Pros
As a tech you are rewarded for furthering your knowledge in the field. As you pass your ASE exams your commission increases, maxing at out at 20% for an ASE Certified Master Technician. The mechanics I worked with were top notch and readily shared their knowledge. Uniform and laundry service is provided. Store manager was good about accommodating everyone's schedule...doc appointments and days off needed etc.
Cons
You put in some long hours with no appreciation from the company. They'll bust your chops about clocking in at 8:02 even when there isn't a car in the shop, but they won't thank you for staying an hour late the same day when the shop gets flooded with work. Guaranteed hourly rate was low, which you can make up with by your commission but that means you need a service writer willing to get off his butt and sell the work you identify as good preventive maintenance and/or needed for safety. My assistant manager was good about that. My store manager for most of my time there was not very committed and that hurt all of us and a lot of customers left the shop not even knowing that their car needed something. Benefits are poor at best. No vacation in the first year. Five days in the second year which they expect you to take all at once, but if you leave before your second anniversary you have to pay that back. Fifty hour weeks are the norm, so its a long year unless you want to take time off without pay. The company does not treat its people well. It took nearly two months for us to get a promised raise after we all qualified for it. That was about $300 out of my pocket. No apologies from the company for that, but if I snapped a caliper bolt or something you can bet I'd hear about what that cost the company. Relationships between the store and everyone from the district manager are tense at best, most of the time they are out right antagonistic. The company claims to want to treat its employees they way they would want to be treated. If they hold true to that it must mean the appreciate being threatened and treated with disdain on a regular basis. The District Manager hovers over his people by viewing them remotely on camera. Hello big brother. I understand the need to protect your assets, but if you have the trust, respect, and admiration of your employees they will do that for you. Midas seems unable to obtain that it seems.