I am now replacing the upper and lower ball joints on my Towncar now. I have never done a harder job in my entire life! Harder than a bar exam in my opinion. Still trying to get through it.
I was Ford dealer tech for 43 years (retired) and still believe the Ford labor times should be illegal. The job you are doing may have a time "allowance" of one hour,or less. That would be from the time the tech gets the keys to bring vehicle in,to the time he completes/parks it! Techs earn their pay and rarely can match the factory time allowed. The retail/ Chilton type manuals only add a % on top of an unrealistic time. Like you said,techs deserve more respect.
My opinion: The folks who have a beef with mechanics, well, if you don't like them, take the bus to work.
Having worked for several different manufacturers I can attest to the horrors of having to do warranty repairs and most of the time losing in the end. Even if the particular repair was not listed in the respective manufacturers warranty repair guidelines they would figure out how to stroke the technician on the job.
I will say that there was the occasional job that was listed by the manufacturer as being done a particular way and when the technician figured out how to actually do it in less time the manufacturer would usually figure out how the technician was beating the book and revive the time and charge the dealer or technician back on the repair. What is worse yet are the dealerships that use the manufacturers repair times for all the repairs that are done at that dealership.
The manufacturers have figured out how to have slave labor with impunity.
The tech gets screwed but the dealership still makes money on the parts that can b way way expensive.
Some people make a living with their hands. Some make a living with their head. Mechanics use their hands AND their heads.
Book repair times are unrealistically based on controlled time. A number of mechanics are in a room with the nice clean vehicle already diagnosed and set up on a lift if needed. A cart with needed tools and parts are put next to the vehicle. The techs compete for the best time. That becomes the book time. In reality, at a dealership, the tech is dealing with a vehicle that has to be diagnosed and put in place. He then has to remove parts with his own tools that he must purchase and supply from a cart nearby. He must go over to the supply department and wait to get the proper item(s) and take them back to install. Then he has to take the time to clean up his tools and work area and put the car on the service lot for pickup. Big difference in real service time.
Probably one of the most unregulated industries in America that could use the help of some entity to protect the technicians on the floor, the dealerships don't care about the well being of the technicians (cheap labor) and the manufacturers don't care as they are not their problem. I always thought about the technicians (being one) as being a milking cow on a dairy farm, you were kept in a stall, milked daily and relieved of duty when the milk ran out. It's a job that required both manual dexterity and mental thought at the same time, non-stop.