True- Put Goodyear, Midas in that phrase too.
Firestone gave me a start- Just out of the military; 20 years on jets and
such; shadetree mech in my spare time. Firestone was hell- I had some good
times and met some great people, and I learned. I did some good work there
... and some stuff, well I learned from. Nobody can come from a auto tech
school and know everything, doing the job is the best source for learning. I
am amazed at the dealership I work for; for the knowledge of how "Other"
cars work is slim for most of them; if it's not a Subie they won't touch it.
Oh today I got taught "Subie auto transmission 101" it was a good day (but
no money)
Anyway I will never go back to Firestone; though I will always have there
tires on my cars (mostly).

Steve

The problem with most large chains like this is simply that they have trouble
KEEPING the good techs around.  Internal politics, excessive paperwork, inane
procedures thought up by bean counters... muck and more muck that just
constantly drives away (no pun intended) the better minds and favors the
mediocre.  Individual mechanics' specialties aren't used appropriately or even
recognized - like the example of the guy who could rebuild a tranny blindfolded
but couldn't read a wiring schematic to save his life: in some chain shops he'd
just be tossed at whatever job was up next when he was available, regardless of
whether he was the best one for that job.

Environments like this don't encourage creative problem solving, they just want
you to get the cars in and out quickly, while selling the customer as many parts
as you can get away with.  (Not to sound TOO cynical, of course, because many of
the stores also have excellent LOCAL management, but they're still accountable
to someone higher up who only sees the balance sheet, and you end up with the
same mediocrity there as well).

Those with the real skills end up working for smaller shops where their
abilities are appreciated, or even open their own shops.  If you're lucky, you
catch the Big Chain Shops when they have an up-and-coming prodigy, before he too
gets sick of the BS and leaves for greener pastures.

Sadly, this is true of most technical vocations: when I was doing IT support for
a small digital-arts school, I worked for a manager who recognized my particular
skills and knowledge and used them appropriately, and as such I always found
work interesting and challenging.  As the company grew and the bean-counters
started having more say, that manager was turfed and his job taken over by the
guy above him (two jobs for the price of one manager!), who constantly told me
what a great tech he thought I was, yet left me doing the same pissant flunky
jobs for three years.

The school getting bought out by a big international corporation (the people who
own all those Art Institute schools) was pretty much the end, when the
bean-counters finally took over completely: the whole tech department was cut
back, support hours slashed, and being the guy who did the evening and weekend
shifts (by choice), I was one of the first to go.  Which was fine with me, as I
was about that close to telling them to go f.ck their collective hat anyway.

I ended up working for a small company (just the owner and his wife), where my
skills are recognized and appreciated and properly utilized.  My boss is
relaxed, largely the same personality as me so we get along great, and he's not
afraid to throw me at jobs that sometimes I'm not even sure I can handle (I have
yet to disappoint).  Two of our competitors have tried several times to hire me
away, but they're both larger companies with the same kind of strict rules and
procedures and bean-counterish ideas - I'd have to be at the office at 7:30
every day, despite it being an hour commute from home and not even necessarily
in the same direction as the job, I'd have tons of paperwork to deal with...
they couldn't pay me enough (well, they could, but I don't think they'd really
want to GIVE me that much!)

Anyway, to wander back on track: the best mechanic I ever found was another
small operation, young guy who loved working on cars, and his wife running the
office.  They did some great work on our vehicles, the guy was brilliant, and
their prices were good.  We sent all our friends there, and they all agreed.
Then one day the shop was gone, and we never found out exactly why (I'd heard
they had a kid and he had to stop working such long hours).  I don't know if
he'd ever been through the who big-chain muddle, but I wouldn't have blamed him
if he had and didn't last there.