 This is the first time I forgot to record a video intro in a long time since I started my rebrand. So today I'm sharing with you when I used to work in the automotive shop at work and whenever I used to work in the shop at school and I hope you guys enjoy, but let's just get to today's video. Okay, so my love for vehicles started way back whenever I was a kid. I used to go to a lot of car shows and I didn't know a lot of information, like I can't tell you what engine is supposed to be in it and all this stuff, but I can do a lot of stuff on vehicles myself and I really enjoy it. It's kind of a side hobby that I like to do. Problem is I have been able to do it for a while, but I plan whenever I get my own vehicle to be able to work on it, do some improvements, upgrades and stuff like that whenever I have to. So I know how to do quite a bit to vehicles, so it's not a problem with that. I'm not gonna be able to do it often as right now because I don't have a vehicle. I don't work in a shop. I don't work at a place that has a shop anymore either. But back in high school, the 10th grade is back whenever I had my first automotive class and honestly, I loved it from day one. Used to do a lot of different stuff, work with a bunch of the different tools. One of my favorite things which I wasn't able to do quite often was welding and the reason I wasn't able to do it is because we'd be put in groups to do various projects in that and there'd always be somebody else who really was passionate and more passionate about welding than I was. I was heavily into design as I've mentioned before on this channel. So I would design a lot of the projects and help do them, but there'd be other people that'd be welding, other people that would be cutting everything and stuff like that. So they used to put me in charge of basically designing what we're supposed to be doing because nobody else had an idea of what we're supposed to be doing other than me, apparently. That wasn't just me, Reagan. That's what the teacher used to say too. But in the 11th and 12th grade, they used to expand and do more stuff in the shop. I used to do a lot of oil changes, a lot of tire changeovers. I used to do a lot of different types of stuff like that. In the 12th grade, we would fabricate what was a maple syrup evaporator, but the problem with that, it was gonna be the teacher's personal maple syrup evaporator. Problem with that was every time we would do something, he would come by and change the plan, say, no, I like this, but let's change it and do it this way. So we'd have to disassemble everything and cut everything out that we've already put together. And I'm talking about just from the day one, like just putting the frame together of the way he wanted with what he supplied us, we had to keep redoing it. And by redoing it, that took an extra couple of days to take it all apart, put it the way he wanted it, and then all of a sudden he changed his mind again and we have to keep redoing it. So in the 12th grade, that's one of the projects that never got finished because he kept changing his mind of how he wanted the design done. And then it came to graduation, so I'm not sure 100% if he got it done, but that was one of the projects that even though he kept changing, I enjoyed doing, I really enjoy creating stuff, I really enjoy fabrication, but like I said, I just can't do it right now because I'm not in a position that I can, I don't work in a shop, I don't have a shop, but whenever I get my own vehicle, I'll be able to do a lot more. And I can't wait for that, but I used to do a lot of different stuff on vehicles. In the shop, at school, he used to bring a lot of vehicles in, so there was a 1968 Dodge Dart, apparently it was a rare one, but it was all rusted out, so we're supposed to be, it was donated to the school and we're supposed to do a couple of things to it and get it back up and running. But he eventually gave up on that project, I think it was a year after he graduated, he gave up on it. But we used to do a lot of work on that. He had a 1978 Jeep and it was this ferry addition, so the roof came off, the windshield lowered down, the doors came off, it was really cool. I've never really seen a Jeep up close that had all those available on it, so we used to do a lot of work on that. We used to have to gut it, go from square one, basically redoing a lot of the body panels inside, welding in the right stuff, putting new floor panels in. That's kinda all I did with the Jeep and he also had a 19, I'm gonna get this one wrong, a 1984, something like that. Ford F350, it was his own personal truck he just bought, so we decided to gut it out and he wanted to redo a lot of the molding and put actual metal in, so we had to shape the metal and he basically let us do our own design, so out of the three students that were doing it, we're a group, everybody was told to do their own design and the teacher would pick his best one, whichever one he liked the most, to put in the vehicle and apparently he liked mine better than the other guys, so we basically designed the truck with all of my metal work, so instead of the plastic molding, we would shape and bend the metal and weld it in. I don't think we got to the welding point, I think that was something the teacher decided to do just because it was a major thing, he didn't wanna have it screwed up. So high school working on the shop was really fun for me, it was really creative, I got to do various projects and while I was still in high school, I worked for Canadian Tire, which I just recently left after five years, but back in high school, I was about not even a year working at Canadian Tire and they asked me, no, yeah, I think I wasn't even a year working at Canadian Tire and they finally asked me to work in the shop because whenever I had my interview, whenever I first got hired, it was with the intent that I was gonna be helping out in the shop, I was gonna be doing oil changes, I was gonna be doing tire changeovers, like the simple stuff, because I'm not certified, that's all I can do at Canadian Tires. So that's what they were supposed to have me do, but it was almost a year later until they actually got me out there doing it. So they finally got me out there doing it, but I was only doing it once every other Saturday and it was with a mechanic who did not like to teach. He claims he was an automotive teacher at one point. I highly doubt it because he wasn't willing to show me anything. I basically went from the mindset of school, taking your time, doing things right, to going into Canadian Tire, trying to do things quick and trying not to screw up. So to have going from take your time and get it done right to speed up and make sure it just gets done was really confusing for me and to have a mechanic that wasn't willing to show you the right way to do anything was extremely frustrating for me. I didn't know where anything was in the shop. I've never worked there. They supplied me with my own tools. So I had my own socket set, my own air gun, various stuff, gloves, goggles, stuff like that. But they never, like he never showed me where anything was in the shop that I needed to use. And it was at a point where it was like, why am I doing this? Why am I out here? It's, of course it's gonna take me twice as long to do stuff if I don't know where anything is and there's nobody willing to show me. So they even started to have me do tire repairs, which I was not comfortable with mainly because I was not showing how to do it. There was a little grinder. You had to grind away. You had to put the plug and patch in. You had to put the resin on, right? But I was shown once and I wasn't shown properly. So I just went ahead and did it because I was told just to do it. And it turns out I put tire sealant or I put something on that wasn't supposed to be. And it actually was eating away at the tire. So they blamed me but it's like, I didn't know where anything was. I pointed, I lifted up a can and said, is this the right stuff? And he said, yep. And for being a student, I was just in the 12th grade. Nobody told me there was no guidance. There was nothing. And it was one of the frustrating things. Another thing that was frustrating was I didn't have my license. But even if I did have my license because I am not certified, I'm not technically supposed to drive vehicles into the shop. That is a major no-no. And they were getting kind of pissed off because I wouldn't drive vehicles in the shop which I wasn't licensed to begin with. But I wasn't certified. Like I wasn't insured through Canadian Tire to do it. So if I got an accident, even just pulling it into the shop or if anything were to happen, I'd be at fault and that was not being lied on me. I was not going to be doing that. So they kept having to stop to bring vehicles in which they were not really happy with but it's like, that's what you have to do. So for me doing it every two weekends, every other Saturday, to going down to just one Saturday a month. And the reason for that is because the other person that was part-time at Canadian Tire at the time, he started to complain saying, hey, I want to be in the shop too. And because his mother was a manager, if they made that happen. Instead of me being in the shop every other Saturday, I was only in the shop once a month. So that was hard on me. So I just stopped really caring. I didn't really want to be in the shop if I'm not going to be given the hours. But whenever I was there, I was still working my ass off. I was still trying my best. And it came to a point where they pulled me out of the shop, never explained why. But honestly, I didn't really care. Then I heard down the line, it's because they apparently were saying I didn't know what I was doing. I was taking forever. And my one co-worker who I'm really good friends with even to this day, mentioned to them, are you guys sure it's not because they are not willing to help them? They're not actually showing him how to do stuff. And it's not that he doesn't know how to do it, but there's just no guidance. And they said, well, let's find out. So they actually pulled me into the shop on the opposite weekend working with the other tech who's not a licensed mechanic, but he seems to know a lot more than the actual licensed mechanic there. And we started to do own things. I wasn't working on my own vehicles. I was just helping him that day. But he praised me up and down. He said I was honestly the best worker he had. I knew a lot more than what I was being told by the other mechanic. And they just weren't giving me a chance. And that was why. But after that, that was the last time I was in the shop. They just never went forward with it. The other guy kept being in the shop until he started to have a lot of big, really big screw ups. I'm talking he'd forget to tighten lug nuts. He would forget to tighten the drain plug for the oil or he'd forget to put that in it. And to me, it's like those are big freaking things. Sure, you might forget to change the oil filter, but you're gonna remember if you took the plug out to put the plug back in. Like to me, that's common sense. So there was a lot of big problems he was doing. So he got pulled out of the shop. He was pissed, but there was a reason he was pulled out of the shop. For me, there was no reason. But still to this day, I know how to do my own brakes. I know who to do my own oil changes, how to do tires. I know how to do quite a bit on my vehicle. And if there's something I don't know, I look it up really quick or I get some advice from an actual mechanic and they will tell me basically how to do it. So I love doing things to my own vehicles. I don't have one right now, but I usually work on my parents' vehicle or if anybody needs help with something, I'll at least help them out. Or at least I'll give them some advice of what they should do with the problem because I worked at Canadian Tire for five years. I know how to advise people to make the right decisions of what a problem could be by just them explaining what the vehicle is doing. So I do like that. But I really wish I get a vehicle soon so I can be working on my own vehicles. I really wish I could be buying vehicles, fixing them up and selling them. That's something else I'd love to do. But this was just kind of the story of what I used to do. It's been in quite a few years. It's been at least, I'd say two to three years since I've been able to work on vehicles actively. Now I just do it here and there. But hopefully I get back into it. But this story is long enough. I will see you guys in the next video. Please take care. Peace.