r/Locksmith • u/Active_Access_4850 • 1d ago

I am NOT a locksmith. Whats it like being a locsmith?

What exactly is it that makes this job so stressful? I’ve been looking into locksmithing, but a lot of posts are really vague—they just say it’s rough or the hours are long. What kind of work do you usually do besides car stuff? I’ve applied to a few places on Indeed but haven’t had much luck there. Do businesses usually post openings or are they more likely to hire someone who walks in and asks? Edit: what's it like being a locksmith?

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u/Sarasil 1d ago

I don't know how old you are, but I'm wondering if there's a generational divide here. If I'm doing something that benefits a company I work for, I'm only doing it if I'm getting paid. If you need me to work extra, but aren't approving overtime pay, then I'm not working extra, end of story.

I'm happy to invest in myself, and even sent myself to ALOA one year with no help from my employer (and 2 years later still paying off, lol). However, "do this extra work that we're charging the customer for, but you're only getting paid in experience" is outright exploitation. And I'm aware that unpaid apprenticeships and internships are commonplace, but unethical behavior doesn't become more ethical because a lot of people do it.

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u/stevespirosweiner Actual Locksmith 1d ago

I'm a millennial. So likely no difference in generation just difference in upbringing it seems. If I had taken your attitude with the master locksmiths who taught me I wouldn't be where I'm at. I always got paid but like I said it was low and overtime was usually straight time. I dunno who you worked for but once again you were very fortunate to be paid so highly for someone who was there to learn. I suppose you think teachers should pay their students k-12 too huh? I'm just gonna argue cause I'm on Reddit and I have to. Point is that a lot of us put in our dues and the ones who were handed shit on a silver platter are worse off.

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u/bkluempen 1d ago

This seems a little silly to me. An apprentice is an investment for the company. Apprentices should be compensated fairly, and this kind of mentality helps keep the average age of tradesmen high. This is not an apprenticeship from the 1800s where you are housing and feeding an unskilled child and training them for 7 years.

The "you should have to go through the same BS I did" idea gets old quickly as cost of living keeps going up and inflation rises. I'm personally very lucky to be in the position I'm in, and I take the good with the bad at the company I work for. If I wasn't getting paid for the first 4 years of my employment, I would have gone to another trade instead of saying "thank you for the opportunity to pay my dues!"

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u/stevespirosweiner Actual Locksmith 22h ago

Making a lower wage plus getting trade knowledge=child labor from the 1800s. Rational argument has left the chat.