vacation may finally be over for me!!

So I work in the RV manufacturing industry right. I have been out of work since Thanksgiving week, and various weeks here and there all of last year.

Today I finally got to go to a appointment about displaced worker training. Basically if your in a job for a long time and the industry your in starts to collapse they will help get you schooling or on the job retraining. I have asked to go into auto body.

They said there hasn't been anybody with any interest in it lately so I'm first to go into the program. I would like to go to school for it and the state would pay the majority of the schooling, but the closets school for it is a hours drive. So they have a body shop that works with them for on the job training which I will be signed up for. The body shop does the training because the state pays half of my wages while the shop is giving me the training.

I'm hoping this will be a new start and should work out well being I know a lot about it already and have been doing it as a hobby for quite some time. I just don't have that piece of paper saying someone else says I know how.

The only down fall will be the pay cut starting over in a new field, but it has to pay better than $8.60 an hour is what my unemployment equals, and that's before taxes.

sweet deal man good luck

just a word of advice DONT AND I MEAN DONT go in there acting like you DO know what your doing. just listen and pay attention. itll be better for you believe it or not. weve had guys come from from wyotech and stuff or even bodymen comin in like yeah ive done this and i can do that and after about two days they make themselves look dumb. bodyshops are a whole different ball game from this."what we do". but if you just kinda keep your mouth shut and pay attention the guys will be much more receptive to you and be willing to show you a little more and help you out. and since you do alreaddy know about this stuff youll learn fast and itll all work out. and youll be able to build some bad ass shizz with your newely learned skills. bodymen have a tendency to be, i hate to say this, prima donnas. so bein the new guy theyre probably gonna act wierd but it should all work out for you. good luck . oh yeah spend some time in the paint shop its real easy once you figure it out and theres nothing like pullin YOUR freshly painted ride outta the booth that YOU laid down!

lol! yeah I know what you mean about the prima donnas, my brother in law has been a body man for a while, but it gets to him when I can do just as good at metal fab as him. I don't gloat about it which makes it more enjoyable for me.

I fully plan on taking any advice and learning more, that's how I have learned what I have learned so far. Plus this shop that does the training makes you push broom for the first week or so just to get rid of that attitude. They have guys that think they are better than that and quit it, so his plan works for getting good employees out of it.

its a good idea too, you gotta put in dues. youll get that money up pretty quick too. i dunno how it is up north but down here most every body gets paid about 15 bux flat rate per flag hour and that adds up pretty quick. i dont know how they pay guys there but here the best way to get on and get paid is to find the guy who has the best attitude and does the best work and become HIS helper. you wont be worried about the state payin half your wages then, as long as he pays you well, which most of em do cause even doing a small fraction of the work can double his hours. you dont want too many guys pullin you in too many different directions cause every body does it different. theres no right way as long as its not WRONG AND IN THE END ITS RIGHT. you know what i mean?

not too sure how they pay I went to work for a small shop that did piece work but the guy didn't have enough work to keep me working.

that sucks. thats why im still on the computer at nidnight! the market is bad down here so i got laid off and NOBODY is hiring. they dont have enough work to keep the guys they got busy. so i m joining the army! sucks but gotta feed the family. your lucky to catch that break and sounds to me like itll be a great job for you. and ive seen your metal work too so that wont be an issue!

yeah it's been really hard up here, so many are out of work right now, there isn't any industry to jump into that's really promising, but at least I can get into what I like.

Congrats Sleepy! i think its great that you are able to become involved in something that will do so much for you!

cool cool sleepy i did the body school thiing i loved it