I think you have chosen an honorable profession to study. Granted...there are people who will take advantage of others...whether it be mechanics or shopkeepers. My brother worked for a very short while for a dealership. Rather than do a carb kit to fix a customer's car, they would demand he replace the carb with a new one...at considerable expense to the customer. He didn't work there long and decided to continue his own business venture that he'd started years before. He started out slow, buying one machine at a time and eventually became Kalispell's premier Ford mechanic/machine shop. Almost all the stock car drivers came to him for heads, if not a total engine build.

My point being .... whether you are ASE or just the best danged mechanic there is in your town ... pride in your work, honor in your dealings and doing what it takes to keep customers coming back are the most important things to a succesful business ... especially the automotive industry. I wish you luck and Godspeed in whichever direction, mechanically, you decide to persue.