You know, Carl, of course I know that most automotive mechanics aren't struggling, but one has to think of the conditions endured doing the job.
I always compared it with welding.
Welding is a difficult job, done under difficult circumstances, and yet most welders I know manage to produce things of Old World Craftsmanship.
I don't know about other parts of the country, but in Nebraska, even in Omaha and Lincoln, welding is basically a little-more-than-minimum-wage job; even store clerks make more.
I used to supervise welders (second-shift supervisor) at a manufactory of basketball equipment, and was stunned to learn I, an unskilled person, was making more money than these welders, working in hot weather and cold weather, working in dirt and oil, working exposing themselves constantly to physical peril and injury,
I of course confronted no such difficulties in doing my own job there.
And the same for automobile mechanics.
I've used a lot of automotive mechanics, and I've never been stiffed once. Not one single time.
I know this, too, because of a certain, uh, vulnerability of mine (being deaf, and so not knowing a whole lot about things), which compels me, after something's done, to inquire of a hearing person if that was the right thing, the thing that was done, and if the charges were reasonable.
They always were, and I suspect sometimes I was even undercharged.
