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,

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.

My Darling Diary: Good Morning! Guess what, I have bought Rosetta Stone in French so I can talk to you in your native language. I took 2 years of French in High School and 1 in College, but have forgot most. To do something besides cars, I am going to work on becoming bi-lingual again. To me that would be fun. I will keep you up on my progress.

I am curious, do I have any readers who do not know me? If so, please leave a comment.

Remember many posts ago, the gal who hit me with her car??? Well, she called! She just wanted to complain about the crazy "White" lady, (me) and that she was such a fine Christian Black Woman. Finally, my guy on the phone asked her why she kept talking about Black and White. The Christian Black woman got mad and hung up.

I have a "bad ass" car in my shop right now. It is a brand new charger with a 10 grand custom paint job on it. It is painted 3 stage maroon on one half and gold on the other. the half starts right down the middle of the hood. A different color on each side. You open the trunk, it opens with hydolics, there is a massive stereo system and a tv. That is for street parties. They have a pretty hard core decal on it and a custom license plate. It is in out shop because they want the 4 bullet holes fixed. It is at least a 45 and both sides of the car and missed the two front seat occupants by 6 inches each. By the grace of God, they are alive. They must know it as they want the bullet holes fixed asap and the color changed and then they plan to sell the car. You can ruminate on your own conclusions. In the mean time, I got a call from a police chief friend of mine and one of his crown vic cruisers was rear ended by a well to do family in town. Fully insured. Of course, there was a police report and in the course of the accident inspection, drugs were found in their car. So, Mon or Tues I will have the cruiser in my shop to fix. I plan to park it next to the "Bad Ass" car just for irony. What a world.

We are having in our employees next week as long as we can. phones are starting to ring a little more. We hope, we pray to get some business this next week. We all need to pray for the economy and that people have enough faith in it to be able to spend.

I am still thinking on buying the other Maaco in town. I cannot go next week, but I plan to drive out and look at it next week. I will keep you posted.

God Bless all, be safe, love one another. remember the 912 project.

Ms. Lynn Moore

Madame! The snow is falling and falling and falling. We have not had one customer in two days. We have sent our crew home two days in a row now. We are all aching from the need of work. We know the flood gates will open soon, as we get close to tax time, we get very busy. Can we hurry it up while we are still open?????

Not much crazy stuff going on these days to share.....The cars are coming out beautiful the Italian booths are worth what I spent on them. My corporate rep was here this week and gave us a few ideal to get more cars, but first they have to walk in the door! I called my largest used car lot and he told me he has not had a shipment of cars in two months. I do not know enough about Obama to blame him like everyone else is, so, I am holding tight and keeping faith in Our Lord. He did not bring us this far to fail now.

We awarded our employee of the month today. It was Greg the estimator. He was quite surprised. Now the pressure is on him. EVERYONE is looking to him to get the work in the shop.

I have been thinking for two days of buying a second shop. (If any of you are sane, shoot me!) There is one I know of for sale and I am not sure I really want another shop to compete with. It is a dump and would be a full renovation like this one was, but Hugh and I were not sure we were up to that so soon after this one. I shall continue to ruminate. Since I have no life, why not. It would just be less time between getting into bed and going to sleep. You know, that 15 minutes!

Lets all remember how hard it is on some of our brothers right now while we get annoyed at our bosses or jobs. I promise to share the next story I have that will make you laugh.

WAIT, WAIT! got one, I took a man home the other morning and he gave me $50.00 to give to Abby. He said two years ago, on December 30th, he gave a waitress a $20 tip and told her to go buy a lottery ticket. She won 1.6 million, so every December 30th he gives a gal a tip and tells her to go buy lottery tickets. This year it was Abby. She did exactly as she was told and won $2. She split it with him, and he promptly bought another with his one dollar. They have had a great laugh and a fun time buying lottery tickets. Who knows................

Lynn Moore

have a happy new years eve!

Dear Miss Diary,

We have a short day today. Then we do not come back to work until 2010! With 2010, BRING ON THE CARS! We are ready to be busy again. Last January, the flood gates opened Jan. 1. Hope for the same kind of January. We keep getting a better kind of customer and that is good. A police man told me yesterday that they were investigating the previous owner for painting cars for drugs. That explained a lot. We also get repeat customers. Not so good for the poor person who just got their car fixed and got hit again, but we are glad they come back here. The worst one was a nice young man who picked up his car late afternoon and was hit by someone that night. He was a mess. He told me he grabbed the guy by his lapels put his face to his bumper cover. He said, "Smell that!!! that is brand new paint, still wet!!!" None the less, he calmed down and we got him back to pristine shape.

I am thinking of any new years resolutions to make....."get more cars and get on the black side of the line. (stay out of the red) I am sure I can come up with some personal, but you do not need to hear those.

We had a customer drop his car yesterday and needed a ride home. I volunteered. I picked him up at the door and proceed to follow his directions. His first question was, "How long have you worked for MAACO?" I said about 15 months. He said, "Do they treat you well?" At that time I had to fess up....I own the place. Then the conversation began in earnest. He had an interesting story. He said two years ago, he gave a $20.00 tip to a bartender and told her to play the lottery with it. She won 1.6 million. So, every 12/30 since then he has given an young gal some money and told her to play the lottery. He decided the girl this year will be ABBY. He gave me $50.00 to give to Abby and tell her the story and play the lottery.

We all enjoyed the story and Abby took her assignment very seriously. She won $2.00 of which she will split with the gentleman when he comes to pick up his car. Yes, Miss diary, John Q. Public is a very interesting fellow and we enjoy all our encounters and turn them into stories to remember.

I wish you a safe and fun New Year's eve. I have told all my friends to call if they need bail now that I know how to do it. (I bailed one of my employees out recently)

I most of all wish everyone a safe, healthy and prosperous 2010. I pray that this recession lifts by God's Hands and all who seek work find it. In the meantime, lets hold each other up in prayer, for financial security. Lord, let us just be normal again. Hugs and kisses to you Miss Diary! See you next year. Lynn Moore

Bah Humbug!!

Beloved, It is my favorite time of the week...Sunday Morning. I wake up when I feel like it and do what I feel like. I feel like talking to you. Everyone who ownes their own business at this moment in history share their worries quietly. We just look at each other and no words are needed. Just the look says it all, God be with you, I feel your pain, hang in there, I hope you make it, Be strong, etc., etc.

I have two weeks till January and x numer of dollars. We so desperately need cars these next two weeks. I know from history, January gets busy fast. It is hang in there until then. My guys, what a tough time to not be able to get 40 hour pay checks. I pray with the group most mornings and have been reading verses pertaining to the real meaning of Christmas. Lets all not forget what this Holy Season is about.

Being an OWNER of a business, (warning) is like being a mother to a large family. I worked for a very large business for many years, and was manager of a division of that company. I felt a lot of pressure and responsibility.......Nothing like being the owner. The weight and responsibility of being an owner is not compairable to anything I have ever experienced. I do love and care about the/my men. I took a young man who was doubled over with a tooth ache to my dentist. I took care of it out of my personal money. Soda is his what we all call him. I have never seen anyone in so much pain. In my mind, there was nothing else to do. He had no ins. or money or a dentist. I am sure many men owners would have thought it not their problem. For me, is that a fault or an attribute. If you look at it from a financial point of view, men would call me weak. From a human view, and I am human, a woman, mother and Christian. Soda hugs me good bye every day and says, "I love you Mom" before he leaves each day. I say I love you too. sometimes, when I am at the counter with a customer and he comes in to say Goodbye, I catch the look of awe on the customer's face. I act like it is business as usual and I know the customer is seeing a rare relatiohnship between boss and employee. They can tell by skin color that it IS boss and employee. sometimes, I wonder what they think, if they wonder what makes our business so special.

This week I did something I had never had to do before in my life, I bailed one of my employees out of jail. It was completely nuts that they locked John up. He had a fix-it ticket. When he went to court he was told the fine would be between 100-200 dollars. I fronted him $200. I got a phone call from him telling me they locked him up for an additional $105. He was near tears and so sorry to call me. After 15 minutes, (of which I had some hysteria, shhhhh) I got a policeman on the line. I had to speak my peace to the peace officer, "You mean to tell me you are locking up a man who has a full time job over 105 dollars! He gave you 200 of the fine. I happen to know you are requied to accept 10 percent and let them go to pay the fine later! This man works for me and I need him at 8 am tomorrow morning! I cannot believe you are locking him up for 10 days for$105!" I was told...."Mam, that is the way we do thing in Ohio" What was I, from outer space??? I could continue to comment on the Ohio thing, but I have many dear friends who are in law inforcement and I respect what they do everyday. I paid the fine with a credit card and John was let go and was at work the next morning. Another experience for me and my knowledge of the world continues to grow.

We had great customers this week, everyone was very happy. I had one gentleman pick up his vehicle and leave his other one for body work and paint. That is a great complement to the work my son and his crew does in the back and my daughter-in-law's customer service skills.

I gave out bonus monies on Friday. Since I cannot do anything small, I wrote a speech recapping the funny stuff and hard stuff of the last year 2009 to read. We all enjoyed remembering: The time a customer had left a rubber snake under the passenger seat of their car. John, a large man got into the car to move it into the shop and JUMPED OUT SCREAMING and ran through the shop. I could hear the laughter and fun in the front office. there was the time when the power went out and Hugh, the manager decided to plug in a light stand to help them keep working on a car. He actually plugged it in before the "oh yea" moment hit. They all laughed pretty hard, together. In the spring, I bought a new sign. It is huge, on a pole and lit at night. It is beautiful! part of it blew down in a wind storm recently. Waiting for the sign guy to put it back. Being prepared for anything and everything is the only way to stay sane. If you let it, it will take you to that famous farm that is know to be humerous. The first year was hard not to let each thing be a mountain. Now I know something will happen every day and look at it as a adventure. I am on the monkey train and jumping off would mean the end, so I am enjoying the ride and cannot wait to see what is around the next bend.

God Bless all druring this Holy Season. Lynnie

Sunday Morning Recap

Good Morning Dearest Diary: It is good to sit with you again. It is raining and what a wonderful time to enjoy a rare treat, a cup of coffee and sharing my experiences with you. It is close to Christmas and slow in the body shop world. I am running 1/2 off all paint, put up my banner, with the permission of the City, (whom thinks of themselves as gods ruling their little world) We are slow with walk ins, but with such a sale, manage to sign them all up. We also have a base of trade business and I am thanking God as if we did not have them, we would not have any business at all.

I want to share an experience we have had on going for the last few weeks. A Lady names Lacy Gilligan, a self proclaimed princess and a person better than all else on earth, you know the type, has a very old volvo. She came in some time ago and dealt with Greg, daily to include asking him out. She is about 15 years older than Greg. She and Greg went over all her dings and dents and circled them with a crayon. She chose to stay with the Manufacture color, wise move. She came in while the car was in the body shop and approved all the repairs. She called Greg everyday to flirt and feel important. Her Volvo came out BEAUTIFUL. Hugh had our detailer wet sand and buff a few spots to make it flawless. FYI, anytime someone says they want it perfect, we tell them to go to God's Body Shop. This car was near perfect. As is the nature of black there are always a ding or two that is not visible until new paint is put on it. We tell people who want black so they are prepared. Remember, she saw the car in the body shop and circled the repairs herself. We actually found several more and fixed them for free.

Well, when she came in, Greg was out sick and I had to deal with her. She was in full Paris Hilton mode. She is the type who hates women and has never met a male she does not try to wrap around her finger. She proceed to talk down to me and act like everthing about the car was awful. I couldn't stand her and told her I would have Greg call her. She told me I did not have to bother "Little Greg". I told Oh, I believed I would be bothering little Greg.

Her chief complaint was, "The car looked painted"! It was painted.......I would guess it was painted when she bought it as well.... None of us could see what she was talking about. It was a beautiful base clear.

Getting to the point. She next latched onto Hugh as Greg would not bow down to her. She came in to go over her car with Hugh. We played Good Cop, Bad Cop. I made sure she hated me and would see Hugh as her savior.

By the way, when she left the second time, in a huff, she stated she was going to call her people.....I guess her people let her down as she came back in to try to get her way again.

She was walking the car with Hugh, flirting, yelling - the full monty. I stood closer and interjected to make her angry and hate me, so Hugh could be the good guy. I told her to watch her tone, that none of the stuff she wanted would come free, etc., She stated, "I have been dealing with you guys for three weeks!" I shot back with a little smug laughter, "We have been dealing with YOU for three weeks!"

At that point, I went into my office and got all my stuff and left as I had an appointment. Hugh said politely, Good bye Lynn and I said the same back. He played her savior at that point and we got her where we wanted her. She at that time asked to speak to Hugh alone. They went into my office. Hugh listened to her tell him how she woke up Sunday and prayed for her car and felt he was God's answer to her car prayers. Hugh listened and thought what a nut! He was professional at all time and did not engage, just listened........Who the hell prayes for their car???

We laughed and talked about the entire experience. She never knew he was my son and that we played her to get her where we wanted her. Gone! What a piece of work that gal is. I still wonder who her "people" were.

My Beloved, the next few weeks will be a real challenge. The Holidays always are. We will get through them and after the first of the year will be very busy. The stress shows in all of us as paychecks are not full, I cannot break even, but we are blessed by our Lord with a great crew and the love we have for each other. We will get through.

At night or early am, when I am alone in the shop, I walk the shop and feel a wonderful feeling knowing I own this. It is pride, I believe. Pride that we do things right, we are honest and survived a first year. We had a man bring his pride and joy to us to be painted and he drove all the way from Indiana to come to us. I believe we are turning around the bad rap from the previous owner. That is a wonderful feeling!

God Bless all of you and lets never stop praying for our soldiers and each other.

Lynn Moore, Body Shop Gal

here we go again!

Hey Lady,

"This befell and behappened and became and was, O my best beloved, when the tame animals were wild" (Rudyard Kipling)

It is Saturday afternoon and I am sitting in my office as my estimator, Greg, has taken it upon himself to paint his brother's car. How hard can that be? We shall see. I have at least an hour to wait....and write. Greg has never painted a car before but always appears to be a quick study. I hope for his brother's sake, who is at his side, that he truly is a fast learner. Nonetheless, it has been an adventure they will both remember and laugh over many an alcoholic beverage.

It is the beginning of the second week of December. As is the case during the Holidays, we are slow. Shop guys are edgy. Damn, I am edgy. So, I gulped and made the decision to throw up the 1/2 price sale banner for a few weeks. We will be very busy....with the hiding hinky. As you will recall, nothing brings out the "best" in people like a half price sale. I already have a little gal who won't pick up or pay for her car as she is mad that it "looks painted"! Well, we painted it. It is a beautiful base/clear black. It looks great and above standards. We wet sanded and buffed it even though she did not pay for us to. We also fixed several dings for free. I might venture to guess, it looked painted when it was new and when she brought it in as it has always been painted. She seems on an ego thing and high maintenance. She said she was calling, "her people". I told her storage charges start today as she stormed out. I am wondering if she plans to steal it out of the lot without paying. I cannot imagine "her people" advising her to do so.

I let a guy go a while back whose chief position here was "breaker of all tools, daily". He backed two cars into the garage doors, broke everything he touched did as little work as he possible could. You see, poor man was addicted to unemployment and I was hell bent on not letting him get it. He became better and better daily at sluffing, breaking, disturbing others at work, sitting on the john and his other daily duties. I found out about his addiction when he applied for unemployment on his vacation and sick days. I gave him credit for his creative ways of trying to cheat his way onto the couch with a beer, as his new career. As Greg said, he had "anal glaucoma".....couldn't see his ass going to work.

My daughter in law, Abby is doing estimates on a regular basis and she is doing great! The customers love her and she is so customer service oriented and detailed that she is great! I so seldom do an estimate anymore, I do not think I have done one since the gentleman disrobed. I need to keep my fingers in the pot or I will forget how to cook.

I took a mental health break and got away from the shop for a week. I have a good group of people, they held down the fort. But, enough of the relax, we have a half price sale to drive us forward into 2010! Thank you Lord for all your blessings. Keep all my guys safe. talk soon love, Lynn Moore

Dear Madam diary,

It is Sunday pm and I am thinking of tomorrow. Sunday is always ruined by thoughts of the next day. I want to mention my Christian pen pal. His name is Dauntel. He sends letters and constantly encourages me to keep going and to walk in the word of God. He prays for us and is waiting for the day he can be part of the kaos. Thank you Dauntel for your prayers and words of encouragement. I cannot tell you how many times a letter from you arrived just as I was giving up.

Gentle readers! wonderful news! we are CERTIFIED. That is a big deal in my business and not an easy thing to do. I told Hugh, my son, in typical BOSS fashion, "I want to be certified, make it happen" He did it. Stress galore!!!!!! from both of us, but he did it!!!!! Way to go my son, I love you more everyday and am so proud of you. Now, what are you going to do for me tomorrow??????

(typical boss fashion)

On to new body shop frontiers, Hang in there with me Body shop friends, we have just begun to have fun. The lady who has given up it all to fix your damn cars!! I love you all and can stink eye anyone who needs it.

God be with all our soldiers tonight. all my love, Lynn M.

Dear Madam,

It is Friday Morning and that means "crunch" day. It has been a bitch of a week!!! It never fails when you do a good deed, like painting a car for free for a friend, or doing extra work, or helping out someone who is in a real bind, those are the jobs that bite you in the ass. A young man, Manfred wrecked his vehicle bad. For a third of what it should have cost, we have fixed his "wheels" and put a new paint job on for free. We even gave him the expensive service. He was in and asked we use the original "Eddie Bauer" colors if we could find them instead of his color. Well we did! and it looks awesome!!! Now he wants his original colors back.......pouting....pouting......No thanks for the beautiful FREE expensive paint job, just "I want that ugly tan back, instead of the beautiful Golden Tan". OY. We will put back his rattle can tan, finish his car and I will not let him come back. I guess people only appreciate what they pay for. Then they know the value. Also, learned, never do an estimate for a drunk guy. They do not remember what they said when they are sober. Tidbits I am learning upon the way. What a legacy to pass on to grandkids! I think I will keep this between us, Madam.

We have a lot of cars coming out today. Hope the biz makes some money this week. It is going to be a busy month.

As an aside, I lost my cat of 16 years a few weeks ago. He was my best friend, and that is not easy to get over. I have taken to having his cat shaped ceramic urn in my bed at night. We talk. I have talked to other people who have lost pets, I am not so unusual so stop thinking what you are thinking! It is part of the grief process. Lets keep this to ourselves, Madam. I am not ready for the rubber room, I have got a business to run!!! Love you my friend. Lynn Moore