12.4.11

The Car Post

Yesterday, I briefly mentioned that I worked in a car dealership and that I would need to devote a separate post to that story...well, here it is!

That was another experience that I never really planned for. When I was younger, I used to do some work for my parents every once in a while because they felt as though they could ignore the child labor laws. Ha! In all seriousness, I spent so much time with them in their office that I wanted nothing more than to help them. I would answer the phones when I was 8 and confused many callers with my tiny voice, and I would occasionally try to translate some text from English to French for my mom because I thought it was cool. Yeah...that didn't last very long. I still help them now and then whenever they seriously need help and are willing to pay me, but that's about it.
I also started babysitting at a young age and I really enjoyed it, but I didn't want to have to do it for too long.

Once I became old enough to hold a real job, I was too busy with school and dance, so I didn't begin working until I started university. I started in the kitchen of a restaurant in my home town and eventually worked my way to the front as a server. I was also given the chance to start training on the bar before I left, but didn't stay long enough to follow through with that. I was initially looking for a second part-time job once I left school and just spent my days throwing my resume around town and trying to speak to anyone I could. I was desperate and was not even opposed to working at McDonald's...
Luckily, I walked into a few of the car dealerships in town and was offered a part-time job at the local Ford dealership! Yay! My dad only had Fords as I was growing up and had bought them all from there, so after they hired me, they made the connection and then started to hassle me about the fact that I we were now driving two Chrysler products. My poor little Jeep Compass has never been the brunt of so many jokes as when I left it parked on the Ford lot. Its new name in the dealership became "P.O.S. Chrysler" (P.O.S. = Piece Of Shit). I eventually left the restaurant when the dealership offered me a full-time position and a raise. Man... if you ever want a really cool temporary job, try to get into a car dealership! I was the youngest person in there and one of the only women. All of the men either became brothers or adoptive fathers to me - it was so funny. If I started dating a new guy, they had to meet him and wow, would they ever grill him! My boss, the GM, was the worst for that. They would tease me all the time, but if I ever needed anything, they were always there for me and they looked out for me all the time. I was just working at the front desk, but they had me doing everything in there: I would do the standard administrative tasks, but I also did a lot of work for the parts and service departments, I did some accounting and some inventory as well. If I was really lucky, they'd let me move some cars around on the lot. For my 21st birthday, my boss gave me the keys to a brand new, red 2011 Mustang GT convertible and let me take it for a spin. That was the best joy ride ever! Ahhh...if only I could own one of those!

I know I sound like I have an odd interest in cars for a 21-year-old girl who is studying musical theatre, but working in the dealership for a year taught me so much and caused me to develop a love for cars. Driving was already one of my favourite things to do; it was bound to happen!

Thanks to that job, I have made some very useful connections and have a place to work if I am ever stuck. While working there, I would tell my dad everything that I was learning. He is currently in the market for a new vehicle, and he's getting a Ford.

For those of you who are only interested in theatre: I promise to try to not talk about cars anymore!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Random but good, thought i would share.

“Girls are like apples...the best ones are at the top of the trees. The boys don't want to reach for the good ones because they are afraid of falling and getting hurt. Instead, they just get the rotten apples that are on the ground that aren't as good, but easy. So the apples at the top think there is something wrong with them, when, in reality, they are amazing. They just have to wait for the right boy to come along, the one who's brave enough to climb all the way to the top of the tree...”

JustCallMeGen said...

Haha, who is this? This doesn't sound like Claudia...

p.s. I am a very random person.

Rosette ou Rosie, c'est pareil said...

The apple never falls far from the tree, I would add to the Anonymous commentor up there...