Just to put my two pence worth in I was chatting to a mate of mine the other day and he told me that the company that he works for are short of cash at the moment. But in the next breath he told me that all the salesman and the senior management and there wives are going to Venice for a long weekend on the company all paid for. May I add that some salesmen have not sold a truck in two years and when he has turned up on site with the salesmen there have completely ignored him as they think the engineers in the company are just the dirt on the sole of there boots. If you had a engineer who had not repaired a forklift in two years he would have been given the sack but not so with the salesmen. Salesmen are just parasites they get there commission and leave the engineer to pick up the pieces.
As you say with the pda and all the KPIs to hit and all that goes with the job, its not what it used to be and the senior management wonder why they can not get skilled technicians for what they are paying. Its no wonder that kids don't what to come in to this profession when they leave school as they can stay clean and earn more in front of a PC. And they wonder why good technicians are so hard to come bye. I am always on the lookout for a job out of this game. Mind you no one wants an ex forklift engineer.