My name is James Rey. I am basically the Owner / Operator here. I've been doing this and have been here for a little over a year at this location, but I've been in the mechanic business for, I guess, going on fifteen, sixteen years.

[Advancement In This Particular Occupation:]

We’re a growing company; we're trying to establish ourselves. I've got a good clientele base and it's a question of I have people tell me, "Well gee, do you mind if I give your name to somebody?" Well, you can never have too many customers.

[Decision To Enter This Particular Occupation:]

I liked to tinker with cars when I was a kid, you know, when I was younger. I didn't know very much back then and some days I still think that I don't know much. I liked it and I decided I might as well give it a try.

[Education & Training:]

I spent [time taking] an apprenticeship program at Kelsey Institute in Saskatoon. There's a pre-employment course that you can take; it's an eight-month course. You take all aspects of the automotive business. You're working in a dealership or shop (wherever) and then after a certain amount of time you go back to school again for a two-month course. It takes about four years to get a certificate (the Inter-Provincial Journeyman Certificate).

[Personal Characteristics & Attitudes:]

You've got to be a people person because you're dealing with the public. As an owner, I'm obviously dealing a lot more with the public - with customers and that. I'd say the biggest thing is dealing with people. Some days you get a customer who had something go wrong with their car (an unforeseen thing) and they can get pretty irate and you just have to deal with that.

[Teamwork Skills & Positive Attitude:]

Teamwork is really important amongst the employees. You may get a problem with a vehicle and you need another opinion on it. If the people don't get along, it's just not going to work. Or you'll have a situation where you have to get a vehicle out, you're in a hurry, the guy's waiting for it, it's five o'clock on a Friday afternoon, and you'll have a couple of guys working on it. I mean, they have to get along in order to do the job properly. You have to have a positive attitude. A lot of times it's tough. If you're having a bad day (and everybody has bad days) you have to just work through it.

[Change In This Particular Occupation:]

This industry is changing so much. Every year there's something new out. We don't see a lot of it for a few years down the road, but we try to keep up on the changes before they happen.

For example, right now we're not going to see a '97 vehicle for probably a couple of years until the warranty expires. But you're going to have to learn about it before it comes in because once it's here, what are you going to do? Are you going to stand there and look at it? "Well, gee, I don't know how to fix this. They changed the fuel injection." That's been a big (major) change. Before, the older vehicles had a carburator; they had a distributor. To diagnose something it took a little bit of time but you could diagnose it, basically, just by changing parts. The days of that are gone.

[Leadership Skills:]

Being the Owner, obviously my employees are looking to me for leadership. I'm the one that's going to make the final decision on whatever it is; whether it's what tow truck company we're going to use, or what parts we're going to use. I'm the one who's going to make the final decision. So obviously, they are expecting me to take the initiative and make the final decisions.

[Ongoing Training:]

As far as training, we're always updating. We're always taking courses on new technology and stuff like that. It's an ongoing process.

[Typical Work Day:]

Every day is different. I've never had two days the same. There's always been something new, a new problem or a new challenge. There's always something different every day.

We get here in the morning, make coffee (the number one priority), check messages from the night before because there's always calls to be made, run vehicles out (the vehicles that were left in overnight) and move things around. The biggest thing is to organize things in the morning so that when the guys get to work, the priority is this job…this job…and this job, and then order parts.

Usually, I'm on the phone most of the day; whether I'm talking to a customer or I'm phoning a customer, or phoning a supplier, or phoning somebody. By the end of the day, sometimes I wonder. I look and it's like, "Gee, I didn't do a whole lot today." And then I start thinking about it, and "Yeah, I did do a lot today."

[Most Challenging Aspect:]

The most challenging aspect, I would have to say, is working on the vehicles, the fixing them and the fact that I don't do a whole lot of that anymore. [However], I do a certain amount of that. Most of it is trying to organize things - organize things so that it will go smoothly all day.

[Most Satisfying Aspect:]

The most satisfying part is probably the finished product. When we do a job and the customer picks it up and he's happy, that's what we're striving for. Because if he's not happy, he's not coming back.

[Advice For Someone Entering This Field Of Work:]

For somebody who's getting into this field, the biggest thing I would tell them is take a look at it and if you're going to be in it, you're going to have to stay in it for a long time. I've known some guys who've got into it; for example, tools and equipment. There isn't any other trade that I know of that you have to have the amount of tools and equipment you do in order to do this as an occupation. Whether you're an Owner or just a Mechanic working for some place, you have to supply your own tools. That's a big part of the business because it's an ongoing thing. I've been in this trade fifteen, sixteen years and I'm still buying stuff. There's always something that you need. So, there's a lot of money that you have to spend. That's probably the biggest thing I'd tell somebody.

Take a hard look at it. Look at other things. If they are interested, obviously they're going to go for it. Obviously, I did.