A Little Elbow Grease

One of Jessica Mohler's first memories is holding a flashlight for her father as he worked underneath different cars in their garage. She would ask question after question asking what things were and what they did. Her father, a mechanic in Springville, would answer her explaining each step in detail.

Two years ago when her dad was teaching her how to change her car's brakes she announced that she was going to follow in his footsteps.

"I told him 'I'm going to try working at Jiffy Lube' as a joke," she said. "But it wasn't really a joke because I really liked working on cars."

She learned the basics while growing up around her brothers and boy cousins. That's all they talked about: cars, cars, cars. She had to know it to fit in and carry on conversations. But most of what she knows she's learned from just getting her hands dirty. She took one auto mechanic class while in high school at Provo High but the hardest thing they taught, she said, was how to change the oil. She took the class as a prerequisite for work release so that she could get experience as an auto mechanic.

Each day she would slip on her grease stained cover ups and pull her dark brown hair into a ponytail and go to work at the Jiffy Lube on Freedom Boulevard.

According to the Department of Labor in 1999 there were 12,000 female mechanics, which was up double from 1990. Mohler knows of a handful in Utah County alone.

For Mohler, being a mechanic is like a putting together a puzzle -- taking pieces apart and putting them back together as she figures out what makes it work. Every day there is a different puzzle she has to put together. One bay has a Chevrolet Silverado getting the tires rotated and in the other is a Toyota Prius getting an oil change. At each ring of the bell she hopes that a Corvette, her favorite car, comes through.

In her two years as a mechanic there have been a couple of times when a customer has refused to let her service their car. Only because she's a girl. When it happens it's a punch in her gut.

"Guys just trust guys with their cars," she said.

But she brushes off their comments and proves to them that she's not just a female. She's a mechanic. And a good one.

Mohler of Provo admitted that it's hard being a female in a male dominated industry but she doesn't let it get to her.

"I have to know more," she admits. "Girls just can't fake it like a guy can. But just because I'm a girl doesn't mean anything."

But she doesn't have to fake it. If someone is having a problem, she'll roll up her sleeves and show them how it's done. Sometimes they even call her over to reach into smaller spaces for tiny screws that their bigger hands can't get to.

"As far as this crew she's the most experienced and knowledgeable as mechanics get," said Nate Thacker, her manager who has worked with her since she started at the shop.

More often, though, she is requested by customers. They trust her and they respect her.

"I'm impressed that you can do that," Kelly Leavitt of Lehi told Mohler last week when she took her car to get an oil change. "I wish it were me."

Her hard work and ambition paid off when she was promoted to assistant manager last year. Mohler sometimes has to boss the guys around but she usually does it with a smile. There have been times when her employees refuse to listen to "a girl" and there is always another one of the guys to step in to straighten them up. Those employees never last very long at the shop, she said.

Sometimes the guys tease her but she knows it's all in jest. Actually she likes working with all guys (there's no drama) and she's earned all of their respect.

"They tone everything down because I'm a girl," she said.

"We don't want you to break a nail, Jessica," joked one of her coworkers about her French-manicured nails leftover from her wedding two weeks ago.

But she only smirked as she walked down the stairs to the lower bay where she drained the oil from the car above her.

"You would think that people would want a woman working on their car," she said. "They're cleaner."

She takes her job seriously as both a mechanic and a manager but she doesn't let her motherly instincts go either.

"Being the only girl, this is my job, too," she said handing Thacker a band aid for a cut on his leg. "To give them band aids when they are bleeding."

Last year she spent her whole pregnancy working in the shop. She stopped doing fuel injections and changing tires but her petite frame continued to change the oil, air filters and the state required emissions testing. In fact, she spent part of her labor at Jiffy Lube.

"I started having contractions," she said. "But I didn't want to leave. I had work to do."

On a couple of occasions Mohler has come to work and realized that her 1-year-old son has taken the tire gauge out of her waist belt to play with. It won't be long before he's holding the flashlight for his mother as she works below a car.