Bent Words

Bent Words

April 22, 2010

There are times when I wish you were here.

Right here.

Number one, if you were, this wouldn't have happened in the first place. But you're not and it did.

Still, if you were here, you'd know what to do. You'd know what to say. You'd know how to say it. You wouldn't be as gutless as my manager, tucking your tail between your legs, looking the other way.

Rummaging through the parts-to-service bins, I found a part which was ordered last year and still hasn't been picked up. Physically, at least. It's a warranty part for a Burgman scooter. According to the repair order, the part was not only picked up by service but also installed. The paper trail bears the service manager's initials. Curious as to why the part has been picked up yet remains in my possession, I checked the scooter's VIN in Suzuki. The warranty claim has been filed with Suzuki which means that the work and the part has been paid for by Suzuki.

But no warranty work was actually done.

If the current owner decides to sell the unit and the new owner investigates, the VIN will show that the proper safety measures were taken by our dealership and any recalled parts were replaced with the correct updates.

And this will be a lie.

What if this was a crucial update? What if this compromises someone's safety? What if this was your vehicle?!

It makes me sick just thinking about it.

But I guess that's what you get when you hire a crook for your service manager.

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The customer whom I sold a rear tire to on Monday came in on Tuesday night to get the work done. His tire had a nail in it and he was afraid to ride it. Not having the know how to remove the wheel, he rented a trailer, bought some tie downs and brought the R6 in. He had made an appointment with our service department prior to all this travail.

It was 6:10pm when he arrived. We close at 7pm.

I had gone back and forth to make sure that my customer, Adrian, was taken care of. First of all, however, we couldn't get the damned straps off the bike. They were the stupid ratchet straps and they were too bulked up to be released. The situation turned into a "How many employees does it take to get a bike off a trailer?" joke. It was probably 6:45 by the time we got the damned thing off the trailer.

Marc ran to the gas station to fill the shop tank. He was completely prepared to change the tire for the guy but apparently the service manager made an executive decision to hold off till the next day. I didn't realize it until the bike was put away but Adrian was enraged.

Apparently Dale, the service manager, told Adrian that he could either wait until tomorrow or take his back home with him -- he didn't care -- but it was too late to do anymore work.

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

Trying my best to handle the situation, I called up Motosports Factory and asked Dano to cut the kid a deal on a tire change (they normally charge twice as much as we do). Dano was more than willing to roll me a favor since I've sent so many customers his way in the past three weeks and so I told Adrian to pack up the R6 and take it over there.

Meanwhile, Marc walks up to us and asks what's going on. I explain the situation, with no small degree of frustration, and Marc throws up his hands.

"Dude! I'll change the tire right now. For free!"

It was after 7pm. I know Marc wanted to get home but he also wanted to make things right for my customer. "And I don't care if Dale gets pissed off; I know this is what the owners would want me to do," he said as he rolled the bike onto his lift.

And all we would have needed was a couple of cold beers and few good laughs to make it seem like old times.

It's what you would have done, if you were still here.

*sigh*

I looked around for you
Were you looking for me too?

How many times have I called out your name?
How many times have I called out your name?

It's a funny situation everybody seems to ignore
You can't leave here until you find the door

And I look around and I see
You are looking back at me

How many times have I called your name?

It's a funny situation everybody seems to ignore

You can't leave here until you find the door...

-- Rocco Deluca and The Burden

Written at 5:26 p.m.