ok, so my last thread was deleted. so ill make it clean and safe for all. here is the question: shop owners, if you have guys working for you, do you give them credit for their work? even after they leave your shop?
Of course. Makes it hard though when you are talking about the work your shop can do. So and so did this and so and so did that. Hard to sell the job if they are not clear that your shop did it.
It's the shop's product ! The grunt that did the work don't count ! That is unless the job was bad then it's the workers fault.
I Owned a shop for 25+ years . We did a lot of custom work . The men that worked there were there for a long time .The ones that couldn't cut it got run off .The best stayed and they were paid well for there efforts. .no reason to leave if treated and paid well. but you gotta deliver the goods to be respected by your employer.. unless they are money grubing jack legs just in it for the money they will respect and try to keep the good ones ...At least I did and made a great living at it...No offence,, just corious why did you leave ?
If you worked for me and then left and became my competitor I certainly wouldn't advertise for you, the product belongs to the shop it was built at no matter who worked on it. If asked I wouldn't lie, I'd just say, yes _________ worked on it while he worked for me. On the other hand, I've never try to claim any car I built while working at another shop here but then this is a small town, those that matter know who built it, doesn't have to be said.
most of the time its just the shop that gets credit..if i have an employee that does good work ill give credit to a point, but you are employed by me.. if you want all the credit open your own shop. if the worker screws stuff up and does something stupid, who do you think gets to take credit for that? the shop! must be why i dont have employees
If you are paid to create something for someone else's business, the owner of the business becomes the de facto owner of your "intellectual property". No one can stop you from saying "I worked on this car when I was at XYZ Rod Shop", but saying "I built that" is a very different thing...ask any lawyer.
I agree with this. I don't own a shop, but I know a lot of small businessmen in the business--shop owners, component restorers, etc. Say you send your gauges in to a specialist to have them restored... now that business has a dozen employees, each specializing in something different... one guy knows Mopar gauges inside and out... one guy lays the paint on the instrument faces perfectly, etc. etc. Who is the business owner supposed to give credit to? "Well Larry there, he restored your Chevelle gauges..." No. I've also been in body shops where the owner of a shop wants things done a specific way... he has a process for doing certain things... and he hires people who are good at different things. The customer didn't bring the car to a bodyman employed at that shop... the customer brought his car to the shop to have them build it. Shop gets the credit, unless someone is asking specifics. And as a business owner, that's the smart plan. You don't want a guy coming in and saying "I saw this great car, and heard you guys brought it from being a basket case to a show winner." Well yeah, that car came out of this shop. Bob did all the metal replacement and body work on it. Bob's not here anymore, but we can do your car. Not gonna happen. By the same token, if Bob IS still there, you don't want to talk him, specifically, up to the customer, because then the customer insists that only Bob works on his car... and if he comes in one day to see the car, and spots Mike over there welding in the floors, he's gonna be pissed. As far as customers are concerned, work is done by the company, not individuals in the company. -Brad
Johnnie I have a hunch there is more to this story than you are letting on but if your avatar is how you perform, disrepting a customers car, then I would say "No credit due".... hope that is not the case because lack of class like that doesnt go far. With that said I am in agreement with almost all here, get you own shop if you want to be in the glory limelight ..... and then you can put YOUR name on the project.
I followed link to your Facebook page... my 2¢... stop playing out the drama in public. It will damage your business credibility much faster than whatever you might lose from not pointing out some work that you did at another shop.
i left because i was asked to lower my standards and work cheaper on a car for a customer that was wanting work like was advertised. i said i wasnt going to be able to do this and then was told to find a shop that will pay me to do that. this conversation was because of dissagreement on detail work before paint. i believe there is a difference between saying i (shop owner) built it, and my shop built it. credit was only given when something went wrong, and normally when work was performed like said boss asked for it to be done. either get yelled at for taking too long and doing right, or for customer getting upset because work was done poorly. i would rather it leave done correct. all i was interested in was being able to show pictures of work i performed, and clearly stated that i did it while working there. i was there for 4.5 years and many employees had come and gone while i was there. my work was never done with out my personal approval and put many hrs of my own time into multiple builds. exwestracer: now here is a question. if you were told you were getting paid to do something that you do on your own time, but never get paid for it, does that count as work for someone else or can you atleast take credit for said?
and everytime i open my page on there, some new thing is being deleted and reported. i cant even open it. i have deleted multiple things that are on there from other people that might upset people. when i left, i was given verbal permission to use any pics of my work that is available online. so not on a website or a forum, what does that leave?
It doesn't sound like you're asking for the world.I personally see nothing wrong with getting credit for work you did with your own hands. I remember some poisonous posts here on the HAMB about a famous customizing shop owner who gave none of his employees credit. I guess it's a different sort of issue if the car has history and a name...
The joy should be in you for your work, If your doing it as good as you say be happy. I have built cars for almost 50 years and every one has a place in my heart. some were built for my employer and some were built after I started my own shop.. Now its nice when someone likes what I have done but its what I think that realy matters to me. Its not about fame, its about satisfaction. Belive me your work will follow you wherever you go, good or bad. dont sweet the small people just do your very best and everything will fall into place JMO
George Barris gets the credit for building a lot of custom cars but everyone knows George himself never did much of the manual labor. His brother Sam was in charge of the shop, after he left there were dozens of guys including off duty cops and firemen. Some of them became known later but never got credit from Barris. Even people who know this, still refer to a car as a "Barris custom". That is just the way it works. The boss gets the credit for the good jobs and he gets yelled at when they go sour. He deals with the public, collects the bills, and signs the pay checks. If you don't like it you are welcome to open your own shop and put your name over the door, and on whatever work you take responsibility for. That's just the way it works. Frank Lloyd Wright didn't lay his own bricks either. I say this as someone who worked in garages and body shops for 20 years. I did some good work including custom and restoration work. Never got credit for any of it and never expected to. It didn't bother me then and it doesn't bother me now.
The shop will always get the credit - they are the one who's reputation is on the line. They are the one that stepped up and spent the money to open and operate the shop. They are the one that takes the heat when something goes wrong and is liable for everything that goes out the door. If the employee wants to feed his ego and say it is his work, Open your own shop and show your own work, bot that which was done at someone else's shop. In my shop I would praise my workers when they did something above and beyond, or even when they just did a good job ~ but then again, it was expected, that's what i was paying them for. And would I be upset if any of my former employees took full credit for something done in my shop, you bet your ass I would, because it was still my shop, my business skills, my ass on the line and my vision that allowed them to do it in the first place. Look at it this way ~ a car is a Ford, not a Bubba, Linda Lou, Frank, Harry and Cindy who installed the lug nuts, it's Ford - even though no member of the Ford family laid a hand on it.
Just to add my two cents.........If, after the employee leaves some of his work were to comes back, the shop is on the hook for the re-do....have had it happen in the past...can't tell the customer, well that was so and so's work and he's not here anymore so........ Doesn't matter and the customer don't care.....just want's it made right..and it's on the shop to make it right.......same for work well done
No one likes to lower their standards, but the bottom line is the work is the product of the shop. If your boss wants it done a certain way then that's the way you do it. The business is his baby, he made the deal with the customer, he is paying the overhead costs (which you are part of), and he collects the money . I have worked at a few shops in my day, some good, some bad, but at the end of the day you are expected to be part of a team and you represent the shop for which you are compensated with a paycheck. Here is another way of looking at it: Say your toilet backs up. You call the plumber, he shows up, takes a plunger and unclogs the toilet. Who gets the credit? The plumber or the plunger ?
Hell when you work for somebody you do things their way,like it or not. If you think you are to good for that then you don't need to be there in the 1st place. Forget the past,sounds like you moved on. Can't change the past but you can change the future. One thing though,whining about the past is just no way to move forward . Getting a pat on the back from an employer is a thing of the past in this new throw it away and get another one society. Employers have the same attitude with workers too. As most Hambers have said the shop owner is held responcible whether your work is good or bad .
On the other hand I support the right of the mechanic to refuse to do substandard work. To the point of quitting a job as a matter of principle. Your wife may not agree but I can totally see it.
Sorry dude, you do the job you are paid to do, the way your boss wants it. Jobs are hard to come by these days. If you have one, be happy for that. Credit goes with the shop. Want your own credit, get your own shop. I used to run my own shop, now I work for someone else. Am I pleased with every little thing about how where I work now is run, you'd better freakin' believe it, because it keeps me in food, shelter and clothing.
Pay the rent, mortgage, wages, heat, electricity, taxes, lni, overhead, supplies, and cost of doing business, and the short sleepless nights! Then ask for a little credit?! and all said and done, it is still up to the editor who they want to write into the article!!! Now ask your self do I deserve alittle credit? Yes you do! but dont expect it in print. I learned that long ago, if you want credit get your own shop!! pay all the bills I will work for you sorry bros and ho's a shitty world out there get used to it!
Maybe the first thing you should do is look in the mirror. And address some of the problems and heartaches and harm you have caused others. The best I can offer you is a ship full of cheese to go with that whine. It sucks being local and knowing the whole story and yet can't comment.
Take a nice custom "Show car" employee A-creates a design to go with employee B-dissassembles/labels parts employee C-creates list and secures parts for build employee D-loads car on ramp truck to take to media blasting employee E-starts body prep work for paint employee F-paints/wetsands/buff employee G-re-assembles car Shop owner-Pays payroll, taxes, insurance, all operational costs, and hired everyone of these employees, in addition to taking the largest risk, of starting up the business. Which one of these single employees should be singled out and credited, for the build?..Doesn't each and everyone of them have an important part of the build? You want the glory, as well as the risk/cost/headaches involved in keeping the doors open in a shop..open up your own shop. Bottom line..the build is a product of the shop, not an individual employee.
I have seen many times that the owner restored the car & will take the credit .... because they wrote a check or ten . Best paint in show, did he prepare or paint it ? no, he wrote the check for it tho.... close enough for some of my customers when the local papers photog is taking photos and notes. Small town with some small people.....
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