Bon Jour, Mon Cheri!!!! It is Wednesday night and it is really hot! As I mentioned last, I have a consultant in my shop this week with one goal...to teach me how to run the shop. Well....where do I begin???? Could it be hotter in the shop???not. I am so impressed at how hard the guys are working and how hot it is. Things are humming and I am learning. I think it is time to share some of the funnier moments....
The other day, I opened the shop door to walk out and Brady, one of the young men was running to the men's room, screaming, "MY ASS" at the top of his lungs!!! He stopped, grabbed some paper towels and kept running...I am yelling, BRADY! What is wrong!!!??? MY ASS!!! I ran to the back where Gilbert sees me and starts holding his mouth shut to keep from laughing and the many comments he was dying to make. What happened to Brady? He sat in paint stripper. OMG! that stuff burns paint off a car in a matter of minutes. You do not want it on your skin! Tony said, I asked him if I could help and when he told me what happened, I told him you are on your own man." Brady's ass was the topic of concerned conversation....well, you get it.
So, a little later, from the stripper fumes, Brady had an asthma attack and I ran him to the urgent care. One of the things they did was give him a shot in the already tender area. He told me he immediately forgot about the stripper. Brady's injured area is still the topic of concerned conversation in the shop. They really do love each other.
I was walking through the back today and one of "my boys" was moving a pick up as big as a tank and honked the horn at me. I jumped 3 feet and all thought that was a hoot.....I told them, I forgot to do payroll this week, I thought that was a hoot.
Running a shop reminds me of directing a play. FYI, I am an old theatre person. I have written, produced, directed and acted. Running a shop is like directing a play. You coordinate, multi-task, answer a million questions at a time, run around like a mad man and always deal with people and their feelings. I do not have to know how to do bodywork to tell if it is done or not, if a car is ready to move to the next station and which one to bring in next. I have been given a system and taught how to do this by a great teacher. A grouchy New York Italian man, with a mouth that would embarass a sailor, and more skill in a body shop than anyone I have ever worked with. I can do this. I kinda have to. The down side is my hair has now become straw, my feet are always dirty and hurt, my nails suck and all my clothes are soon to be trashed. I wonder in how many years I will look like a crazy, wild eyed Body shop woman. How many weeks, I should say. So much fun you cannot imagine. The upside is I always have the best stories at the bar!
"When you charge peanuts, your only customers are monkeys." The Italian Sailor.
Bon Nuit mon ami. Lynn
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