Thats right folks, there is some hefty turmoil here in The Garage these days. No, we aren’t losing the war on sploggers, the trouble is much more real world than that. As anyone in the car industry will tell you, ours is as unpredictable as a fart in a thunderstorm. You never know what curves the industry will throw at you. Some of us switch jobs like underwear, it’s just part of the game. Ownership changes happen on occasion. Every now and then, a manufacturer decides to pull a franchise out from under a perfectly good team for some inexplicable reason.
The dealership I’ve been working for was recently sold. It was a sale between two large dealer groups, with very deep pockets. The manufacturer in question must have felt like they were being bullied, so they reacted. How? They pulled the franchise, leaving a dealership full of employees without jobs. On a lesser scale, they are leaving a fairly large customer base without a place to service their cars.
On that note, consumers sometimes need to get a grip on the important things in life. Last week, one lady tore a strip off one of my Service Advisors. The poor girl let this woman rant for a few minutes and then politely, yet sharply said Maam, while I understand that it is an inconvenience for you, I don’t have a job! It’s rare that I would accept an employee being rude to a customer, but in this case it was deserved. Most people have been understanding.
So where am I going? Well, the dealership served it’s last customer yesterday, and I don’t have a job. We are still working (hardly) at doing the things needed to shut down a stop. I have one offer on the table and another prospect that I’m still investigating. I suspect I’ll make a decision in the next day or so. While I should have more time for blogging, really I’ve had less, so The Garage has been suffering a bit while life in the real garage gets taken care of.
It is hard to be controled by pupppet masters that never involve them selves in the ground floor opperations, big dissapointment
yes karl…it is indeed a big disappointment.