it was a decent, clean, and safe factory job in the states that people were lining up for to make minimum wage, it couldn't compete with China
"Excellent pay" is also relative. Team leader for a contracting company nearby pays 20/hour no benefits. I'm sure they believe their pay is "excellent". Shops are paying 15/hour for lube techs. Same as walmart, except **** working conditions with no AC/poor heat, and a tool bill. "Excellent pay", versus the 8/hour they were making ten years ago.
It's very relative, and is mostly dependent on location and cost of living. $20 per hour as a carpenters helper here for someone with no skills is damned good money, especially when you figure most of these people are still living at home. Nobody is going to make a career jump for $20, but it might be enough to get someone to consider a change in jobs. Hell, $20 here might be the same as $25 or 30 where you are. My electrical contractor buddy completely gave up. He tried to hire someone worth having, but stopped at $25 since someone with no skills isn't worth that, no matter what that person thinks. The first person he hired quit after the first day because he found out he couldn't play games on his phone all day. The next didn't show up or call in for three days after he got his first pay check and was upset when he got his second and final that the three days he missed weren't on it, and the straw that broke the camels back was the 17 year old that heard union journeyman were making about $39 per hour, so the pay was going to have to be closer to that number for him to even get out of bed. He called me, asked what I charge and when I told him he asked if he could sub me out as long as he gives me enough notice to make it work in my schedule. I now partner up with my friend on larger jobs for him.
I can only use me as an example because I only know the numbers for me. In 1994 I was hired as an electrician apprentice at $7.50 per hour. Adjusted for inflation, that $7.50 is now $15.42, so people with no skill set are turning down 30%-50% more than that because it's not enough. I made it, it was tough. I had to get a room mate to help with the costs. I ate a lot of grilled cheese and tomato soup. I had a 1989 Dodge Dakota, regular cab, 4 cyl. 5 speed with no options, including AC because that's what I could afford. Four years later, in 1998 I was making $23.50 as a journeyman. That $23.50 is now the same as $43.93. I admit to not knowing what the scale is now, but two years ago I turned down an offer of $45 per hour to shut my business down and go to work for a contractor so it's close. $43 per hour is really good in IA, and probably the majority of the country, but I can't say for sure about everywhere.
I
Crazy we can't find a lube tech worth a ****, when we don't train them, and pay the same wages a stoned cashier makes.
That's on your management. There are people out there that are willing to be a lube tech for a reasonable wage if for nothing else, a foot in the door and a pathway to being a complete tech.
