Bensínstöðvarnar

9. "If you're having car trouble, you're in the wrong place."
The days of the local gas station staffed with a skilled mechanic have all but come to an end. Station owners are swapping car lifts for beverage cases and car washes, anything that brings in a high-volume stream of income and traffic, says Dennis DeCota, executive director of the California Service Station and Automotive Repair Association. The more people who pull over for a soda, the greater the chance they'll top off their tank and vice versa, the thinking goes. Few owners want the hassle of a business like car repair even if it earns the same amount of money as a convenience store.

In addition, repairing cars is increasingly expensive, and the ill will and potential liability from a fix-it job gone wrong are more of a headache than many owners are willing to risk. Today a service station can require $100,000 worth of diagnostic equipment, a significant investment. It's a risky venture with little payoff, says Southern California station owner Arabshahi. In fact, Arabshahi removed the service station from one of his locations after he bought it. "I don't have a service station because I am not a mechanic," he says. "If he messes up a job, then it's my name on there."

Þessi listi í heild sinni er reyndar ekkert markverður, en það er svo sannarlega rétt að bensínstöðvar hafa ekki lengur áhuga eða efni á að halda uppi starfsfólki sem kann að sýsla eitthvað í bílum eða tólum sem það þarf til þess. Ef þú þekkir almennilega inná gangvirki bifreiða þá geturðu að öllum líkindum reddað þér betra djobbi en á bensínstöð, og ef rekstrarstjórar stöðvarinnar ætla að hleypa viðvaningum í bílaviðgerðir þá býður það bara uppá aukið vesen og skaðabótakröfur. Útimönnum á bensínstöðvum er bannað að koma nálægt neinu sem þarf að skrúfa í sundur, hvað þá flóknari aðgerðum.

Já heyrðu, ég þarf að fara að koma mér í vinnuna..

-b.