lube technician

technician

center manager

technicien en lubrification

automotive technician

Oil Changers

I was one of the hardest working people there. Was one who was promoted within and thought I was creating a long term career with the company. I was highest in sales and got all the reviews they asked for- I was working 45-50hrs a week and up for contract renewal. With the renewal, my days off had changed, blacked out all summer and holidays for time off,  and was expected to work minimum 50 hrs per week. My wife works with the school board and have my kids weekends. Was not a good work/ personal life balance. They refused to make any compromises. I had to pick family or work. I picked family and quit. After giving notice, they said “there were no hours available.” And they treated me like absolute garbage. Even after all I did for them, including not going to Labour relations for a major injury I got at work. Employee standards got involved and they had to pay me out. Even then they tried lying about what happened, but I had already sent myself copies of emails and communications to my personal email and submitted them. 

Starting out at oil changer's i was taught very quickly how to change the oil of a vehicle , change the oil filter, check every fluid and other filter that i could find, in the quickest way possible. We had an average of 120 cars per day and all were done in about 10 minutes. In no time you become a pro , and learn to love that fast passed environment.

After doing oil changes for a couple months i was sent to do an Ontario issued test to become an emission test inspector. After i passed , my shifts consisted of being the only E-test ( emission test) inspector for the day or night. I was running my own little garage conducting safety tests on vehicles to identify the ones who would pass or not.

I loved working with cars and that competitive, fast passed environment. Most of my job was very enjoyable and i still love doing it to this day.

I only worked here for a few months after learning that hours were cut to 7 instead of 8,meaning it is not full time unless you stay late, which isn't a problem if you're on the closing shift since you aren't allowed to turn people away. Doesn't matter if the store has technically been closed for an hour or not. You get a half hour unpaid break, that's it, no coffee or smoke breaks. The work isn't hard, per say, when you already have a knowledge of cars, but it is exhausting especially when you don't get any breaks to rest your feet other than your lunch. They 'value' moving you up the ladder, but that's only so they can get more managers to open More locations and make themselves more money, while underpaying staff and cutting hours since they don't allow you to turn away a customer. It also took 3 months to get my uniform so you're given a single cotton t shirt to wear until you finally receive your uniform. 

I liked the mechanical side of things, and pride in helping people make their vehicle run better.  I also took pride in helping people save money, I know that some people don't know anything about vehicles, but that shouldn't be a good reason to gouge them on the price, I don't appreciate when businesses try to do that to me, so why would I do that to other people when the tables are turned?  Troubleshooting problems, after a while you get used to the in's and out's of the job so it gets like riding a bike or something.  

However it was also dirty and dangerous, you are almost certain to be hurt every day.  I don't think putting hot used motor oil against your skin is good for your health.  Uneven work pace, trying to predict when customers will come is random.  Basically no chance for promotion.  It's also low paying.

GCOC was a great place to work for, Managers were, for the most part, great to work with. However, they took things too personally when confronted with issues. Most of the people were fun to work with, except a few that should not be in a management position at this time. When working underneath the vehicles ( Bottomside) the tools that were given to us, were for the most part lousy. As for safety, there was always a sub par walk through of the shop, mainly looking at the cleanliness of the store, when it came to actual safety issues, the staff could not identify them. On a personal level GCOC was there for me in my darkest times and did support me and helped me get through them. For that I am thankful to be a part of a great group of individuals. 

Your underpaid for the hard work you put in. the company is all about making those extra sales (they say not to upsell but come on that’s all they do). Now let’s talk about the hard work again..as they are very short staffed no matter the time and effort you put in, your hard work goes unnoticed by everyone. Promotions are next to impossible to get even though they say you’ll get one in the first 6 months of employment. Now let’s explore the topic of management. The managers and assistant managers are lazy, they are slow and very rude. Overtime hours are available due to short staffed, however anything you have to do for the company (bank runs after closing, and volunteering your time to stay late and help when busy) your not paid for.Staff have left from stress causing medical issues due to the management and stress they create. I 10/10 DON’T recommend.


A typical day at work, is filled up to the be menial tasks and maximum monotony, I learned that this company will pick and choose their favourites and if someone doesn’t like you higher up, it can cost you your job. Management WAS fantastic, but once the fair, honest and hardworking manager got the boot, all morale went out the window. The hardest part about this job is putting up with constant hypocrisy bestowed unto us by corporate, the most enjoyable part of this job, were the people and former manager, but now under new management, this job just isn’t worth the headache. To top of the cake, you MUST, no matter what, go in 15 minutes before your shift, and you must stay (or risk getting written up) at least 15 minutes after your shift ends, definitely not worth 17, 18 or 20 an hour.

I loved the guys I worked with, all good guys, reasonable pay, just the boss who claims to be an "owner" who isn't actually an owner of the shop is the problem. He treats female employees different then males - which I didn't have a problem with knowing I picked a job in a male dominant field, being a female myself. 
I learned a lot about cars, my manager was super patient and from what I could tell did not mind teaching me, the same goes for the experienced guys. 
The job itself was not hard just took about a week to catch on to the rhythm and learn how the main boss wanted things done - he was very particular. 
the most enjoyable part of the job was hanging out and learning things from the employees when the boss wasn't around. The guys who work there are incredible and deserve way more than they get.

Typical day very stressful , no work life balance, if you are a family man/woman stay away. They require you to set good culture but have the worst managements and HR department. make you work as a manager 45 hours, Every week i did 50 to 60 without over time! They want you to hit targets and goals which the one you can control isn't the issue but they ask you to hit 50 cars for example but for 1 year and 8 months the location only hit 40ish and you get held responsible for it. Same with with retention rate. 5 employee quit because they found better pay and gave us a 2 weeks notice with good recommendation nothing to do with manager. 

They use you and do not care even if you relocate to another province its your job to find your way back! crazy  

Received TIPS from customers and would do a "tip out" every 3 months. The staff would all chip in a portion of our tips to keep a fridge and shelf stocked with snacks and beverages. You did not receive a lunch break or coffee break while working here, instead you had a permanent break while there was no customers. New owner showed up and took the tip money for himself, took our snacks, did not give us breaks but instead we were to be scrubbing the shop whenever we were not helping a customer. The staff would work 8-9 hour days with no breaks and no chance for lunch. One thing to note to anyone who is thinking about working for a GCOC is that they are all individually owned. I would definitely try a different GCOC in another location.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Lube technician 27 salaries reported	$20.67 per hour
Technician 124 salaries reported	$18.20 per hour
Center manager 14 salaries reported	$23.16 per hour
Technicien en lubrification 8 salaries reported	$22.96 per hour
Automotive technician 3 salaries reported	$50,000 per year

Working at Great Canadian Oil Change: company overview and reviews

Great Canadian Oil Change

Great Canadian Oil Change ratings

Popular jobs at Great Canadian Oil Change

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected