Us and Them !
12-31-2006, 08:09 PM
#1
2000 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 2,406
Us and Them !
I have been online today doing some work, surfing the web and such and at the end of it I am mad, bitter, pissed off and generally scared for the future of our profession.
My rant is in no particular order because I spent more time in the shop then in the class room in school so you can kiss my *** if it's not correct.
Most people in the business have felt and do feel that "The Box" was killing this industry and that "The Box's" race to zero was going to destroy this industry, well I am here to apologize on behalf of the industry and say I am sorry. "The Box" is killing profit margin but they are not killing the industry. What is killing the industry is the group of people that I am going to call "THEY" for the duration of this post and "THEY" are the installers, techs and whatever else THEY call themselves of the this industry.
If your reading this, I’m talking to you, I’m going to lay out some points, beliefs and observations as to why THEY are killing this industry.
Now to clarify one thing since your blood is already boiling over my above comment, there is THEY and there is US/WE..
THEY are the installers of the world that give US/WE a bad name because THEY do not take pride in the work they do.
When this industry started to take off the world in general was a better place, we cared about one another, we cared about cars, we cared about the product and we cared about the quality of the work that was done to the cars. Yes there have always been THEM but they were in small numbers and they usually got with the program quickly because we out numbered them greatly. Fast forward to the 21rst century and the tables have been turned on us greatly I am sad to say. To say that THEY have taken over can be said about more industries then just ours, everything in general is that way these days.
Who are THEY, well to me THEY makes up probably between 80-85% of our industries working installers. In point form I will tell you what makes them a THEY.
They:
• Have no work ethic
• Have no desire to do the dirty work and earn their place in the industry
• Have no desire to better themselves at their own expense and own initiative
• Have every desire to become the next Reme and work on the top cars right away
• Have written a test, passed and now want a job even though they have never picked up a hand tool before
• Do the job that is required by them based on the pay that they are getting for said job
• Will take the short cuts to get the job done and out the door
• Do not care that a car has to return for warranty work
• Will send a car out the door knowing there is a problem and deal with it if they happen to come back
• Have no interest in learning why things happen and are done for a reason
• Can’t function if there isn’t a kit or a tech print out on the wiring for the car
• Have no problem rebooking a customer to finish the job because they are “off”
• Don’t see a problem with showing up at 10am on the dot when they are supposed to start working on a car at 10am and are not ready
• Will go for lunch because it is lunch time instead of taking a few extra minutes and finishing the job
• Will not demo the vehicle for a customer
• Will not bother to do the little things like set radio stations, set the clock, do a simple balance test to check phasing, and heaven forbid they actually remove any garbage left in the vehicle once they are done the install
• Do not care about how the job is done, looks or works so long as it’s done and gone.
There are many things that make them a THEY but these are the main ones. Now what makes us a WE.
We
• Spend our time and our money making ourselves better
• Do what it takes to get the job done
• Do what it takes to make the customer happy
• Show up to work early to get prepared for our day so we can work on the customers car when it arrives
• Care about how something is installed
• Care that something should look good where you will never see because that is the right way to do it.
• Spend the money on the tools to do the job right
• Look at it as a career not just a job
• Teach people who are willing to learn so that the industry grows
• Educate our customers on what they are buying and what will work for them
• Try to better each job that we do, we challenge ourselves to be better
• Ask for help, advice and take it with a open ear to digest and grow from feedback
Ask yourself these questions: will you put screws through the back wall of a PU truck to mount a amp or will you mount a piece of MDF with some adhesive to the wall and then screw or nut and bolt into that, will you mount a deck in a car and rely on the cage tabs for support or will you back strap a deck that has very little support, will you mount a amp to the floor of the car with screws or will you secure a piece of MDF to the floor and screw to that, will you solder a deck into a car or to a harness or will you use connectors and create a tight fit inside the dash and use the crimp is a good connection as justification for it, will you properly predrill everything instead of using self tapping screws and blister or crack what your drilling into, do you pin a subbox together or take the time to glue and screw (predrilled and countersunk of course) the box together, will you hide siren in a fender or under a fusebox or just mount it to the most open piece of sheet metal under the hood, when using nuts and bolts (do you even use them ?) do you loctite them so they don’t vibrate loose or do you just wing it, do you build a plate to put a round speaker in a oval hole or do you fill the hole up with duct tape or Dynamat, when you install a LED do you top mount it or flush mount it from underneath, when carpeting a box do you make separate carpeted end caps or do you just try to cut a big straight X on the side of the box, when you work on a GM do you use a side post adapter or do you just cut the factory side post rubber and make it fit, do you loom every wire insight or do you spend the time to tiewrap the wires even and neatly, do you mount a SAT antenna on the dash or rear deck or do you take the time to mount it outside the car and run the wires properly.
You need to ask yourself HONESTLY which of those two categories you fit into because there are only two. You can’t do half and half, and call it a good job. In a world where people look for the easy way out, the path of least resistance, the quicker route, people need to decide which side they want to fit into for the long haul.
Does everyone have the skills to be a CRAFTSMAN over night, nope no way, won’t happen but do you try to make the difference with each job you do. Do you seek out advice and education and better yourself others around you. Can you do this in “The Box” yeah, you might not make as much money but if your in it for the long haul the money will come to you.
Here are some quotes that I have always lived by
“If you can work with your hands you will always have a job” – my father
“Use the right tool for the job” – my father
“If a tool makes your job easier then it is worth the investment” – my father
“Be proud of your work and the world will reward you” – my grandpa
“Do a quality job and you will be paid a quality wage, do a shitty job and get a shitty wage” – my father
“What we do in live, echoes in eternity” – Russel Crowe in Gladiator
It really boils down to something simple……………….do you feel proud about the job you just did on that car, would you post pictures of it for the whole world to see and have nothing to fear about how the job was done.
Lets be honest with ourselves and one another……………………..who are you…….
This post is in no means a dig at any person, shop or ideal, simply my thoughts (and many others) about this world we live in called Car Audio
Time for a beer……………………………
My rant is in no particular order because I spent more time in the shop then in the class room in school so you can kiss my *** if it's not correct.
Most people in the business have felt and do feel that "The Box" was killing this industry and that "The Box's" race to zero was going to destroy this industry, well I am here to apologize on behalf of the industry and say I am sorry. "The Box" is killing profit margin but they are not killing the industry. What is killing the industry is the group of people that I am going to call "THEY" for the duration of this post and "THEY" are the installers, techs and whatever else THEY call themselves of the this industry.
If your reading this, I’m talking to you, I’m going to lay out some points, beliefs and observations as to why THEY are killing this industry.
Now to clarify one thing since your blood is already boiling over my above comment, there is THEY and there is US/WE..
THEY are the installers of the world that give US/WE a bad name because THEY do not take pride in the work they do.
When this industry started to take off the world in general was a better place, we cared about one another, we cared about cars, we cared about the product and we cared about the quality of the work that was done to the cars. Yes there have always been THEM but they were in small numbers and they usually got with the program quickly because we out numbered them greatly. Fast forward to the 21rst century and the tables have been turned on us greatly I am sad to say. To say that THEY have taken over can be said about more industries then just ours, everything in general is that way these days.
Who are THEY, well to me THEY makes up probably between 80-85% of our industries working installers. In point form I will tell you what makes them a THEY.
They:
• Have no work ethic
• Have no desire to do the dirty work and earn their place in the industry
• Have no desire to better themselves at their own expense and own initiative
• Have every desire to become the next Reme and work on the top cars right away
• Have written a test, passed and now want a job even though they have never picked up a hand tool before
• Do the job that is required by them based on the pay that they are getting for said job
• Will take the short cuts to get the job done and out the door
• Do not care that a car has to return for warranty work
• Will send a car out the door knowing there is a problem and deal with it if they happen to come back
• Have no interest in learning why things happen and are done for a reason
• Can’t function if there isn’t a kit or a tech print out on the wiring for the car
• Have no problem rebooking a customer to finish the job because they are “off”
• Don’t see a problem with showing up at 10am on the dot when they are supposed to start working on a car at 10am and are not ready
• Will go for lunch because it is lunch time instead of taking a few extra minutes and finishing the job
• Will not demo the vehicle for a customer
• Will not bother to do the little things like set radio stations, set the clock, do a simple balance test to check phasing, and heaven forbid they actually remove any garbage left in the vehicle once they are done the install
• Do not care about how the job is done, looks or works so long as it’s done and gone.
There are many things that make them a THEY but these are the main ones. Now what makes us a WE.
We
• Spend our time and our money making ourselves better
• Do what it takes to get the job done
• Do what it takes to make the customer happy
• Show up to work early to get prepared for our day so we can work on the customers car when it arrives
• Care about how something is installed
• Care that something should look good where you will never see because that is the right way to do it.
• Spend the money on the tools to do the job right
• Look at it as a career not just a job
• Teach people who are willing to learn so that the industry grows
• Educate our customers on what they are buying and what will work for them
• Try to better each job that we do, we challenge ourselves to be better
• Ask for help, advice and take it with a open ear to digest and grow from feedback
Ask yourself these questions: will you put screws through the back wall of a PU truck to mount a amp or will you mount a piece of MDF with some adhesive to the wall and then screw or nut and bolt into that, will you mount a deck in a car and rely on the cage tabs for support or will you back strap a deck that has very little support, will you mount a amp to the floor of the car with screws or will you secure a piece of MDF to the floor and screw to that, will you solder a deck into a car or to a harness or will you use connectors and create a tight fit inside the dash and use the crimp is a good connection as justification for it, will you properly predrill everything instead of using self tapping screws and blister or crack what your drilling into, do you pin a subbox together or take the time to glue and screw (predrilled and countersunk of course) the box together, will you hide siren in a fender or under a fusebox or just mount it to the most open piece of sheet metal under the hood, when using nuts and bolts (do you even use them ?) do you loctite them so they don’t vibrate loose or do you just wing it, do you build a plate to put a round speaker in a oval hole or do you fill the hole up with duct tape or Dynamat, when you install a LED do you top mount it or flush mount it from underneath, when carpeting a box do you make separate carpeted end caps or do you just try to cut a big straight X on the side of the box, when you work on a GM do you use a side post adapter or do you just cut the factory side post rubber and make it fit, do you loom every wire insight or do you spend the time to tiewrap the wires even and neatly, do you mount a SAT antenna on the dash or rear deck or do you take the time to mount it outside the car and run the wires properly.
You need to ask yourself HONESTLY which of those two categories you fit into because there are only two. You can’t do half and half, and call it a good job. In a world where people look for the easy way out, the path of least resistance, the quicker route, people need to decide which side they want to fit into for the long haul.
Does everyone have the skills to be a CRAFTSMAN over night, nope no way, won’t happen but do you try to make the difference with each job you do. Do you seek out advice and education and better yourself others around you. Can you do this in “The Box” yeah, you might not make as much money but if your in it for the long haul the money will come to you.
Here are some quotes that I have always lived by
“If you can work with your hands you will always have a job” – my father
“Use the right tool for the job” – my father
“If a tool makes your job easier then it is worth the investment” – my father
“Be proud of your work and the world will reward you” – my grandpa
“Do a quality job and you will be paid a quality wage, do a shitty job and get a shitty wage” – my father
“What we do in live, echoes in eternity” – Russel Crowe in Gladiator
It really boils down to something simple……………….do you feel proud about the job you just did on that car, would you post pictures of it for the whole world to see and have nothing to fear about how the job was done.
Lets be honest with ourselves and one another……………………..who are you…….
This post is in no means a dig at any person, shop or ideal, simply my thoughts (and many others) about this world we live in called Car Audio
Time for a beer……………………………
12-31-2006, 09:04 PM
#2
Administrator
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 16,855
Wow, what a manifesto. Something on the same level as Jerry Maguire.
I disagree on a couple of points but you know that already based on the 'quality of work' that I am told I do. If everyone could install and live to your master code there Tim the industry would certainly be a much better place
I disagree on a couple of points but you know that already based on the 'quality of work' that I am told I do. If everyone could install and live to your master code there Tim the industry would certainly be a much better place
01-01-2007, 12:24 AM
#3
2000 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 2,406
Yes it would........yes it would................
01-01-2007, 02:12 AM
#4
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 445
Brought a tear to my eye.....been yelling that for years.
Hip Hip Horahhhh
Hip Hip Horahhhh
Hip Hip Horahhhh
Hip Hip Horahhhh
Hip Hip Horahhhh
Hip Hip Horahhhh
01-01-2007, 12:10 PM
#5
Tim... WOW... just wow. In whole I agree, but as you state, we both have the problem of finding new staff that are willing to approach this as a career.
Many of "them/they" come to work hung over, talk to friends/family/dealer/astrologist/spouses on the phone half the day, bitch if they stay 15mins late, but think nothing of arriving late and think if something breaks during an install -- it is not their fault.
I really do think that the biggest problem is this new generation are, for the most part, as my good friend Brian Ayres says "Whinny Tittie Babbies" or WTB for short. This generation has been spoon fed by our educational system, their parents and by us. They are not accountable for anything, everything is given, nothing is earned. They do not want to put in the time to learn and earn knowledge, they want to print a chart and then cry if the wire is not "where it is in the picture".
I am a parent, and I marvel at how much other parents "enable" their kids and how little they know about them and what they do. If their child gets drunk or stoned it is "fine" -- some of these parents even get drunk or stoned with their children! All of this starts at home and it is time people stopped raising WTBs and started raising ADULTS who take responsibility and pride in their life and work.
Many of "them/they" come to work hung over, talk to friends/family/dealer/astrologist/spouses on the phone half the day, bitch if they stay 15mins late, but think nothing of arriving late and think if something breaks during an install -- it is not their fault.
I really do think that the biggest problem is this new generation are, for the most part, as my good friend Brian Ayres says "Whinny Tittie Babbies" or WTB for short. This generation has been spoon fed by our educational system, their parents and by us. They are not accountable for anything, everything is given, nothing is earned. They do not want to put in the time to learn and earn knowledge, they want to print a chart and then cry if the wire is not "where it is in the picture".
I am a parent, and I marvel at how much other parents "enable" their kids and how little they know about them and what they do. If their child gets drunk or stoned it is "fine" -- some of these parents even get drunk or stoned with their children! All of this starts at home and it is time people stopped raising WTBs and started raising ADULTS who take responsibility and pride in their life and work.
Last edited by mike bisson; 01-01-2007 at 07:49 PM.
01-01-2007, 01:36 PM
#7
2000 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 2,406
I was going to post "The world's ****ed, kids are ****ed and no one gives a anymore" but it was to short 
01-01-2007, 02:40 PM
#8
Amen Tim & Mike you hit the nail 100% on the head hands down. Your statment is flawless. Even though we are talking Car Audio its the life lesson's missing from the learning process of this generation and it goes not just for Car Audio and the industry, but every industry. Period 
01-01-2007, 02:44 PM
#9
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 445
The new gen up and coming have one major issue from what I have seen..........."they" watch to much bloody TV (Uniquie Whips, American Chooper etc etc) and from all that TV "they" never see what goes on behind they secnes. They never see the hard long work, they just see a few mintues of smoke and mirros and then the finished product.
Most to all the "old" timers or "Us" do not have the pateints anymore trying to explain how things were. I would like to believe (from being in this indy) that most to all of "Us" do it because we love it, not because it is simply a "job". Big Box has somewhat brought out the "Job" aspect of it all, and what boils me up is when people slam Big Box and forget that some of the installers working there ARE trying to change things.
Remeber, "we" all were rookies..........."we" all have done things in cars that if "someone took pictures of and posted "we" would hang our heads, BUT "We" learned from those early cars/jobs and should be a little more understanding to the new gen.....believe me when I say that there is still hope for "our" indy but it will need "Our" help, not criticism.
You all know who you are!!
Most to all the "old" timers or "Us" do not have the pateints anymore trying to explain how things were. I would like to believe (from being in this indy) that most to all of "Us" do it because we love it, not because it is simply a "job". Big Box has somewhat brought out the "Job" aspect of it all, and what boils me up is when people slam Big Box and forget that some of the installers working there ARE trying to change things.
Remeber, "we" all were rookies..........."we" all have done things in cars that if "someone took pictures of and posted "we" would hang our heads, BUT "We" learned from those early cars/jobs and should be a little more understanding to the new gen.....believe me when I say that there is still hope for "our" indy but it will need "Our" help, not criticism.
You all know who you are!!
01-01-2007, 02:49 PM
#10
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 146
some of us are trying to teach attention to detail and pride in work. My jr installer is 20, and somedays I just want to run him over with the car he works on, me and my other installer push him harder and harder everyday, and slowly it sinks in that we know what's right and how it's done etc.
but some of the people I've had come through the bay as installers, bloody hopeless, I'm not one to give up trying though so I keep pushing and they usually end up quitting.
but some of the people I've had come through the bay as installers, bloody hopeless, I'm not one to give up trying though so I keep pushing and they usually end up quitting.
