IJM

Jiffy Lube and Walmart. What could possibly go wrong?

EEVEE

Because I work at the Walmart one lol. They break my car I can kick their ***

Martlor13

generally curious, but what sorts of qualifications does wal mart require to work where you do? The guys at my wal mart i went to school with and i wouldnt let them touch my vehicle with a 50 foot pole haha

Bugout4x4

I ain't touching that one...

dmill89

I worked at a Wal-Mart when I was in college (I didn't work in TLE "Tire and Lube Express", but our store did have a TLE), while this was nearly a decade ago now so things may have changed, at least at that time their "training" basically involved watching some videos and answering questions related to said videos. Of course if you work at the store you know who the "good" techs are and who the "bad" (the really bad ones didn't last long, but they would usually manage to screw up at least a few people's cars before getting fired) ones are (when they screw up word gets around the store pretty fast) making it a little safer if you make sure one of the "good" techs is working on your car, but if you don't work at the store (or know someone who does) and have this knowledge, like you I wouldn't let them (or pretty much any "quick" lube) touch my car with a 10 ft. pole.

67 GMC

In fairness, my father-in-law showed me how to change oil on 1976 Buick Century when I was a young driver. Then I just did it myself. We didn't have youtube so you just paid attention and picked up advice along the way.

I think learning by doing goes a long way but this generation has the advantage of being able to look up an oil change on youtube and have all the information right there, google the filter, oil capacity, where the oil plug is located etc.

Read about how to do it, watch someone do it, then you do it and someone that has done it before looks at what you did and says ok or not etc. Isn't that how we all learn? There aren't a lot of 25 year veteran mechanics changing oil in shops. Tire and oil changes are done by the junior techs. Walmart isn't doing anything different than a lot of other shops.

Martlor13

yes but these easy jobs have gotten just a tad bit harder with technology. Tire sensors, big alloy wheels, plus oil filters are getting harder to get to. You cant just employ some guy that has no clue about anything automotive like you can if you were just flipping burgers at a fast food place. Some type of knowledge is necessary. The owner where i work wont hire you if you don't have any type of experience.....which is what the dudes at wal mart here didnt and dont have haha. I know because they came and applied haha

EEVEE

Well tbh they hired me because i liked cars and my manager i knew personally and worked on his car so he trusted me enough to teach me how to do them. Which ill admit i know when to stop and get a manager to take a gander at something but i had very basic car knowledge when i applied, And from there i learned from a tech thats been there for 15 years and showed me how to change oil and do the tires. Which ill admit it would be alot easier without technology as you gotta worry bout tire pressure sensors and learning how to reset and relearn the universal sensors. On oil side there are some b***** cars where they put the filter in the most retarded spots ever where you basically have to dislocate your shoulder to change. But While some cars i do have to look up on how to locate the filter we have our book for the type of oil filter the car takes and whatnot. But we also decline alot of the fancy cars such as jaguars, saabs, volvos and of course many german cars as some you need special tools to do them. I actually had the unfortunate opportunity of completely locking out a mercedes when replacing the battery because the battery saver we had wasnt charged so it locked the car out and needed to be towed to mercedes to fix or then you got people who try to blame their broken car issues on you. But the worst ones are when people bring in very expensive cars to get tires done we dont have much limitations on those many corvettes, ferraris and many high dollar cars come in for tires and love to torment us with their wishes which we lack the tools and proper protective equipment to deal with. But yes i learned alot working there. Gotta start somewhere. My interview i had to write down how i changed oil before and how i did it. So i wrote down how i did a car for a buddy and theyre like well you know the basics well polish them down the road and here i am now. Its kinda sad i will admit walmart is sketchy yes but people are stupid if they expect professional quality work on their car. its walmart we cant spend 20 minutes cleaning up your entire oil pan with cleaners (yes a guy put a claim in for this) just drain and wipe off the oil. No we arent fast by any means some wait 3 hours before the cars are done but what do you expect with 130 cars on average a day it happens. and third and this was very recent, A guy wanted to get all 4 tires changed but he didnt want a mark on his wheels. So we spent literally 5 hours on this guys car and everything looked brand new still he came back and inspected it with his light on his phone and stormed back in. The reason? he wanted us to wipe the remaining tire lube in the little crack where the bead meets the rim... yes in that little crevice where no one will see it. so walmart being the pussies they are gave him a 100 dollar gift card for the inconvenience and we had to spend another hour cleaning the lube off. I hoped that guy curbed his wheels that day. Yes walmart is dirt cheap but dont expect speedy work from there. so ill agree walmart isnt the best place to get work done if you have a cheap crappy car then yes its fine but high end cars you really should consider somewhere else if you care about it because walmart lacks the proper equipment. Amazing how some complain when we took a while to finish putting on 35+ mud terrains on a big giant heavy truck. Worst one for me was a guy who wanted 8 38 inch tires done and had to stay 3 hours past my shift to finish the damn things as of course brand new rims and heavy tires with 9 boxes of wheel weights always is a quick job. second worst was doing solid rubber tires on a 50s truck.... Broke 3 duck bills and 5 tire irons and damaged our tire mounting machine and general broken backs too. So ill stop ranting lol, Yes walmart isnt the best if you care about your car. You have good and bad techs. Good techs care about your car and what i try to do but gotta remember we are literally rushed anything past 30 mins we are hollered at relentlessly until its done so of course its gonna be a little shoddy ontop of being insulted by customers and stuff thrown at us or the typical scammer who sets their car up for failure and then makes walmart pay for it and have us potentially lose our jobs that we need to provide for ourselves. so i know its excuses and such but it gets to you eventually lol. worst one for me was i couldnt do this ladies tire so as i gave her keys to her she got in her car and cussed me out and dumped scalding hot coffee on me and took off

Martlor13

I would love to see a ferrari at walmart, jiffy lube etc, getting tires.....best ive ever seen here was an older Porsche

EEVEE

Didnt happen either. It was to low for our lift. It was a 360 spyder and looked beat on so maybe thats why he wanted it done there and threw a fit because we couldnt do it. All these people who buy expensive cars but cheap out on stuff are the worst people imo. lol this guy came in a few weeks ago with a new jeep grand cherokee with 10k miles on it but went with the 20 dollar quaker state oil like really dude. Funny ones are them buying that and having a beat up car with giant expensive new rims on them like i know where his money went. OH and then a lady with a land rover wanted her oil done here too! a new land rover!

Bugout4x4

That's because they won't pay one what they are worth. Every shop should have at least one very experienced tech hired and paid well enough as a "instructor" so that good habits and knowledge can be instilled in to these kids. But you have to hire them with "instructor" as their actual job title, not as an average tech and then pay them what an instructor is worth.

You can't hire them as "manager" because they will think they don't have to get their hands dirty anymore and will be more worried about playing grab *** with the bookkeeper when she comes in than doing any actual training. I'm sure we have all seen these eccentricities and lack of productivity based on someone's job title. lol

But once proper step by step habits based on extensive experience are instilled, mistakes that cost the company money almost never happen. It's the best investment a shop like this could ever make and all they have to do is cut loose with a few more dollars an hour for this one employee. The profits from improved quality of service and reputation will greatly cover this minimal extra investment in the long run.

I hate bean counters... Bean counters have absolutely no clue what kind of beans they are counting and have destroyed far more businesses than they have improved. Not all beans are the same...

Bugout4x4

Kudos on you Sir for recognizing the irrationality and impracticality of this idiocy.

Willys55

you left out 'steel drain plugs mounted in aluminum oil pans'.......just one turn too many and zero threads for the next guy, that is if it didn't leak when it was first stripped.......LOL

P.S. As a 35 year plus tech (33 certs but not bragging) I can tell you this......there are 15-20 year techs out there that I wouldn't let fix my wheel barrel. Years of experience doesn't automatically mean someone "knows his ****", sometimes you get that guy who just doesn't give a crap.

Willys55

and you haven't lived until you have struggled to get the twin fuel filters and oil filters off a Mack E7 engine, with conveniently positioned steering shaft and frame rails.....LOL

Bugout4x4

There sure isn't much room to get a wrench and handle slipped up over the bottom of that oil filter is there? Looks like the rail is right up against it.