Dearest Madam and Gentle Readers:
It is a slow day...rent week is usually slow. FYI, the gentleman with the Rolls Royce LOVED it!
I am in an inner place today. I soon to be single so you, my beloved Madam, hear my heart, anyway this will be the first time and hopefully the last. For my goal is to bore no one. Speaking of one's inner thoughts is a sure buzz kill.
My first Body Shop realization,,,,,,Lynn, you are not in OZ anymore! The second is, in reality, people are horrible. Class is gone, dignity, respect, honesty, and character. Men, back in the day, considered themselves, with their age to have a roll model responsibility for younger men. They behaved with character in all aspects as an example to all young men. When did that stop? Read Mark Twain, Jack London, HG Wells or John Steinbeck. Talk to my Dad or any WWII vet, they will tell you of honor, respect and character.
I see daily, grown men, older men, walk in my shop and cuss at Greg, a young man and get this, Abby and Myself! When did everything change. I jump in between any angry person and Abby. I feel very protective of my family and employees. Greg, an ex-military, boxer, MP can take care of himself. But there have been a couple of times I keep my weapon close. People go immediately to being obscene to resolve a problem. I miss the polite society. I miss the mentality of a handshake meaning something. I miss the world when a man's word and honor was his most important asset. Who taught the world all those cuss words? Was it George Carlin???
Lets begin anew. Please, thank you, may I, excuse me......If we all treat each other like we want to be treated, are trustworthy and honest....Our society would be...well you decide. I know, I would not have anything funny to write about!
Love you, Lynn
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Manic Monday
Gentle readers and Miss Diary,
Some Mondays you just seem to know you should not have been born. But, it is too late for that so one just keeps hoping it gets better, save us someone! Monday AM, open shop, employees arrive, car broken into in parking lot. OH NO, it belongs to my best employee! I feel so bad, they broke his trunk and yanked off and stole his spoiler. A SPOILER!. We called they local Leo's and the officer just seemed more interested in being sure my employee had a current drivers license and registration. He filled out a report and that was it. Just a report. Later I found out that three cars next door were broken into. It was a bad day. Monday afternoon, major computer crash on Abby's computer....the server.....we had the blue screen of death! I called my middle son, a computer guy and he whispered he was in meeting and to try to reboot. I did not have a chance to tell him we had the blue screen of death.
I tracked down a guy, who for beau-coup bucks would come and get it and repair it asap. I said anything! So, we had nothing and were writing estimates on paper. It was really stressful for all of us as everything we do is computerized and we knew we would be entering everything we wrote. So at 5:30, like Greg said, we played like shepherds and got the flock out of there.
When we got the computer back, we found we, lost everything for the last two months. It has taken two weeks to correct the problems. All credit goes to Abby.
In the meantime, a customer, an older guy named Jyms Buttrubb, came into pick up his car. When he brought the car, it had junkyard doors, bumper and two fenders, all beat up. He was a friend of a friend, he got a huge discount and was strongly urged to chemically strip the 5, yes, 5, layers of old paint off his car before putting new on. He said, I do not want to spend anymore on this car. It so happened that an officer of the law was in my shop to solicit a donation. We hear Mr. Buttrubb screaming from the parking lot and we went to investigate. His apparent girlfriend was right beside him screaming, "I'm a witness, I'm a witness" every 10 seconds. I cannot think of/use words strong enough to describe the lack of any kind of character or grace in this man. It is not over, nothing we could do would make this person happy. If I paid him for the privilege of fixing and painting his car, he would still bless me in his special way. More on Buttrubb later.
So, this Monday, I thought, great a new week and all will be better. Two brothers came in Sat to pick up their Hugh pickup that was $2900. for us to fix and paint. Their credit card would not go through so they said they would go to the bank and come back. They did not, so we assumed we would see them Monday. So, Monday Morning, no truck in the lot. Chaos, crazy, nothing added up. I FINALLY, got a hold of one of them and told them to come in right now, if they did not have their truck, it was gone. They came in laughing, which made Greg think they had stole it themselves to get out of my bill. We called the police, that went well, the first officer accused them of stealing it, then it got ugly. A second officer, a Sergeant, got there, low and behold gentle readers....the officer that solicited the donation! (Boy was I glad I gave one) He took charge and the end was the police would look for the truck, I was not responsible and no matter where the truck was, they were to pay my bill. I was going to offer to have his children, but he looked too serious to take it as a thank you. So, they came back the next day, after their attorney called and yelled and threatened me, which, I did right back and said conversation over if the yelling does not stop. Games they play. So, I was paid. We take things out of the beds of pick-ups so they do not get stolen when we put them outside. We had the guy's tool box and gave it to him.
On Tuesday, Hugh pulled a car through the paint booth as it was done and ripped off the aftermarket muffler. Why was I sitting in my chair, behind my desk, laughing so hard, he wondered.
Hey, yesterday we painted a Rolls Royce!!!! Yes we did, Yup and it is beautiful.
I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.....
At this morning's staff meeting we played Maaco trivia. I gave away $10. for correct answers. Everyone had a blast. Do you, my gentle reader, know what the best selling car of all time is???? one guy knew. VW BUG! later my love,
Some Mondays you just seem to know you should not have been born. But, it is too late for that so one just keeps hoping it gets better, save us someone! Monday AM, open shop, employees arrive, car broken into in parking lot. OH NO, it belongs to my best employee! I feel so bad, they broke his trunk and yanked off and stole his spoiler. A SPOILER!. We called they local Leo's and the officer just seemed more interested in being sure my employee had a current drivers license and registration. He filled out a report and that was it. Just a report. Later I found out that three cars next door were broken into. It was a bad day. Monday afternoon, major computer crash on Abby's computer....the server.....we had the blue screen of death! I called my middle son, a computer guy and he whispered he was in meeting and to try to reboot. I did not have a chance to tell him we had the blue screen of death.
I tracked down a guy, who for beau-coup bucks would come and get it and repair it asap. I said anything! So, we had nothing and were writing estimates on paper. It was really stressful for all of us as everything we do is computerized and we knew we would be entering everything we wrote. So at 5:30, like Greg said, we played like shepherds and got the flock out of there.
When we got the computer back, we found we, lost everything for the last two months. It has taken two weeks to correct the problems. All credit goes to Abby.
In the meantime, a customer, an older guy named Jyms Buttrubb, came into pick up his car. When he brought the car, it had junkyard doors, bumper and two fenders, all beat up. He was a friend of a friend, he got a huge discount and was strongly urged to chemically strip the 5, yes, 5, layers of old paint off his car before putting new on. He said, I do not want to spend anymore on this car. It so happened that an officer of the law was in my shop to solicit a donation. We hear Mr. Buttrubb screaming from the parking lot and we went to investigate. His apparent girlfriend was right beside him screaming, "I'm a witness, I'm a witness" every 10 seconds. I cannot think of/use words strong enough to describe the lack of any kind of character or grace in this man. It is not over, nothing we could do would make this person happy. If I paid him for the privilege of fixing and painting his car, he would still bless me in his special way. More on Buttrubb later.
So, this Monday, I thought, great a new week and all will be better. Two brothers came in Sat to pick up their Hugh pickup that was $2900. for us to fix and paint. Their credit card would not go through so they said they would go to the bank and come back. They did not, so we assumed we would see them Monday. So, Monday Morning, no truck in the lot. Chaos, crazy, nothing added up. I FINALLY, got a hold of one of them and told them to come in right now, if they did not have their truck, it was gone. They came in laughing, which made Greg think they had stole it themselves to get out of my bill. We called the police, that went well, the first officer accused them of stealing it, then it got ugly. A second officer, a Sergeant, got there, low and behold gentle readers....the officer that solicited the donation! (Boy was I glad I gave one) He took charge and the end was the police would look for the truck, I was not responsible and no matter where the truck was, they were to pay my bill. I was going to offer to have his children, but he looked too serious to take it as a thank you. So, they came back the next day, after their attorney called and yelled and threatened me, which, I did right back and said conversation over if the yelling does not stop. Games they play. So, I was paid. We take things out of the beds of pick-ups so they do not get stolen when we put them outside. We had the guy's tool box and gave it to him.
On Tuesday, Hugh pulled a car through the paint booth as it was done and ripped off the aftermarket muffler. Why was I sitting in my chair, behind my desk, laughing so hard, he wondered.
Hey, yesterday we painted a Rolls Royce!!!! Yes we did, Yup and it is beautiful.
I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.....
At this morning's staff meeting we played Maaco trivia. I gave away $10. for correct answers. Everyone had a blast. Do you, my gentle reader, know what the best selling car of all time is???? one guy knew. VW BUG! later my love,
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
It has been a while
My Lady Miss Diary,
I took time away from you, Miss Diary, and wish to report that I missed you greatly. We went a very slow time during the holidays and into the new year. Weather was awful and the economy scare recession thing did not help. I have decided that people just hunker down when the weather is bad. They certainly do not go out and get their cars fixed. We struggled during that time. Business picked up as soon as the weather got better. The first week the sun was shining, we did over 100 estimates in a week. We have had a couple of good weeks and need many more before the next Holiday season hits. Woe are the small business owners during tough times.
Life seemed dull when business was slow. We had great and happy customers and some real characters. Two weeks ago, a young man brought his older brother's car in to get it painted. He chose an inexpensive paint and picked a metallic red that was pink. We tried to talk him into going darker, but he was dead set on his choice. He signed all the documents. You can write the end to this story probably, when older brother came in with younger to pick up, he hit the roof and demanded we paint it over. There was quite a bit of screaming, which Greg, our estimator managed to keep outside, but younger brother fessed up. They all got in a car and said they would be back. I took that as a threat and was waiting for the troops. The older Bro came back and talked to Gary outside and they worked it out. He paid for his vehicle and said he would repaint it next year. Thank you Greg! There was peace again at MAACO. I think I will pull that page out of the color book!
We did a car a month ago that had 4 -45 caliber bullet holes. When were done it was awesome! A beautiful base dark lime green with the entire front end covered with yellow flames. I hope it doesn't get shot again.
I am heading for some fast food for lunch. I will be back at you soon. Hiatus over.
I took time away from you, Miss Diary, and wish to report that I missed you greatly. We went a very slow time during the holidays and into the new year. Weather was awful and the economy scare recession thing did not help. I have decided that people just hunker down when the weather is bad. They certainly do not go out and get their cars fixed. We struggled during that time. Business picked up as soon as the weather got better. The first week the sun was shining, we did over 100 estimates in a week. We have had a couple of good weeks and need many more before the next Holiday season hits. Woe are the small business owners during tough times.
Life seemed dull when business was slow. We had great and happy customers and some real characters. Two weeks ago, a young man brought his older brother's car in to get it painted. He chose an inexpensive paint and picked a metallic red that was pink. We tried to talk him into going darker, but he was dead set on his choice. He signed all the documents. You can write the end to this story probably, when older brother came in with younger to pick up, he hit the roof and demanded we paint it over. There was quite a bit of screaming, which Greg, our estimator managed to keep outside, but younger brother fessed up. They all got in a car and said they would be back. I took that as a threat and was waiting for the troops. The older Bro came back and talked to Gary outside and they worked it out. He paid for his vehicle and said he would repaint it next year. Thank you Greg! There was peace again at MAACO. I think I will pull that page out of the color book!
We did a car a month ago that had 4 -45 caliber bullet holes. When were done it was awesome! A beautiful base dark lime green with the entire front end covered with yellow flames. I hope it doesn't get shot again.
I am heading for some fast food for lunch. I will be back at you soon. Hiatus over.
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