 So, yeah Wake up to that this morning It's definitely 102 fever and I feel like dog poo But you know what I still am able to talk So thanks for tuning into the channel today guys right here with the Rustball mechanic and today I wanted to talk to you about Being sick and trying to live on flat rate how much it sucks How much we have to get try to get through it and what to do to kind of prep yourself for running into a situation like this Hopefully you find some good tips and tricks in this one. Stay tuned First off guys, I wanted to apologize about not being able to get a nifty tools of the week video up today You know this kind of takes it out of you So I apologize and I'll continue those for the next week Stay tuned for those but I wanted to talk to you guys about some of the shortfalls with the flat rate system I know I've made a couple of videos regarding the flat rate system and how great it can be and how nice it is to be able to Make up time and make time work for you as long as you've got a good shop And you've you know work really hard and you've got a good workload that you're able to get through as well but one of the pitfalls of that is being sick and Probably 90% of the dealerships or shops that I've seen and have worked for and you know just generally no technicians work at them Excuse me Yeah They don't offer any kind of sick time or sick pay Which really sucks because when you're not working you're not making money So you're trying to you know scavenge a week together and you're stressed and the end of the week just Doesn't ever turn out the right way for you it absolutely just sucks trying to catch up the rest of week You're all beat down from being sick still and it's just it sucks all kinds of the way through One of the other things that I kind of brought up to management And I've seen some people bring up to other shops and some shops may even have this policy when it comes to sick time and sick pay our Vacation time is kind of the same way which kind of sucks that we only personally at our dealership We only get ten day weekdays of paid vacation per year And that's just based on an eight-hour day the amount of time that we're physically at work Which really sucks because you're also losing money on those days because if you're really working flat rate the right way You're making more than eight hours in a day So why don't we go to some kind of average base system because you know they're keeping track of that to be able to see the amount of hours that you're working and Average that out to see how much you're gonna get paid for both sick time and Vacation and having a couple of sick days, you know, I'm I'm not one of the guys who really likes to take off work I hate it because I just I fall farther behind We get way backed up when it comes to lot vehicles and it just sucks in Every way shape and form being sick So now I got to go to the doctor on top of that Pay money to go see the doctor because our work also wants us to get a doctor's note when we do take off work So I've got to do that and then I'm also missing work So why don't we take those days and give an average to the tax? I think that would be first off one of the best things that the industry could do for flat rate technicians Now what are some of the things that you can do if your work is not? Able and not wanting to do those kind of things One of the biggest things that I always preach to the younger guys and guys who are getting into the industry is be Prepared always be prepared for that week that you're just gonna have a shitty week Always have money sitting back money sitting aside at least two to three weeks worth of pay Sitting back over time to be able to cover these kind of things because haven't forbid You know this happens and you're down to three days And then on top of that you get back to work and you feel like crap and you can't catch up on ours anyway So you might be taken to three days vacation or if you don't have that vacation at the end of the year when you get sick Then you got to have some kind of a backup So my first recommendation would be have some kind of fallback when it comes to financial wise in your bank account Sit those things back. Also. Think about the other bills that you guys are gonna have also If you guys have tool truck bills coming out, you know, they're not gonna be really, you know Helpful when it comes to that a lot of the time They want their money just like any other creditor would so you're gonna have to make some tool payments too at the same time So either talk with your tool guy on maybe taking a couple extra bucks out a week Just for that, you know, rainy day circumstance or that week where you can't physically make that payment And then your guy can say, oh, you know what? Yeah, you're paid up one payment So, you know, don't worry about this week. We got you covered Now one of the other things you might want to look into for the guys who are dealership techs is You know that you've got to do all kinds of online and computer training throughout the year So that might be one of those things where if you've got a computer at your house And you are somewhat able to at least sit into a chair So maybe that would be a good time to catch up on some of your online Classes in your internet training like our dealership. They do pay us for our online training usually an hour or so per Per class and you know, we've got two or three of them that we've got to take a month So why not take that opportunity to do some of those training courses? I know you may not retain it as well, but to do it and get some kind of pay there in the middle also Maybe just food for thought Yeah, that's right orange juice in a Lego Batman cup second thing I want you to take care of yourself Your body is gonna take a beating over the years So sickness is no different when you have that time where you're gonna get sick Don't play it off like oh, I'm a hard ass. I can get through this. I can get through this No, go take you either your lunch break or the morning off or something Go to the doctor because getting yourself able to get through the sickness or this thing Faster is gonna help in the long run because otherwise you might be down for two three four days So don't be a pig head go to the doctor Speaking of all the doctors and all the bills that you're gonna have one of the last things that you're definitely gonna want to look into is some type of Accident insurance, so whether it be I know there's a couple companies out like Aflac Prudential Liberty Mutual something along those lines those three companies are pretty good in the sense of Accident insurance, you know, it might cost you, you know, five ten bucks a week But in these circumstances where if for some reason you get sick or you mess up your foot Or you gotta go and you know your head's been pounding for like five days and you can't even see straight If you're off for like two or three days They're gonna pick up the tab for some of your bills and they're also gonna pay you up to I want to say like 70% of what your normal pay would be in you know a short-term pay check So you're gonna have that to be able to fall back on to if for some reason you have something major You've got to have surgery and you're gonna be out for a couple of weeks That accident insurance is gonna cover you and keep on paying you keep on giving you a paycheck because like I Said there's only so much vacation that you can take when it comes to work and actually be able to make a paycheck back So definitely look into some sort of accident insurance and that covers you usually not only at work But for sickness or if you hurt yourself at home doing something stupid like BMX tricks in the middle of the night, you know Bruise your tailbone. You can't work so great Hint hint to somebody else But make sure you guys look into that. That's just another form of being prepared that you guys would probably need to look into So, yeah, that's about all the advice I've got for you know The flat rate system and being sick in it Maybe you guys can take some of this information and help yourselves out become a little bit more prepared when it comes time to You know actually having a back, you know a fall back for when these things kind of happen in your life Which they definitely will happen being prepared like the Boy Scout Mondo says is gonna be the best thing that you can be in This career definitely look into those things So I think I'm gonna go and get to the doctor like I said I would so Cheers for medication and expensive doctors. So kind of sucks Look forward this weekend. We're gonna be taking still Saying it but get better and everything still gonna be taking a road trip over to Pennsylvania Pick up a trans for the Duramax. We're gonna be doing, you know, a bunch of stuff into the Duramax build You know, maybe here into the future I might do a couple more videos like this one about the negatives and the pitfalls on to the flat rate system to look into now that I've kind of done a couple of videos on The positive sides of it. So maybe that's something to look forward to in the future. I appreciate you guys tuning in Thanks, and as always you guys stay awesome and don't get sick and go to the doctor