TV, may I ask why you aren't working in industry? In a more built up area?
Not sure of your age either...but your experience is worth a good deal to the right company.
Hiya Cicero
A long story. I worked here part time in 2002-2004 for the extra cash. Got to know the people working here really well. Became friends and so on.
Roll on to December 2006 when I received a phone call saying that one of the two partners (a TV Tech) had been killed in a really crap car accident after leaving work here. The other partner is not a tech but is good at running a business.....but now the guy doing the repairs is dead.
Leaving him wide open to "technical chancers" and people saying they can do the job and stealing/and or wasting him blind. I left it for 6 Months and came up from Cape Town around July 2007. And walked into a workshop trainsmash of epic proportions. You have no idea.
So, I rolled my sleeves up, and started organizing and bringing order and implementing systems that make staff members life easier. Of course..I weeded the useless Techs out first (forever trying to hide their mistakes and wasting, wasting, wasting). At the end of the day you cannot cost a job card they fill in properly......(funny how useless people pretending they can do a job always do that.....look at that big earner at SABC who tried to hide a loss of R500 Million from Parliament...)
Here is the catch...I am stuck with my own systems that work so well. I have to be here at all times to ensure that nothing gets broken (system). If for example I decide to go away/get away from here for two weeks the company will have to find another one of the many "technical chancers" to help out while I am away. And we are waaay busier now than when I started cleaning up in 2007. That took six months to screw up properly. Today I give it 2 days with a chancer and I will be worse off than in 2007.
And I have been looking out for years now for one of the locals to put under my wing and teach properly so that he gets the basics right and does not become another chancer....none are interested. None.
The last proper tech that was prepared to help out here was my friend last year....trues God he is battling Chemo now and ain't coming back.
Cicero I am 51 Yrs. This is CRT country here. All about CRT. No flat screens or LCD or Plasma or LED. The money is here to be made...but I cannot do as much as I could 8 Years ago. Plus time has flown. And the town has become much busier and dirtier and well more "Africanised"
Word is out that they know (or have been burned by their own people trying to fix TV's) proper Techs are the answer. So all the crap ends up here. And there is never a break.
Plus (probably to my detriment) I tend to stay loyal to those that treat me well...could be a Forum or just people I know. My loyalty takes a lot to change. Call me steadfast in my ways.
That's all I know.
Sorry for the long post Cicero. Hope it makes sense though
Sidenote: At least no load shedding tonight
All the best,
tv