Do Good Work - Overhauled S1E7 is now on your favorite podcast app!

Want to be a guest on Overhauled?  -https://www.shopdiesellaptops.com/pages/podcast-guests

In this podcast your host Melissa Petersmann (The Diesel Queen) discusses diesel technicians, trucks, the diesel economy at large, and many more interesting topics in a style that only she can bring - raw and unfiltered. 

Melissa welcomes diesel mechanic, Myranda Carter. They cover topics they have in common. Being a female in the shop, what it takes to be successful, a love of tools, gear, and grease. 

As always, thank you for watching and listening!

Transcript for Do Good Work - Overhauled S1E7

Melissa Petersmann:

Hey guys, this is The Diesel Queen here on my Overhauled podcast. Today, I have a very special guest with me today. This girl I have known for a very long time. We originally met on social media. She has been a really big inspiration to me. She's also in the equipment side of the industry. I would like to introduce you to Miranda Carter. Miranda, how about you give us a little bit about your background. I know what your background is, but I want them to hear it from you.

Miranda Carter:

Okay. Hi guys. I've been mechanicing for nine years now. I started working on semi-trucks and heavy equipment. When I first was in school, I thought I was going to be semi-truck only, but I started my first job. No one wanted the equipment, so they threw me on it, and now I am so thankful because I absolutely adore heavy equipment. It's my jam. I did that for six years. I worked at the AgDealer for three years, and now I'm currently at a Cat dealer. I've got a good variety of experience with engine work, hydraulics, electrical, and all that fun stuff.

Melissa Petersmann:

So tell us a little bit more about your schooling. What made you decide that, "I'm going to go to school to be a diesel mechanic"? Because I know you get asked this question all the fucking time, saying that [inaudible 00:01:32], "Oh my God, what you in the industry? You're a pretty blonde girl. Oh my God." Explain to them a little bit how you got into this industry.

Miranda Carter:

So I was a waitress and had been waitressing for six years out of high school, and I was just living my best life. I ended up pregnant and my daughter's biological dad wasn't the best kind of guy. I knew he wasn't going to be there, wasn't going to be dependable or supportive, so I'm like, all right, I've got to do something. The only thing that sounded fun to me was diesel mechanics.

I decided to go to school. I was inspired because my grandma was a diesel mechanic also. Although she told me not to do it, I still did. I imagine it was really fucking shitty for her back in the day. I think times have definitely changed a lot and it is what you make it and what work you put out, but yeah, that really inspired me to go to school, went to school, graduated, and here we are nine years later with a 10-year-old and still turning wrenches.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah, that story there is part of the reason why I wanted you on here because you are a single mom trying to make it and trying to figure your shit out and diesel mechanics and creating this career that you've made for yourself has made you a very successful person. Nine years is nothing to take lightly in this industry.

A lot of people, as you've seen, especially women, they make it maybe a year, maybe two. Then they move on to an office job or something like that. The fact that you've been able to take it nine years is pretty fucking awesome, that you're still turning wrenches. Were you a service manager at one point?

Miranda Carter:

No, I had thought about taking a service manager job, but when I inquired about it and found out that this certain job, it would be straight desk work and no hands on at all, I'm like, I'm not ready for that. I'm not ready to give up mechanicing. Eventually, one day, possibly, but I'm still very hungry for it and it drives me. I legitimately enjoy my days going to work, and it's cool as shit when you get to listen to whatever you want to listen to, tear shit apart, put it back together, make it work. There's a lot of pride that comes with it. I can't picture myself in an office job setting yet, but definitely one day, maybe. I think that's totally a chapter that maybe all mechanics get to eventually.

Melissa Petersmann:

Tyler tried to hire me three years ago and I was at the same point where you were where I'm like, "Dude, I ain't bucking down turning wrenches. I don't feel like I put my time into this. I don't feel like I'm ready." You're right. It's a very rewarding job. It's one of the most rewarding jobs you can have, and it's fun. Not every day. Some days you're like, "Why the fuck did I pick this career?" But for the most part, it's fucking fun.

It's like an adult daycare that you get to rip shit apart and then put it back together and it's big equipment that you can just play around on. I used to tell people all the time, one of my favorite part of my jobs is when I'm done turning wrenches on something or fixing it, I get to go off to the dirt pile and dig giant holes with it. That's fucking fun, but it's one of those things that if you truly have a passion for, it's hard to get out of, so with what you're doing right now, you said you've worked on trucks. I know that you worked at a scrap... It was a scrapyard, correct? When you first started?

Miranda Carter:

I didn't know it was a scrapyard until I got hired on, which is freaking funny. So it was the cleanest, nicest scrapyard you'll ever see in your life. That shop hands down is one of the nicest shops I've ever seen. I would do field work and shop work, and sometimes when you went out to the scrapyard, it was a little sketchy as crap. I don't know if I can swear on this.

Melissa Petersmann:

Oh yeah, go for it.

Miranda Carter:

Okay, perfect, because that's my personality, but anyways, it would be really, really sketchy. It's like, wow, you see everything, you know what I mean? But it was also fun and I loved it, and there's tons of equipment. There's industrial stuff, there's heavy equipment, there's light equipment, there's semi trucks. You really get a good foundation of everything there. I'm really blessed that I started my career there. Yeah, I don't regret that at all.

Melissa Petersmann:

One of the things I wanted talk to you about was... Because you have a really good background with a non dealership setting, and then you went into a dealership setting. I have only ever worked at a dealership. In the dealerships setting, you have access to every kind of wiring diagram and theory of operation. You have all the resources you could possibly need at a dealership.

So in a sense, sometimes I feel like I almost handicapped myself a little bit, and this is the first time I've ever admitted this, by the way, because you got to fucking figure it out without the proper wiring diagram and the proper shit and the support of that, and I think there's something too, as you and I have discussed before, of being thrown to the wolves into something, and dealerships do a really great job of training technicians, and they do a really great job of creating a technician that can work on their shit.

But obviously mechanics, I've always told people that the big difference between a parts changer and a mechanic is understanding what you're looking at, understanding how that component works, even wiring diagrams, understanding how they work, how to read that, and people think, "Oh, it's just a wiring diagram. You can just read words." No, you fucking can't. All right. Try to hand a wiring diagram to a one-year mechanic and watch them fucking go, "Uh," for an hour.

We've all been there because we were there at one point in time. We were like, "Oh my God, there's so many symbols. Oh my God. The fuck." But in a sense, I almost feel like sometimes, I was handicapped a little bit and I didn't do very much field work either. Do you think that your experiences with the scrapyard helped mold you into a better mechanic than let's say somebody like me that has worked only at a dealership? Do you think it's given you a little bit more resources than what I was given?

Miranda Carter:

I would say yes for one thing only, and that's diagnostics. I'm damn good at diagnosing equipment. That's my favorite thing, and that's just what I'm good at. I'm good at thinking outside the box, because I didn't always have a computer to hook up with a code and follow through the steps that it tells you what to do, because at the dealer, you've got everything. It tells you what to do, step to step most of the time, right?

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah.

Miranda Carter:

But you still have to know how to use shit and how to test things. Where I started, they were really good because I did have Cummins INSITE and Cat ET, and a lot of stuff we needed. We didn't always have all the electrical diagrams though. That part was just figure it out. Follow the wires through, open them out from one end to the other. You just dig in and hope you get lucky and find it. You just learn little ways. Check all your fuses, relays first.

However, going to a dealer, I don't know if I would've wanted to start like I did, because I think it was harder because having the support and the training and all the information you need, it helps you be successful, because now, if I get something in my bay to work on, and I don't have electrical diagrams or all the information, I don't want to touch it. Give me the shit I need to do my job. You know what I mean? It's just more efficient that way. I think it's more logical.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well, it's a double-edged sword, right? Yeah.

Miranda Carter:

Being at... We call them end users, where I started, like a non-dealer, has really made me appreciate when I'm working on a customer's equipment to get it up as fast as I can, but also doing it the right way, so I don't have comebacks because I really realize how much money that's costing them in downtime and how it affects everyone down to the operator, and that whole business.

They're making money and it's hurting them a lot when that piece of equipment's down. I do have a greater understanding and respect for that coming from a non-dealer place. Then my diagnostic skills, which I'm very thankful for, and I think that's due to having to think outside of the box and not being only following troubleshooting tree to a tee type thing.

Melissa Petersmann:

What I learned pretty rapidly with the troubleshooting trees is sometimes, it's more like guidelines and you go to training. I have thousands of training stuff with John Deere, and what I learned rapidly is the engineers that create this stuff are going to tell you to follow the diagram or the tree exactly. They're going to tell you to follow it step by step.

What you learn is that's not what you fucking do, because if it wants you to check something that's going to take five hours to check within the first three steps, you're not going to fucking do that. As long as that makes sense, and you don't need the information from a previous step to check that, you go through and do the easiest shit first, because that's what makes sense. If I can check five things in the time it would take me to check this one thing, I'm going to do that first. It makes more sense.

Miranda Carter:

I definitely, definitely agree. See, and the fact that you see that and you've been dealer only goes to show it doesn't really matter whether you're a non-dealer, dealer. Experience is what teaches you that, so that's impressive that you recognize that because I feel like I'm the same way and I take my non-dealer and dealer experience and I'll put them together when I'm troubleshooting something. I respect and follow the information, but it's like you said, sometimes it's not logical.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah. I understand the downtime and the need for productivity and stuff like that, because my dad was a logger, so I understand. I understand how much it affects operations to have a machine down. Although sometimes, working in a shop, you can lose sight of that a little bit. I think field mechanics don't as much because they're in it.

They're talking to the customer, they're seeing these operations every day, or in your case, the shop that you worked at, you got that sense of urgency because you pretty much were the customer. That was your shop, that was your pieces of equipment. It affected you on a daily basis. In a dealership, especially a large dealership, sometimes there's a disconnect between the shop mechanics and the customer where they don't genuinely care about the customer.

Sometimes you just got to be like, "You know what, Mr. Customer? I'm trying to do this right. I want to make sure it leaves right. It's going to take a little bit longer." You got to be real with these people sometimes, but there's no excuse to fuck around. Honestly, every mechanic has moments during the day where they're tired or they're like, "Oh my God, I need to take a little mental break from this every now and then," especially when you're trying to diagnose.

Sometimes you just walk away from it and be like, "I'm going to breathe. I'm going to go ask maybe somebody else and bounce some ideas off of people," but for the most part, your productivity at work doesn't just affect you and your bonuses. Like you said before, it affects the customer too. That's a quality in a mechanic that I find very rare that they genuinely care about that. I've worked at a couple small dealerships where we were in direct contact with the customer. When we made quotes, especially the ag dealership I worked at, it was a really small dealer.

Miranda Carter:

That's how my ag dealership was. It was insane because you're in constant communication with the customer and you really get to know them, you get to love them. You get to be like, "Okay, you're kind of an asshole, but I'm still going to do a good job for you." You know what I mean? Yeah, you're in direct communication and you really, really, really care, and you see the bigger picture. Especially ag, that's their livelihood a lot of the time. Even construction. Anything that's down is everyone's livelihood.

Melissa Petersmann:

Oh, yeah. I think there's some disconnect in some dealerships there with... The ag dealership I worked at, we had a service manager that would talk to the customers. We did. That was his job. But when we did a fucking winter inspection, for example, on a piece of machinery, guess who called the customer to go over that? We did, because the service manager understood the value in that.

These customers don't want to have... They don't want someone in an office that has no idea what they're talking about just read a checklist off to them and be like, "Hey, what do you approve?" They want to talk to the mechanics, so if they have questions, they'd be like, "Hey, what does this affect?" Or, "Why is this important?" Or whatever, we can answer that. The small construction dealership I worked at in Wyoming, that new shop that I worked at, I was the boss man, secondhand man, and when he quit, I did run the shop for three months, and that whole time, I had a very tight connection with a lot of these customers because I dealt with them every day.

We were such a small shop that they knew the name of every mechanic there. They knew what mechanics they wanted to work on their stuff, and the ones they did not. They would specifically, especially for field calls, they'd call and specifically ask for certain mechanics. They knew that I was the only shop mechanic, but I didn't really have problems with customers. For the most part, they liked me, but it's important to build that relationship with them, especially when you're in a small dealership.

It is so fucking important to have a good relationship with them because you don't want them driving somewhere else. They are your livelihood in a sense, and when you take upon yourself a little bit of personal accountability for these customers, even though it's not your dealership, you don't own it, you're not pocketing necessarily the money that these customers are bringing in, you can derive a fucks given for these customers.

They've always said, "If you take care of your employees, your employees take care of your customers," but I've always had this personal vendetta to do... Maybe vendetta is not the right word, but I've always had this personal drive to want to do good for the customer because that is my name and that's my reputation in their eyes, and you're the same way.

Miranda Carter:

Very, very proud. It means everything to me. I don't want comebacks. I want to do the best job I can. I would rather take a little bit longer and do it perfect and double check everything and have that customer happy then just hurry and turn crap out and have work that I don't want to put my name on. If I'm doing it, I'm doing it right the first time.

Well, my last job, I built a really good reputation of customers that would call and they would request me. That meant everything. They would call, they would ask, "Can I talk to Miranda?" Or, "Can I talk to the girl?" Because obviously that's what we're always known as, you know what I mean? They're like, "I have a question about this. Why is it doing this?" It's just very rewarding to be trusted and asked for.

Melissa Petersmann:

Oh yeah, and when you build up that reputation... No one's perfect. We all fuck up. Sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you try, you will have a comeback and it happens, but if you build that reputation with your boss, your customers, the people around you, when you do have a fuck-up, they have faith that you did everything you could to not do that.

Or if they call you and they're like, "Hey, this is going on," and you're like, "Dude, I don't know. I need to look at this. I don't fucking know," they're going to trust that you're telling the truth. They're going to trust that. They're not going to feel like... I've watched a lot of people and a lot of mechanics and a lot of bosses take the approach of we don't help people on the phone.

I can understand that to an extent. You don't want to give too much work away for free, but what I did learn is there's a big benefit to helping people on the phone because when they can't figure it out, or if they break something or they do something, or they get into something that's way over their head, guess who they're going to fucking call? They're going to call the person that took their time out of their day to help them.

We had one customer at the small construction shop I worked at in Wyoming that... He fixed a lot of his own shit. He would literally just pay us to go down there and help him diagnose it, but that made him happy, because he was some old guy that ran his own little operation. We probably would've lost him as a customer if we weren't willing, so it was worth it. It was worth having that relationship with him to where we might not be getting paid for all of the repair labor, but he's buying his parts from us and he's paying us the labor to help him diagnose it.

Miranda Carter:

Exactly, and we're building a relationship and trust, so that's very important.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah, it makes me so sad that there's a disconnect with a lot of mechanics. How big is the Cat dealership that you work at? How many mechanics do you have in that shop?

Miranda Carter:

So we have probably 10 to 11 mechanics I think right now, and then seven field techs. They need more field techs, but I think everyone's looking for people right now, and it's a really nice big shop, and they really put safety number one, which I love. I might be a geek that way, but safety is also your life. You know what I mean? Once you've worked at a dealership or a place that doesn't take safety seriously, it's scary. My very first job had a great safety program, and my current job has a really great safety program too. That's a perk to me.

Melissa Petersmann:

So with having that many mechanics in a shop, do you notice a little bit more of a disconnect between those mechanics and the customers because it's such a big shop? Okay, that's what I was looking for. Yeah.

Miranda Carter:

Definitely different than my previous job. My previous job, I'd call the customers with any questions, I'd answer calls. I would call them to let them know I was coming out to their place to fix their tractor or excavator or whatever, and then we'd call when work was done. Customers would walk through the shop and it was a constant relation. You'd see them when you were up front if you needed to grab parts.

Just a really small, family-type business, which is great. Where I'm at now, I think I've only seen a couple customers walking through, and that's okay. It's like a trade-off. You have more support, more people in roles that are doing jobs that keep the stress off of you, so you can fully focus on mechanicing and do the best you can there. There's definitely trade-offs.

Melissa Petersmann:

I wondered about that because I noticed the same thing because I've worked in small shops and big shops too, and I've noticed that the smaller dealerships have a much higher customer satisfaction than big ones. Part of the reason of a little bit of a disconnect, when you have 25 mechanics, it's hard to... Usually, mechanics aren't directly talking to customers that often when there's 25 of them, and you're like four months out in work. Let's get into the topic that I know you're looking forward to, is the-

PART 1 OF 4 ENDS [00:24:04]

Melissa Petersmann:

... To the topic that I know you're looking forward to is the women in the industry thing. And because I know you're tired of getting asked the same fucking questions that I get asked. We get asked all the time, like, oh my God, what got you in the industry. It's so weird. It's like it's a fucking job. It's not weird when guys do it, right? Why is it weird when I do it? And we get asked questions over and over and over again about that same thing. And I also get asked a question, which I'm sure you've been asked, is how do we get more women into the industry? And that's my exact reaction. It's not about getting women, right? It's about getting people.

Miranda Carter:

Quality. And people that are there for the right reasons. Like you and I, we have a drive for this shit. We love it. We genuinely are happy fixing things, right? There are a lot of people I feel like that will go into it for the wrong reasons. And we need ...

Melissa Petersmann:

Guy or girl. Right?

Miranda Carter:

Exactly. And I always tell people when I'm at work I'm not a girl. I'm a fucking mechanic. You know what I mean?

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah.

Miranda Carter:

It doesn't matter if you are a guy or a girl. What matters is if you go there and you can get the job done and then you're qualified, and that's what matters.

Melissa Petersmann:

I completely fucking agree. But I want to hear that and I want to have that from a woman's mouth. Because you know, you get that from a man's mouth, even though I'm a woman speaking to the man, people can take it wrong. And I want to stress the, so do you feel comfortable sharing the story that you told me a while ago about a girl that started in a shop and didn't have her own tools and had no intentions of buying her own tools? Do you remember that story that I think it was your boyfriend told you?

Miranda Carter:

It was back when he was in Salt Lake. But there was a girl, I think she was an apprentice and she didn't want to buy tools and she legitly was there. Cool, good for you. I'm proud. You made it. You're trying this. But then it turns out she's wanting the guys to do everything for her, and just trying to ride on the coattails of another mechanic, isn't willing to pull her own weight, didn't want to buy tools, and was just kind of there being a little flirty. And I'm like, you're at work. You're not here to pick up a man, you're here to fix shit. You know what I mean?

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah. And that's exactly why I wanted to bring you onto this and have you tell your stories that you have like that. Because that story stuck in my head for a long time. And I've actually told a lot of people that story in conjunction of these women that are entering this industry, I'm trying to give them the facilities and the tools to be successful. And it is. You don't have to be a man. You don't have to be ... Who you are in your personality can be whatever. You want to wear makeup to work? Fine. You don't want to wear makeup to work, that's fine. It shouldn't matter how you physically present yourself as long as you're doing the work correctly.

But what matters is your attitude. As you know, you're a very attractive lady. You have a feminine side, you like to wear dresses, you, you're girly, you like your turquoise, that's fine. You can be that, right? But when you're at work, work. Right? And it's, I'm trying to figure out a way to present this information to young women, and even young men, honestly, trying to enter the industry and give them the tools to be successful. Because I don't know if you've had this experience before, but I've had the experience of walking into an office for an interview and at the very end they're kind of like, they're beating around the bush on the subject, because they're scared. They're scared to mention this subject of in a back alley kind of way to approach it are you going to be an HR nightmare?

Miranda Carter:

Yep, exactly. And I don't blame them, honestly.

Melissa Petersmann:

I don't either. I don't either.

Miranda Carter:

I'm might be thinking sexist, I won't lie, because most women give us a bad name. Most women are not in it for the right reasons. And this is most, not all, because we do know some awesome ass women mechanics. But you've got to have tough skin. You can't be offended constantly. You can't whine. Go to work and get your shit done. And people are going to say shit, whatever, let it go. Mechanics just naturally talk shit on each other. It doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well, if they're not talking shit on you, they probably don't like you.

Miranda Carter:

If you're going to be sensitive, no. Leave your feelings at home and get busy with your tools and get shit done.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well, and we've seen guys do that too, right? I mean, we've all known the crybaby guy that someone says something to him and he is like, oh my God, then he's off for the rest of the day. It's like, bro.

Miranda Carter:

Just talk shit back. Have fun. That's a mechanic's love language is shit talking, right?

Melissa Petersmann:

I mean, you've got to spend fucking, usually 10 hours or more a day with these people. They may as well make it fucking enjoyable.

Miranda Carter:

I agree. And it's so much easier to just talk your shit and then your friends rather than, for example, most women, they will be mad at you because you looked at them wrong in 1990 freaking five, and they remember it for the rest of their life. You know what I mean?

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah, yep. I know exactly what you're talking about. Like you said, there's some women in this industry that are fucking badass and they're there for the right reasons. And especially what I've noticed, and this is something I wanted to kind of cover with you, because since the last time we've really talked, TikTok has kind of become a thing, right? TikTok wasn't a thing the last time we talked. So what I've kind of noticed is, we're trying to get people into this industry and part of this podcast was how can we get this industry out there and get people interested in it and kind of help solve this problem of ... The problem's getting worse and worse of the number of people coming into this industry versus the people that are retiring or leaving the industry. And it's created this problem where the mechanics that are in the industry are overworked because there's not enough people to fill those positions. So you're trying to take up the slack of what three other mechanics should be doing.

Miranda Carter:

The burnout and that shit will get you. You don't even realize it's gotten you until it's too late, and then you're like, Ooh.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yep. So the subject with TikTok and social media is, I kind of view it as a double edged sword. In a sense it is. And guys and girls are doing it right? They're getting the industry out there, they're sharing the funny things and the fun things and the bro shit. And I used to do that all the time. I used to share TikToks at work all the time. Well, I mean, I was clocked out and I would usually do it. I'd come in early to do it for work, or I would come in on Saturday, something like that.

Miranda Carter:

Yes, I respect. So I made a comment on one girl's video. Because I'm like, girl, how do you make so many videos? Is your employer okay with it? I will not do that many at all. I feel like you shouldn't be doing that if you're clocked in and a customer is paying your time.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well the customer ain't going to be happy if they find out they're paying $145 an hour for you to be on TikTok.

Miranda Carter:

Apparently a lot of these people are doing that and taking full advantage of it. I totally respect you that you came in early or you were clocked off. That's how it should be.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah. The only time I ever recorded anything when I was on the clock is I would literally spend the five seconds to set my phone up and I would just let it run a recording, and I wouldn't touch it.

But there is this double edged sword with this TikTok and the social media is that, A, you need to have the approval of your fucking company. Hands down. The last company I worked at, they loved that I was doing that. They were happy with it. They were fine with it. As long as I wasn't clocked in or taking money away from the customer or from them, they didn't care. They were fine with it because I had built that reputation and that respect with them that I'm not going to do this in an inappropriate time. And they knew that, but they were like, hey, can you make sure if there's a decal on the picture, can you put a little sticker over it, or can you tape your uniform? I'm fine with that. But you've got to have that verbal conversation with your employer. But I also kind of feel like in a sense, men and women, but specifically the women on TikTok, they're kind of romanticizing this industry a little bit, right?

Miranda Carter:

Oh my God, yes. And this is why I fucking love you, because you and I always see eye to eye, and it's so refreshing because I feel like I want to connect with a lot of other female mechanics, but sometimes I can't because they don't see it like we do. And I feel like you and I see it like the men do. And that's why we just fit in so great as women in a man's world, I guess.

Melissa Petersmann:

Both of us have been kicked off of female mechanic pages for reasons. We're not afraid to speak our mind. These are some issues that are serious and need to be covered. Being in the industry because you're proud to be a woman in the industry and that's the only reason you're in the industry is not, that's not going to last. And same with the men. Being a diesel technician has been this huge romanticized thing. And even with the men, they think blue collar guy. I'm a blue collar guy. It's like, do you really want to be a blue collar guy? Because did you actually understand what that takes? Because it's not just the women, it's the men too.

Miranda Carter:

You're going to work hard, you're going to freaking get dirty, it's going to kick your ass some days, but you'll be proud.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yep.

Miranda Carter:

Did I ever tell you my latest story?

Melissa Petersmann:

I don't think so. Maybe.

Miranda Carter:

There was this post on Facebook and it was on one of the mechanic pages, and it wasn't just a girl page because I pretty much don't follow those because I don't have the patience for a lot of them. But anyways, this guy said, "Hey guys," and then he had some topic, but this girl comments, what about me? What about the girl? I'm a mechanic. I'm here too. And I commented back, I'm like ...

Melissa Petersmann:

Hey guys, that's what she said about the guy.

Miranda Carter:

Yeah.

Melissa Petersmann:

Oh my God, I hate that shit.

Miranda Carter:

I was like, are you freaking serious right now? I'm like, no one gives a shit. He wasn't just meaning guys, he knows you're here.

Melissa Petersmann:

Guys is a generic term for anybody that's seeing this.

Miranda Carter:

Seriously. I'm like, are you just trying to announce yourself? And then she just kept going, kept going. And I'm like ... She was like, "I thought you would understand of all people since you're a girl in a man's world." And I'm like, "Actually, I don't understand because I've never needed special recognition or special treatment because I'm a girl. Because to me that's irrelevant." You know what I mean?

Melissa Petersmann:

How many shop meetings have you been in where your foreman addresses, "Hey everybody, or hey guys," right? Hey guys, this is a common thing. The first few months you worked there, they're like, Hey guys. And they're like, oh, and gals. It's like, I don't fucking give a shit. Hey guys is, I don't see that as a problem. Now if you're like, "Hey men in here, not including the woman, you fucking suck". Now if you do something like that, I'm going to fucking have a problem. But I've never actually run into that.

And that's the other thing I want to talk to you about is for the attempt of trying to attract women that are good to be in this industry, they've got questions and they've got issues with what's the men like? They've been told their whole life, especially with the common beliefs of popular culture right now, that men are this big evil thing, and it's got to be hard to work with them, and it's got to be difficult, and there's got to be problems, there's got to be some oppression and sexism, and I think we can both agree that there's very rare occasions that this happens. Most of the time the sexism that is happening that is common is in a positive manner where you're getting special treatment, not getting shit on. And I want them to hear this from other women that men are not, the men in this industry are not these big scary monsters that are out to get you. You can coexist with these people.

Miranda Carter:

They become your friends, they, you know what I mean? They're awesome. They're easy to get along with. If you keep your head down, do your work, let your work speak for itself, they will respect you and you're one of the guys, and that's a good feeling.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well, and that's a key to anybody that's being a mechanic. If you work in enough shops you'll see this pattern where there's always a couple people, maybe one, maybe two mechanics in that shop that are not respected at all. And it's not because they're young. It's not because they're this or they're that. It's because their work speaks for itself, and it's not a good thing. And I've told people a million times, you want to be successful in this industry, there's two things you need to do. Show up and try hard. That is it. That is all you have to do.

Miranda Carter:

You don't even have to fucking know to know it all because you're never going to know it all.

Melissa Petersmann:

No.

Miranda Carter:

You learn it all as you go.

Melissa Petersmann:

If you're a know-it-all, you're going to fucking piss off everybody else you work with. We all know a mechanic like that, that thinks they're the fucking God's gift to the planet and you just want to fucking strangle. Like, dude, you're giving the wrong impression. It's okay to fuck up. It's okay. It's going to happen.

Miranda Carter:

Biggest lesson too, if you fuck up, own it.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yep.

Miranda Carter:

Own that shit and be real about it.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yep.

Miranda Carter:

Learn from it. As long as you don't do the same shit again, it happens. That's how you learn it. Those lessons you never forget.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well, your reputation and your respect as a mechanic is everything. It doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl, does not matter. And it's sad that there's some women in this industry that have made it so they can't be reprimanded because they pull the girl card. And that's so sad because it should not ... Exactly. What I've told a million people and about this, the only thing I fucking ask for special treatment on in any shop that I've ever worked, and the only thing I ask for is I want my own fucking bathroom. That is all. I will wear the guy's uniforms, and if I don't fit in them, I will buy my own jeans. I don't need anything else.

Miranda Carter:

I agree. I am willing ...

Melissa Petersmann:

Besides my own bathroom.

Miranda Carter:

Exactly. I'm willing to do the job requirements regardless. I don't need any other special treatment. In fact, I don't want it.

Melissa Petersmann:

Exactly.

Miranda Carter:

I remember my first mechanic job and too many people would try to help me and I'm like, no, let me do this myself. And I finally had to just get, I guess a little salty with them. No, get the fuck away and let me do it. If I need help, I will ask for it. I'm not above asking for help, but I also don't want anyone to do my job for me at all.

Melissa Petersmann:

Yep. Yep. I feel that. It actually took me a long time to get over that asking for help is okay, Melissa. If it's going to take you two hours to line up these pins for this excavator arm to a coupler, if it's going to take you two hours to do it by yourself, or it's going to take you 15 minutes if you ask for help, ask for fucking help, Melissa. It took me forever to get that through my own fucking head. But for the most part, exhaust your resources first. That's what I've always been told, and that's what I've always preached, is exhaust your resources first and try. Give it a legit effort.

I knew this kid that he was one of those kids that thought he was God's gift to the fucking planet and he loved to, if something got even remotely a little bit hard, he would go around the shop and ask people for their opinions, or their help. And he wouldn't just, we all have a go-to guy that we trust with their opinions. We have a couple of those, right, where we trust their opinions and that's who we go to, and that's whose opinion we weigh heavily on when we need it. Everybody has that in a shop and sometimes it's you for other people. But this kid would ask ... He had me and this other guy that he would ask first because we were the top mechanics in that shop. If he thought our answers were too hard, or he did not like our answers, he would then go ask everybody else until he found an answer that was easy to do or that he liked. And it's like, then he winds up having this fucking excavator that he spent three days diagnosing, decided it was a controller, and guess what? It was not.

Miranda Carter:

Oh yeah. People love to fucking throw controllers at. It drives me nuts. Why do they do that?

Melissa Petersmann:

Yes they fucking do. It's not the ... Yes. How many times have you replaced a controller that had actually, how many times have you seen a controller replaced that that was actually the problem and that actually fixed it? In your entire career. How many times have you seen that?

Miranda Carter:

Oh, maybe like three times. And that's in nine years.

Melissa Petersmann:

I've seen it twice.

Miranda Carter:

Could be more common now. I mean, everything's so electrical, but usually it's a fucking wire or a rub in a wire. And if it has split loom, you bet your sweet ass it's going to be the fucking wire that's rubbed through.

Melissa Petersmann:

In this instance, guess what? It was a fucking power fuse to the controller. All right, this kid ... You know how electricity works, you know how electricity works. And I'm not saying we don't all fuck up. I've misdiagnosed things too. Not going to say I haven't. But he didn't even know the fuse blew. This kid was diagnosing this and taking the easy advice from another mechanic that was not a very well-respected mechanic in the shop for reasons I'm not going to get into right now. And they're like, oh, you need to test the power coming out of the controller because obviously it's not sending signals. Right idea, wrong sequence to do that in.

And I understand, okay, let's check the power coming out of the controller. No power coming out of the controller. My first thought would be, okay, I need to make sure this controller's even getting power in the first place, right? Because if it's not getting power, it's not going to be able to send power. He completely skipped that fucking idea. Completely blew that off. Like, oh, it's a controller and just replaced it. Guess what? It was a fucking power fuse for that controller.

And I can't tell you how many times I've told people that it's ... The one time I can specifically remember a controller, fixing it, I know there was a couple times, but this is the one time I can specifically remember, is I was doing a long block ... Other big difference, long blocks and short blocks are not fucking engine rebuilds. Yep, it drives me crazy. I did an engine rebuild. No the fuck you didn't. You took parts off the other engine and put it on that engine. It's not rebuild. Anyways, doing a long block on this tractor, and I don't remember what model it was, but long story short, the new engine had injectors in it that had a different resistance than the original engine. And the only solution to that was to replace the controller because the controller did not know how to read the resistances, the new updated resistances in those injectors, which if I would've taken the time to look through all the DTAC stuff, I would've fucking figured that out before.

But I kept having problems. I'm like, why are these, because you know how it is when you have any kind of, even with long blocks that come with injectors, you have to calibrate those injectors to the controller if they're electronic injectors, right? So I'm sitting there trying to calibrate it and it's not doing it. I'm like, what the fuck? Why is this not working? And then it's throwing codes for injector resistances. I'm like, bro, these are all brand new fucking injectors. What the fuck?

So I go into DTAC and lo and behold the only solution to this, because those are updated part numbers, you can't just go back and get the old part numbers for the old injectors. And at that point, you know how expensive electronic injectors can be. It's just as expensive. So we replaced the controller, that fixed it. That's like the one time that I can go into my head and clearly know that that first sure fixed that machine. The controller didn't even fail. It just wasn't talking. It wasn't even a failed controller. So yeah, but that's where experience ... The same guy that told this kid that it was controller was also the guy that I watched replace every controller and wiring harness on a backhoe. And then he is like, I fixed it. I'm like, yeah, obviously, because you replaced the entire fucking electrical system. So yeah, that's going to fix it.

Miranda Carter:

I've known a guy like that too. That's like seriously parts canon? Like, of course you change every fucking component, you're going to get it, but you're also freaking not respecting the customer or your company or being a freaking true mechanic. So speaking of ag, do you remember your first tractor split? Were you like, oh my God?

Melissa Petersmann:

Yes, I do.

Miranda Carter:

Me too. I was like, what the fuck? I have to do what? And now honestly, splitting them is a breeze. So easy and so nice to get to everything. I don't mind at all. But the first one is intimidating as shit.

Melissa Petersmann:

For me it really depends on the tractor, on what I'd consider convenient or not. So here's how blind I was to the ag industry when I first started in there, and this is people think you have to have some fucking background into this shit to be successful. The first time I started an in an ag dealership coming from the construction world, I was looking at this fucking, what was it, an eight R I think it was. And I'm like, where the fuck's the frame rail?

PART 2 OF 4 ENDS [00:48:04]

Melissa Petersmann:

Where the fuck's the frame rail? I'm like, "What the fuck?" I worked on 9Rs, those have frame rails. I'm sitting there looking at this tractor, and I'm like, "I don't fucking get it." Literally everything is bolted to everything. What the fuck? What the fuck?

Miranda Carter:

Then you learn the hydraulic system completely different. You're like, "Oh, there is no hydraulic tank, it's the fucking transmission."

Melissa Petersmann:

Right, it's all one oil. That also fucking threw me for a loop. The first oil change I did on a 9R, it's 70 gallons or some ridiculous amount of fucking oil. The only machines I've seen take oil that are fucking cranes. I'm like, "How the fuck?" Then I'm trying to do the service and it's like I can't figure... "Where the fuck in this manual is the fill the transmission? Where? How do you check axle oil level? Oh wait, you fucking don't." Oh yeah, that threw me for a complete fucking loop when I first started there. I'm like, "What?"

Some things, it's nice. It's kind of convenient to be able to split tractors, and I do like splitting tractors. I love big jobs, just part of it, I just love it. Then other things you get, like the 6,000 series tractors. To do a fucking oil pan you have to split it four times, and you're like, "Grr..."

Miranda Carter:

On a certain Kubota tractor, to freaking check your oil pump you have to split the fucking tractor, to get your MFD, which is mechanical front drive. Some people call them differently. You have to fucking take off your damn axle to get it out. How stupid is that?

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah. Or you have to pull the whole engine. In larger tractors where the engine's bolted to the... This is what some people don't understand about tractors, and the people that are listening that don't know anything about tractors, let's take an 8,000 series tractor for an example. The oil pan is the mechanical front-wheel drive, or the ILS, is the front axle. Now there is separate, it's not the same oil, it's not shared. The engine doesn't share oil with everything else, but your engine bolts directly onto your axle housing. 

Then your axle housing, which is this giant... It's not just a normal axle that we're used to. It's this giant fucking housing, because it's the entire front of the tractor as well, is bolted directly to your transmission, which is bolted directly to this spacer housing. Then it's bolted directly to your pump drive housing, and then it's bolted directly to your rear differential. That's all one piece with bolts this big.

Miranda Carter:

I think heavy equipment, so much more my thing. Oh, I loved Ag, I loved the farmers, and the farm dogs are always a bonus. You see the cutest farm dogs, especially when you're going out to their farms and shit. Heavy equipment, ugh, I will take yellow iron any day over anything, honestly guys.

Melissa Petersmann:

I agree.

Miranda Carter:

It's just a favorite. I know you're the same.

Melissa Petersmann:

I agree. It's actually easier.

Miranda Carter:

I agree. Way easier- 

Melissa Petersmann:

Ag is-

Miranda Carter:

... totally easier. I'm thankful for every opportunity I've had in my career and everything I've gotten to learn, but yellow iron is definitely my preference.

Melissa Petersmann:

... I agree. If I could work on larger yellow iron, I could live without backhoes, I fucking hate them. Except for transmissions, I can fucking slam and jam transmissions on backhoes like it's going out of style. If I could work on large loaders, excavators, some dozers, and then... My favorite, 8R and 9R tractors, like the large, large Ag, I'd be satisfied with that.

Miranda Carter:

Those are my thing, oh, I love those so much, they're badass. I had one that kicked a guy's ass with more experience than me, who was one of those cocky know-it-all guys. I ended up figuring out he was sick, so I had to follow behind him. He had ordered a fucking controller for this fucker. I told my boss, I don't think it's the controller, I think it's got wiring issues.

Come to find out, I found the wiring issues and fixed it, and that to this day is probably one of my favorite fucking wins ever.

Melissa Petersmann:

Mm-hmm. Isn't that nice? That's what people, I don't think... People are scared to enter this industry, and it's like, "It's so rewarding though I promise." Trust me, there's going to be days, especially in your first two years of the industry, you're going to be like, "Oh my god, I'm fucking up everything I touch, this is horrible. What am I doing? I'm contemplating my entire life decisions right now. I had a young lady... Which maybe you can answer this in your own words. 

I had a young lady who's 17 that wants to be a mechanic, and she's like a mini version of me. I know she's got the right attitude, she's got the right idea. I think her dad's actually a mechanic, and they were actually a customer of the shop I worked at. She's in the right head-space. She's got these questions of, "How do you go about controlling yourself when it comes to failures?" She's a perfectionist, she wants to do good, she wants everything to be perfect, and she wants to be really good at what she does.

"How do you handle those days where you're fucking shit up? How do you keep going? How do you keep the motivation to keep trying, and go keep going again?" I kind of answered it in my own way, but I kind of want to hear what you would have to say.

Miranda Carter:

So I can relate to that girl because I'm a perfectionist, and I am so hard on myself. I think I've only had three comebacks in my whole career because I'm obsessive and I triple check shit. I'm slower because I freak out about it, and I wish I knew the answer to that because I still struggle with that myself. I don't want to have a comeback, it's my biggest fear. I don't want to fail. Me personally, the best thing for me is to fail and realize it's not the end of the world. 

You're not going to get fired. You're only human, and just go on and do better. For example, I will paint mark any bolt that I've torqued, so I can look at it and check and know that I've twerked that. I don't have to obsess over it or waste time rechecking as much. That's one of my struggles, I won't lie. I am a perfectionist and I don't like failure.

Melissa Petersmann:

I used to be the same way. When I first started in the industry at one point I fucked something up, and I was so mad at myself. My boss came up to me and he was like, "I was going to chew your ass for this, but you're beating yourself up worse than I ever would be beating you up for it. I'm just going to go back at my office and let you continue to just beat yourself up over this. Try not to make it last more than 15 minutes and get back to work." 

I was just like that, but I also was kind of stupid, and I did make a lot of mistakes when I first started in the industry. I left clamps off, I forgot to zip-tie shit. I actually did have to learn, even though I didn't want comeback. That was my biggest thing is if I fucked up. It actually took me some time to learn that, hey, if you go through all these steps in the beginning before you send it out the door, and you make sure everything looks perfect, it's nice, it's pretty, it's clean, that's going to save you a lot of time later. 

I think some mechanics had... I think she's going to be a little bit more like you, where she's not going to have that issue as much in the beginning. She's going to be so fucking dead hell-bent set on making it right, that it's going to be... Yeah, for me, I did have some issues with that when I first started. I obsessed over my time clock a lot.

Miranda Carter:

See, and I was obsessing over messing up. If you could take you and I at the start, and meet in the middle, that would've been perfect. 

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah. 

Miranda Carter:

Now we've both adapted and kind of grown where we need to, but I'm still a little too perfectionist. There was a guy at my last job, he would rush every job. He had a lot of comebacks, but his time was faster. We would always joke, we needed to take him and I mix this together and it would be the perfect mechanic.

Melissa Petersmann:

In the long run, the bosses and the customers would always rather pay a little bit more time than pay for that time twice. It took me a little bit to finally... I put myself under a lot of stress when I started in this industry. Not only did I want to be fast, I did actually want to do good, I really wanted to get those numbers. I wanted to do good, I wanted to get those numbers, and it took me some time to get over that. I finally... What really had a turning point in my career and made me the mechanic that I ended up being, was knocking that off. 

As long as you are working on it actively, you're not fucking around, as long as you are actively working on it and actively trying, it takes the time it takes.

Miranda Carter:

I agree. Maybe because you started at the Dealer that was one drawback for you. I wasn't introduced to flat rates and times and excess, efficiency and all that shit until I started at the Dealer. Then that's when I was like, "Oh shit." With experience and being thorough, comes speed. I can't imagine being a brand-new tech and having flat rates thrown on you. That would be stressful.

Melissa Petersmann:

I've never worked in a shop that was actually flat rate. Obviously your proficiency and efficiency numbers for your bonus are graded. I was so determined to be fast and good, and I wanted to be fast and good at the same time. I learned rapidly that when you're a new mechanic, there is no such thing as fast and good. There is fast or there is good. Eventually, I chose good over being fast, but it took me some time. Everybody has struggles their first few years, everybody does. 

It takes a long time to learn how to go about your day and go about jobs and go about problems in a manner at which that is effective and efficient at the same time. There's old mechanics that don't even get that still. There's old mechanics, like you said there, there's old mechanics that are still out there fucking trying to slam and jam. Then they have comebacks all the time, and then they wonder why they have comebacks all the time.

Miranda Carter:

Right? Then they get complacent and they don't give a fuck. That gets us all, you have to fight complacency. That's a big thing. It's a safety issue, it's an efficiency issue. There's a lot of mental to being a mechanic, there's a whole load of bit.

Melissa Petersmann:

Mm-hmm. Well, and I had another person on this podcast bring up an interesting concept. In a shop, you can have one person in that shop that is just shitty all the time. It has the potential to bring down the entire shop.

Miranda Carter:

[inaudible 01:00:06], one chain of mechanics to your group and your flow. If you get a bad apple, that whole shop will go to shit fast.

Melissa Petersmann:

Mm-hmm. Especially if they're in some part of a leadership position in a sense. You can have, let's say just a lead tech, let's not even go into foreman or manager or whatever, let's just say lead tech position. Or a position, if you don't have lead techs, it's a higher experienced mechanic that people genuinely go to for help or look up to. Let's say this guy is the best mechanic in the world. He never fucks up. He diagnoses everything correctly in a timely manner.

He fixes things correctly in a timely manner. He doesn't have comebacks. If he has a shitty, fucking attitude and he's a dick, the money he makes is going to be counteracted by the fact that the rest of the shop's is fucking pissed off, and doesn't want to work very hard.

Miranda Carter:

I didn't realize this, I feel like I try really hard to be positive all the time, but after leaving my last job, my boss thanked me for being positive. He said they're going to miss my personality that I brought to the shop, and the positive attitude was refreshing. My first job, the CEO of the company, he said, "I love your positive attitude that's going to get you far," and it did. I started at a low rate and I got a $4.00 an hour raise, bumped up at that job in one setting after a few years. I was like, "Wow, thank you." you know what I mean? 

Melissa Petersmann:

Mm-hmm. 

Miranda Carter:

He's like, "You can train almost anyone to be a mechanic to a point, but you can't teach work ethic, positivity, those morals, things like that.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well, I told my old boss about... I had him on the podcast before you a week ago or so. We were talking about the positivity in a shop. I told him, "When I worked at the shop in Cheyenne, the Construction Shop, when I was leading that shop, I needed help. I could not run that office and do all of the shop work at the same time. I tried it, failed it, and it wasn't even realistic. I don't know why I thought I could do it in the first place. 

I was still turning wrenches and doing work, but I couldn't take on big projects, that was just not realistic. It was stupid, it was not going to help me or the customer out. Other shops would send people down to help us, and there was this one guy that they sent down from Casper. He's an older guy, but he's just so fun. He was listening to Mariachi music, which is fucking weird, but whatever. He's a straight-up, white guy listening to Mariachi music, but whatever. 

He's just happy and he's laughing, and he called me, "Boss lady," up until the day I quit, even when I wasn't the boss anymore, because we just got along really well. He had no issues with, I was 24 trying to schedule workout, or 25 trying to schedule work, trying to run a shop. I was waiting over my head, but he never once made me feel like I was doing a job, or maybe a man should do it, or whatever. He just was like, "Hey, boss lady, what am I doing today?" 

He was super happy and he was super fun. If I needed help or I was overwhelmed, he was like, "That's all right, I got it, I'll take the phone, it's fine." There was a couple mechanics that worked there that were kind of like that. When he came down, it was just like the whole shop was happier. The whole aura of the shop was just uplifted a little bit. People like that are so fucking important to have. Honestly, it doesn't matter if they're a fantastic mechanic. I've met some of the worst mechanics in my life that are just... 

They try, right, they try, but they're just not good, but it's fine, because they try and they're happy, and they're positive about shit. That means a lot, people's attitude. I've gone through that phase where I am just depressed and I'm down and I don't want to fucking be there. I'm tired of it and I've noticed, it doesn't just wear on you, it wears on everybody around you too. It is having a positive... 

I remember you telling me something a while ago about you did actually have an issue with a man that you worked with at one point in time, in your job at the scrapyard.

Miranda Carter:

There was a couple questionable ones. The first one when I first started, this dude was just old fashioned. He had a hard time seeing a girl in the man's world, which is totally fine. I was like, all right, I'm just going to prove myself to him and he will love me. At first, he's like, "It's just so weird to see you lifting heavy things." He's like, "I don't know how to take this, I'm just not used to this," and was just kind of annoyed by it. Well, a year or two later, he would come ask me for help on things. 

He was a break and suspension guy only. If he ever did engine work, or hydraulics or electrical, [inaudible 01:05:39] whatever, he would come ask me for help. I earned his respect by just keeping my head down, doing my work, letting it speak for itself. In fact, I went out and saw my old place of employment two weeks ago. I walk in, he gives me a hug, "How are you? It's so good to see you." You can change people's minds if you prove to them and earn their respect. It's just you've got to work for it. Is that the one you were thinking of?

Melissa Petersmann:

I thought you had one that was kind of asking you out all the time, and was putting you in kind of an uncomfortable situation.

Miranda Carter:

Yeah, we'll go over this one. When I first started there, it was really crazy. Our lead mechanic was just hyper, nice, whatever. I'm new, I'm just excited to be there. He puts me on engine work to start. I did not start on services at all, my ass started helping do engines. My whole career was ass backwards because of that. I knew how to rebuild an engine, I had to learn the smaller things after. Anyways, I found out later he was doing that because he had a crush on me. 

He kept asking me out, and then he was like, "If you don't go out with me, I'm going to make you do shit work." In his mind shit work was brakes and suspension. I was like, "Whatever." Come to find out he was drinking on the job, straight up, bad alcoholic. He ended up getting busted and getting fired, so the situation kind of took care of itself. I just went to work, did the shit I had to do, I wasn't worried about it. Honestly, I'm like, shit work, whatever, I need to learn how to do it. I want to learn how to do everything, I want to know it all. I don't care what I work on, as long as I have something to do. You know what I mean?

Melissa Petersmann:

Mm-hmm. What advice would you give... I've had a similar experience, which I've been very selective on how I've shared it. He didn't ask me out, but we did have an instance where we both were sent to training. I've gone to training with guys a lot. I traveled with my coworkers all the time, never once had an issue, not one time has anybody tried to cross the line except for this guy. He was trying to take advantage of the fact that I was drinking a lot, because everybody goes drinking for the most part at trainings. 

Usually we're all in a group, the whole class goes out usually. This one particular time we were staying in a hotel that had a bar, and he had the company credit card. I had to eat with him, which for the first few days wasn't a problem. I don't care, I don't fucking give a shit. Then he started trying to take advantage of like, I was drinking, he was trying to get closer, he was kind of getting touchy. Then he was like, "Oh, let's go swimming." I'm like, "Fuck yeah, I'll go swimming. I don't give a fuck." 

I'm like, "I'll go swimming, I don't care." Well, I thought we were going to go swimming. No, his idea was to sit in the hot tub and talk about things. I'm like, "Yeah, no, I'm not feeling this." I leave, I'm starting to get uncomfortable, and I'm like, fuck this, I leave. Then I get into my hotel and I lock the door. I had called down to the front office, I'm like, "Hey, I know we're technically staying together." We weren't in the same room, but we were underneath the same ticket.

I'm like, "Do not allow this man in my room. This is my room number. I don't know if they told you which room is which, but this is my room number. Please don't allow him to get a key card for this room if he tries." Well, lo and behold, the girl is like, "Absolutely, he won't get access to this, absolutely not." Lo and behold, I can hear him fumbling with my door. I can hear him fumbling with it. He's drunk off his fucking ass, apparently he couldn't handle his alcohol near as well as I could. 

He's drunk off his fucking ass, and he's like, "Melissa, let me in." I'd had a situation earlier where he came to meet me so he could go to dinner. I was not old enough to have my own rental car. I was literally stuck with driving..." Which like I said, I've done this a million times with other coworkers and never once had a problem, not once. This was also the same guy that showed up to work drunk all the time, and had a bunch of issues with that, and had a bunch of personal issues in his life, okay. 

He fucking was in my room at one point in time to come pick me up. I let him in, and I'm like, "Okay, I'm just going to grab a couple things and then we can go." Or no, he was trying to drop something off into my room or something because he had something of mine. He's like, "Well, can I come in?" I'm like, "Yeah, sure, whatever, come in and grab the shit." He sits down on my bed, or on the chair in my room, and I'm like, "Okay, we're done here." After that he's like, "So you want me to leave?" I'm like, "Yeah, I want you to leave."

Later on that night the whole alcohol thing happened, and he was trying to get really pushy. I was trying to not be a complete fucking, raging bitch about it, but at the end I was finally like, "Yeah, fuck you." He was trying to fumble and get into my room, and get into my door and shit like that. I woke up in the morning... He got hammered every single night that we were there, I did not. I knew he would get drunk because he would be... On the nights that he was drinking he wouldn't sleep. 

He would just sit out on the bench in the front of the hotel room waiting for me to drive to class. At first, I'm like, "I don't care what you do with your time. I'm here to learn if you want to get drunk or whatever, I don't care, whatever." Then it started affecting me, and I went out that morning and I wouldn't speak to him. I pulled the full-on bitch card. I wouldn't talk to him, and I wouldn't look at him, and I just shoved him off. We went to class that day, didn't speak to him. I acted like he was never-

PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [01:12:04]

Melissa Petersmann:

As that day, didn't speak to him. Acted like he never existed that night. I Doordashed my own food, and pretty much the entire rest of that trip I went places by myself. I either Ubered, or I Doordashed, whatever. And I saved my receipts for my employer to pay me back later because I was like, "I'm not dealing with this." And finally he texted me, he's like, "Well, we need to sort this out." Or we were in the car driving to class on the very last day, and he's like, "We need to sort this out." I'm like, "Sort what out? What are we sorting out?" And he is like, "Well, I think you might have taken some things a little bit wrong." I'm like, "Do I look stupid? Do I look stupid? Okay, I might have blonde hair, but I am not stupid." And I told him, I'm like, "I have nothing to fucking say to you, okay?" Like, "Well, wasn't trying to." I'm like, "Dude, you were trying to get in my door at 1:00 in the morning.

Okay? That's not fucking appropriate. And not fucking okay. Not only that, but you were also taking advantage of the fact that you asked me a story about how my brother died, and I started crying, because I was trying to tell you the story, and you were trying to take advantage of that situation and get all close." I'm like, "I'm not fucking playing this game. You have a fucking family at home, right? You have a wife and fucking kids, and I have a boyfriend, and I am not even remotely interested in you. This is not what I came here for. I came here to fucking learn, and to go to this training and go to this", I think it was Cummin's class, "You know, go to Cummin's class." And how I ended up handling that situation was, I don't believe in HR, as you know.

And I'm like, "All right. If I can't sort this out with my boss, I don't need to work here anymore, right?" So I go to my boss and I'm like, "Hey, this is kind of what happened." And he's like, "Oh my fucking God." I'm like, "Please don't take this to HR. I don't want to get him fired. I handled it. I'm a strong personality. I have no problem telling people, 'fuck off', right? I can handle this. All I'm asking from you is don't send other women to training with him. Please don't. Right? I'm asking you to fire him. I can handle it more than capable handling people like this, okay? Don't be sending other people to training with him that are girls. Just don't." My boss told me, he is like, "I'm going to have to talk to this guy, and I'm going to give him an option.

He's either going to apologize to you and your boyfriend at the time, face to face. Or he's going to have the consequences of losing his job." And I'm like, I don't want him to fucking lose his job, but I guess it's whatever." This guy was the most unsafe person to work with, right? Crawling up on excavators, using half cut straps to lift things, at one point in time he was trying to take boom sections apart on a telehandler and he didn't take the fucking pads out, like the wire strip pads, which you have to fucking take out. And so he is sitting there fucking yanking on the motherfucker with a forklift. And yeah. He had dropped half of a loader trying to split it because he had the front half of the rear supported by a floor jack.

And he tried to roll the back away from the front with the fucking forklift, and lo and behold, you know how shitty floor jacks roll, just pulled the loader right off the fucking floor jack and dropped it onto the concrete. So this guy had issue after issue, after issue, after issue, working unsafe, fucking shit up, whatever. That Monday, he was going to back a dozer out of the wash bay, and he didn't open the bay door all the way and he backed, he just destroyed the fucking bay door of the wash bay with his dozer. And according to my boss, the guy was fired the next day. They made the announcement that he was fired. They're like, "He is unsafe. He is a hazard to be here." Because he had to take a drug test that day, and they didn't specify, but they're like, "He's unsafe. This is not the first time this has happened. We can't have him here, because we don't want to have the responsibility of calling his family to tell him that he's not coming home, because he's being stupid and won't listen to safety precautions.

We also don't want to have to call any of your families, and tell them that his stupidity is the reason you're not coming home." So they fired him, and the first thing my boss did is he comes up to me, his pulls me away very privately and he's like, "This actually had nothing to do with that." And I'm like, "Oh, thank God. Nothing to do with your instance, right?" I'm like, "Oh, thank God." Because that's always been my biggest fear is I don't want to be the girl that gets guys fired. I don't want to do that.

If I can't sort it out with my boss, I don't need to work there. Because that happens, girls have gotten entire shops fired before, so I don't want that to happen. And he's like, "I sat down with him, and I tried to discuss his safety, and he pretty much told me he doesn't give a fuck about it, and he doesn't care. And what am I going to do, fire him? They're pretty much telling me to go fuck myself, right? Because he's going to work the way he is going to work." And he's like, "Yeah. Actually, you're fired. Sorry."

Miranda Carter:

Our situations are pretty similar that they were kind of, but it ended up that it took care of themselves. I will not pull the girl card. I will not go cry and whine. I will tell someone to fuck off. I can stand my own ground and take care of if I need to take care of it. And I mean, I've learned that usually if you've got a guy like that, they're going to end up hanging themselves, because usually they're acting that way, because they're drinking or they're just a fucking mess.

Melissa Petersmann:

It's a very, very rare thing to have that issue. And let's be honest, you can have that issue working an office job. You know, you can run into that work in any job. It's not just a trades. And for the most part, the guys you work with in a shop are pretty protective. I worked in a shop, I had truck drivers that were hitting at me all the time or whatever, and I had my boss at the time, he would tell people straight to fuck right off. But he had my back. He knew, he's like, "If I let Melissa handle this, there's a lot of cuss words that are going to be thrown." He's like, "So I'm going to go handle this, because she's going to blow her gasket." So he would be like, "You know what? If you don't want to have the wrath of Melissa, you might want to shut the up, okay?"

But honestly, as far as people I've worked with, I've never really had that issue. Because as we've talked about, you prove yourself, right? So what I'm trying to get out of this I guess, is on the occasion that a young lady experiences this type of thing, what is your advice? What path do you think she should take if she's experiencing this situations like what we had? Does she go about doing besides just being like, "Fuck off"? Because for the most part, you and I both know that, "Fuck off", usually works pretty good. But in the instance of the guys being persistent, how would you advise her to handle the situation?

Miranda Carter:

So if you can't get her a solution, but telling them to, "Fuck off", then I mean, you might have to go talk to your boss or your supervisor, and usually that would take care of it. But getting HR involved I don't think is always necessary, because that just turns it into a big shit show. And I feel like you can resolve a lot of things within the shop.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well, and if you can't, it's probably not the right place to work, right? Because if you get HR involved, and shit goes down, that's going to create a really, really bad environment in that shop. Not saying you shouldn't stand up for yourself, you absolutely should, but like you said, if it can't be solved within the shop community, taking the HR path is probably not going to be the right choice. I've always had the mindset is that, "If I can't solve it within the community of the shop, including my immediate supervisor, I don't need to work there.

It's not the place for me." And if there's a woman out there right now that's having some issues with not actual sexism, actual sexual advances towards her, not just the normal shit talk that they're doing to everybody, actual problems here that are affecting her. And this she's tried to confront these people and tell them to fuck off, tell her to leave them alone, it's not happening, there are probably eight other shops down the road that would hire you yesterday. You don't have to put up with the shit. And that goes for any mechanic, not even just girls. You don't have to fucking put up with shit. You don't have to. There-

Miranda Carter:

Yep. That's a good point. I was always the mentality of, "Don't change jobs, that looks so bad on your resume." And yet it does if it's every year, or multiple times in a year. But honestly, they say, "The grass isn't greener around the other side." Well guess so. Sometimes it is and things are way better. You know what I mean? I completely agree with that. You have to have loyalty to yourself first, and then get back to your job, do a good job. And it's just important to know your worth and-

Melissa Petersmann:

Yeah. Jobs can be toxic too. People talk about toxic family members, and whatever, but that's kind of way off topic of what this podcast is again, supposed to be about, but it's fine. So what's your advice to employers that are trying to entice people into this industry? Because you know, didn't start in high school, you didn't have this passion for it, early, early on. How old were you when you started in this industry?

Miranda Carter:

24. Because I was waitressing for six years out of high school. And then when I ended up being pregnant, I'm like, "Oh shit. Got to do something." So that's when I started my career.

Melissa Petersmann:

Because it's not just high school kids, we need, right? There is an entire group of people that are the age that you were when you started. Anywhere between 20 and 26 that are either college dropouts, didn't finish college, don't have the money for college, but they don't see the trades as an option. So how do you go about that?

Miranda Carter:

Money talks, and I won't lie, this trade will take care of you. You can support yourself, your kids family. There will always be a demand for mechanics. It's a steady career, I feel like because of the low demand of mechanics, that a lot of companies have stepped up. They're offering better benefits. They're offering tool allowances now they're offering PTO from day one. The pay has went up a lot recently, because of the shortage of mechanics, which is awesome. It's definitely a rewarding career. You're going to work for your money, and at the end of the day you can go home proud knowing that you earned your money. Like, "Dirty hands, clean money", right?

Melissa Petersmann:

Yep. Yeah. I love that saying. Or, "Make hands tough again." That's not another slogan I love. But especially a little bit of the older generation, TikTok and Instagram has done sort of a good job, and has sort of helped with showing people that this industry is not some lowlife shit ass job that only people that are failing at life do it. It's done a pretty good job of maybe a little over the top, but it's done a decent job of getting that idea out of people's heads. But there's still an entire generation, I'm kind of the beginning of that up into even my parents and that entire generation or two generations in between my age and my parents' age, were raised on, "College is the only answer. College is the only answer. If you don't go to college, you don't get a four-year degree, you don't do this, you don't do that.

You're not going to be successful going into the trade's. Not a success. That's a failure. That's something people do. It's this dirty, nasty, shit job that only people that fail at fucking life do." So how do we get that idea out of people's heads, and be like, "Yeah. You're going to get dirty, right? You're going to work long hours, but this is not just a job. This is a career." And like you said, "It takes care of you. It pays for houses, it pays for cars, it pays really well. This is a great fucking career to be in. This is not just a shit job."

Miranda Carter:

And it takes a certain skill set, and you've got to build that. It's rewarding, and you've got room for growth. And I think people back in the day thought, "Oh. You're just like a dirty mechanic. You just change parts." No. You've got to use your brain, your skills, you've got to build on it. It's important for employers to offer training and support that way. And I think that your podcast, for example, is going to help kind of get the notion right with this industry, and TikTok can help, and it can also hurt, depending on which video you're watching. But I think it's important just to keep getting the word out, let mechanics speak it. Trades are not a bad thing at all anymore. I know that some trades can make more than people with college degrees.

Melissa Petersmann:

Oh yeah. Well like I've told people before, me and my mom as far as pay goes are neck and neck. We are constantly neck and neck. My mom is over 60, and has worked for the state of either Colorado or Wyoming for a really long time, and she's got six degrees. And do I think that college, and the degrees, and things like that have their place? Yes they do have their place in the world, but you don't have to have a background in this industry, to start in this industry. Everybody's so fascinated by how I ended up here, and it's like actually out of a lot of the people that are into this industry, I make sense, because I grew up with it. My dad was a logger for fuck's sake. I grew up around, it makes sense that I'm in this industry.

It makes sense. What really gets my brain working, and gets me interested is people that didn't grow up around it. And I talked to one kid that is just starting trade school out of high school or an apprenticeship thing and he has literally no background at all. He lives in California, no background at all. Not even into diesel trucks background. He just saw an opportunity in high school, and started taking college classes on diesel mechanics, and just tried it, and loved it. And theory he is being an apprentice and doing it. That's awesome.

Miranda Carter:

So originally right after high school, I wanted to do mechanics too. I wanted to go to WyoTech. My parents would not cosign for me. They thought I was nuts, because I'd always been super girly. I did ballet, did beauty pageants, all that shit. And they're like, "No. That's a lot of money. I'm not going to cosign for you. Why don't you be a dental assistant or some shit like that? And I was like, "Whatever." So then I just kept waitressing, until when I got pregnant, and my child pushed me to making the right choice to have a better future for us.

Melissa Petersmann:

Well and that's another reason why I wanted you on here is to show that people have this ideal of, "The woman's the mother." People have this ideal that, "The woman has a lot more responsibility. A job like the trades is not necessarily ideal for a mother." People have this kind of stereotype, and that's part another reason why I wanted to bring you on here is you are a very successful mechanic, but you are also a mother, that was a single mother for a very long time. And you made it work, you did it, you made it work. And you've been successful at that, and your daughter's fucking cute as hell. And you know, you got a little mini you, which is adorable. And I wanted to show people that it's possible as a woman, it is possible to still be a family mom, and still be a mom, and be in this industry. It's not just for the single women, or whatever. You can have a family and be in this industry too.

Miranda Carter:

Yeah. It's been a great thing and it's never ever held me back. If anything, it motivates me more, because I know I've got to feed that mouth, and that's my responsibility. So when I'm at work I'm like, "I've got to get this shit." And it drives me, and drives me, and drives me. And it's definitely a motivating factor as if anyone with kids, you know what I mean, and their jobs. But it's definitely doable.

Melissa Petersmann:

So if people want to connect with you, or find you on social media, how would they go about that?

Miranda Carter:

So my Instagram is MissDiesel88. So M-I-S-S Diesel88, and that's probably the best one because I don't always accept everyone on other platforms. It just depends.

Melissa Petersmann:

Do you have a LinkedIn?

Miranda Carter:

I do. My LinkedIn would be a good one. And that's under Myranda Carter. Miranda with a Y.

Melissa Petersmann:

Oh. I'm going to share actual clips in here too. Like actual tags in here too. But that was something I was asked to make sure I get that verbal too, so it can help with people, make sure they can connect with you. But I think this has been a fucking awesome episode and I might have you on again, you know. You and I have a lot to cover, we have a lot to talk about. We have a lot of same ideals, and I knew this was going to be fucking awesome. But I'm going to wrap this up today, and we've already been on for an hour and a half, that they got to cut down a little bit. So thank you so much for being on here, and being open with being able to talk about things and share your experiences. And I think it's really important. You know, are the only female I have on this season so far that has more experience than I do.

So you're kind of like the veteran of the female mechanic world, and that's fucking awesome. And you've got a really interesting backstory as to how you got there. So I think there's going to be a lot of younger women that are going to be interested in hearing this too. So there's a lot of things that I've preached, and preach, and preach, and preach, preach, preach. But it's helpful to have. And Cummins Cowgirl was kind of in agreement with me on a lot of things too. And it helps having women like you two on here that are like, "Yeah. This is how it is, and this is what I've experienced, and this is what I've seen that works, and this is what doesn't.

You've almost got 10 years of experience. You're almost at 10 years. So I want to show people, "Look, even if you're a single mom, or a woman, or whatever, you can start whenever and you can still become a respectable mechanic. It doesn't matter when you start. You don't have to start right out of high school. You don't have to be the kid working on in the garage when you're 12." You've always met those mechanics, "I've been working on since I was 10. You don't have to fucking be like that." Well, I appreciate you being on here, and thank you.

Miranda Carter:

Thank you for having me. I am so blessed to gotten to know you, and I really am thankful you had me on here. So thank you.

Melissa Petersmann:

There's no way in how I would've let you say no to being on here. So I had to have you on here. So all right. Well, I will talk to you later. Like I said, thanks again.

PART 4 OF 4 ENDS [01:33:37]