I hate my job, I get physically ill in the mornings knowing what's in store for the day. I've been at it for 7 years, and make a good wage. The only happy techs I've ever met were the ones who didn't give a shit about fixing anything. I think maybe I just care too much about doing a good job, which doesn't seem to be paying off as I haven't gotten a raise in two years. Any advice? What frame of mind do you get yourself in to deal with the daily barrage of shitty machines, shitty salespeople, and shitty customers? Should I just give up like some of these older techs I've met?
Anyone actually like being a tech?
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Tags: advice, advised, affects, ali, amou, aries, black and white, business, cons, consumable, control panel, customers, dealing, decent, development unit, diagnose, dirty, dropped, episode, feed rollers, field, fixing, forgot, frame, friendly, gig, good, google, hammermill, ignore, instrument, job, lef, life, loved, miles, mods, mornings, off, older, ops, profession, raise, relate, replaceable, ricoh, ricoh copiers, salesmen, salespeople, simpsons, skills, sound, spewing, store, struggle, stuck, supervisor, tech, techs, territory, third party, time, tractor, trade, type, wage, walked, walks, waste toner, whining, wonders, wrong
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Not sure what to say...
I think there are two types of tech, the ones who like what they do and the ones who don't. I can say I'm not real enamoured with the 'profession' but I'm compensated well and generally do it well. I wish I would wake up looking forward to a day on the job but I don't feel sick thinking about it either.
Just my opinion, but if you actually have a physical reaction to it then it likely ain't healthy... -
For me, there is certainly an element if tension/expectation to start every day. And yes, sometimes I do feel ill knowing I'll be expected to pull a rabbit out of my hat (not having a clue where that rabbit will come from). More often than not, I do manage to pull that rabbit out of my hat, often to my own surprise, and that's where my real job satisfaction comes from. It couldn't just be luck (could it?), because I can manage to do it at will. I think there is a certain personality type that can't be satisfied with the normal daily grind, and has to have a new and different challenge every day. Does this sound like you?
If it was easy, everyone could do it. =-^..^=If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.
blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=Comment
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I have shoveled chemicals by hand with a shovel, loaded tractor trailers manually worked in a factory machine shop, forged steel auto parts and a brief trip into hell {sales}. This is what I like to do the best. Lets be real, I love what I do. Best job I have had. Pay is OK. I enjoy fixing things, the instant sense of accomplishment., and it is the only job I have ever had where people cheer when I show up. I like the company I work for also. In all the other jobs, I was a number and replaceable no matter how good I did my job. Here, I have value based on my performance and nothing else. It is also a job that can not be farmed out to India. You have to be here to fix the copier, cost too much to ship it. Most of the auto parts plant I worked at is in Mexico now!The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen HawkingComment
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OMD-227
I absolutely love this job. Its all I have ever done, and would never consider changing. We are paid great, have awesome company cars, great management and staff, incredible incentives/staff discounts and a great lifestyle to go with it.
Please show me another job that you have freedom of driving around, visiting several different locations each day, chat with gorgeous receptionists, be given coffee/food everywhere you go and get to run your personal errands along the way, like banking or pickup/drop off stuff that anyone else would have to take time off for.
Sure, some places and clients are real pricks, but the job satisfaction that I get from working my way up from workshop lacky to working only on color/production machines, with 99.9% of clients happy that I am onsite for them is a great feeling. I wouldnt trade this for anything. I'm with the other guys..... I enjoy the sense of achievement, walking away from a machine with it working in great condition. Sometimes it hurts being a perfectionist, but if you work right, with the right attitude, there is no reason that you wouldnt enjoy this job.Comment
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As for me, it's the only real job I've ever had, and I've been at it for 31 years.
Where else can you have a crummy couple of hours on an ugly call, but then move on to something totally different just a few miles down the road? If you were stuck in an office, factory, or whatever, that wouldn't be an option.
I've had several offers from customers (one just last Summer) to come work for or run their IT departments, but have respectfully declined. What's really cool about this job is that it mixes so many different technologies into one profession, and you get to see how they relate to each other every day.
Although no one will ever get rich at it, it truly is a very rewarding profession.
Maybe you're just working for the wrong dealer?“I think you should treat good friends like a fine wine. That’s why I keep mine locked up in the basement.” - Tim HawkinsComment
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Hang in there BigBob,
You'll find after 20 years industrial deafness sets in and you stop hearing the customers whinging! You also get used to living on starvation wages, it stops you getting middle-aged spread. As for salesmen, try taking your frustrations out on them, it stops you going home and beating the wife.At least 50% of IT is a solution looking for a problem.Comment
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About 6 years ago I got pretty down on my job for a while (new boss - 4 ft tall and ex-military. Big Napoleon complex. He was going to make an example out of somebody, and decided I was it... for 3 months until he rode with me... Life got better in a hurry) and I had a big customer that was never happy. But then I discovered the secret.
I'd had enough of their constant bitching and whining and walked in fully prepared to tell them exactly what I thought of them. They had made it abundantly clear they were never going to be happy, so I was going to go fix their machine, and do it right, but I really didn't give a f*** what they had to say about it. And quite honestly if they did have anything to say about it, I could go fix somebody else's machine, and another tech could come down to fix theirs. I was also ready to tell them any tech who was smart enough to fix the worn out pieces of junk they refuse to let go of, was also smart enough not to walk in to the place unless they had the shit stupid luck to be assigned to the account.
As soon as I realized I could actually do that, I didn't need to. I went in, walked past dopey and sneezy, and started working - never said a word - actively ignored them, and walked out when I was done.
'Course I got a call from the boss, and decided I wasn't taking any crap off him that day either. Told him "Of course they called you - I wouldn't take their BS today, so they had to give it to somebody. I'd suggest you not take it either."
Yeah, I was pretty frazzled at that point, but I quit getting so much flak from both of them very soon after that.
The boss turned out to be a decent guy after he realized all the techs knew what we were doing, and let us do our job. The customer still has the same old machines, but now they have some other poor company losing money trying to keep them together.73 DE W5SSJComment
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You either like it or you don't............I guess you can be somewhere in the middle also.....on any given day. Sorry to hear you hate your job. Now, is it the job and its requirements that you hate, to fix things and most of the time make people happy or is it something else...like say the corporate culture you work within. I have been doing this for 36 years and have loved all but 1.5 of those years. And those 1.5 years were not the job per se but the company I worked for. Granted I don't hit the field as much anymore, I can't see small details or in dark recesses and I'm not all up to date on the latest greatest , but I still get a kick out of fixing things and making people happy. I highly recommend you re-evaluate your current situation, whether it is to change occupations, change industry, change companies or change your mindset but life really is too short to let your job make you ill every morning........thats gotta suck.....best of luck to ya.Comment
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I can totally relate!!! I have done this for 15 years now and LOVE being a tech but DESPISE all the crap that comes with it. Some days I get up and just can't face another sour-puss customer. The job has its ups and downs is all I can say. For a while you get a decent boss then some jerk takes his place and then back again. Some customers just give you crap every time you see them, then new people come in and it's your best account.
One piece of advice I can give, make a resume and look for another job as a copier tech or otherwise. Just sending out your resume and going on interviews can give you a new outlook. You don't even have to take the job if you don't want to but like Shadow said, it help just knowing you can just tell your boss and bad customers STFU.
As far as caring too much about doing a good job I know what you mean. I've been working on Canon's since I started and in 15 years have only ever had 1 copier that got swapped out by service, and that was a Ricoh B296. These POS machines, specifically Savin 8045/8025 and Ricoh 2550/4000, are kicking my a$$ and I really can't stand working on them or explaining to irate customers why their BRAND NEW copier has had soo many problems. It's like trying to make a Yugo perform like a Ford truck. In the past when I run into trouble accounts I take a moment to make a list of every part I think needs replacing (whole feed assemblies, covers, developer assy, etc...) and basically just shotgunned' that copier. I know they drill it into us to be a surgeon and just replace the "bad" part, but for my own sanity I have done this 4 or 5 times. I went from seeing that problem customer every couple weeks to 7 or 8 months without a service call. It might have been one expensive service call but I can't tell you how nice it was not having to deal with them for that long! Now if I can just figure out how to do that with my Ricoh's, most of them have less than 50k and have been problems from day one. Like a new feed assembly will feed any better than one with 15k.Comment
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I have to agree with the comments above. I have been doing this for 8 years now and love it. Prior to this I had 12 jobs in 20 years ranging from a casino employee (good job had a lot of fun) to a correctional officer (sucky job but good benefits) covering 4 states. Never worked or lived anywhere in my life for more than 3-1/2 years until I found this job. I'm very lucky as an only employee, my boss and his wife treat me very well and have done everything in their power to ensure that I am happy with them. I don't get paid a lot or have benefits of any kind but I wouldn't give up this job or my boss for anything and the best thing about it is I know they feel the same way about me.Comment
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If it's not your game, it's not your game. If you don't like broccoli, you're not going to buy it at the grocery store. If you really hate the job and not the ancillary crap that goes with it (troubled machines, two faced salespersons, unplease-able customers) then you need to get out. I had a friend who worked in a warehouse job for 8 years because the money and incentives were so good. Sounds good, but it made him miserable to his wife and friends. It affected his life outside of the time he spent at work. If it's affecting you outside of 8-5 then you need to move on for yourself if no one else. I agree there are times when the weight of the job is immense and seems like it will never end. The grass is always greener on the other side.
I've been there with all the comments about the bad economy, no raises/increases in 2-3 years, everything is more expensive, health insurance costs are rising.... it seems like it can only get worse. I assure you most of the people on here are in a similar state right now. It's not horrible, but it could always be better. I recently sent out a few resumes and took a few interviews for industry related jobs. None of them were field service and I realized the upside of those jobs had to be really high to get past the fact I like what I do. No one likes crazy/whiny/annoying customers, misguided sales staffs, and all the other stuff that one might dislike about the job. The fact of the matter is you are going to have those things no matter what you are doing. There is always going to be something that isn't pleasant about a j-o-b.
It all comes down to how much you can put up with. When the minuses out weigh the pluses in a job, you need to start looking.the savin2535 is displaying well bet the hiter lamp is not shining and the lamp had been tested o.k.please kindly help.Samir: No, not again. I... why does it say paper jam when there is no paper jam? I swear to God, one of these days, I just kick this piece of shit out the window.
Michael Bolton: You and me both, man. That thing is lucky I'm not armed.Comment
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I found that when I don't like a job, I sit down and write down what I don't like about it. On the other side of the paper I write what I do. Then I evaluate how or if it is possible to do more of what I like and less of what I don't. I like teaching people and I like the satisfaction of working on machines, but dislike not making it like new when I leave. I don't like the time pressure and I don't like traveling in traffic (some techs love this). Since so much of the job is that, I tried to find a way to get to do teaching and working on machines without traveling and without the constant pressure. I went to work for a vendor. I am a supervisor here because I have a lot of field experience, so I train a lot of people (+ for me) but I don't travel (+). There is still time pressure but it's not on every call (+). The majority of what I do is not repair, but make like new (+). I deal with technicians every day, so I don't deal with end-users who haven't a clue (+). I have good lighting, I don't have to struggle with tools and parts in elevators (+).
Don't get me wrong, I have learned that there are negatives I wasn't aware of at the time I made my decision, but I'm a lot happier. Find out if there is anything you like about your job and focus on that. If you can't find anything and your negatives are far greater than the positives, follow the advise of your fellow techs and find a new job. Wish you the best.Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Coke in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!".Comment
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I have found that in this field, the amount of responsibility given an individual will only increase, despite what your compensation is. With the responsibility comes stress, and if you can deal with the stress the responsibility doesn't seem as great. Solutions could include working out every day, yoga, or even a psychiatrist. I prefer to use beer.NEVER ASSUME ANYTHINGComment
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