Shop attitude

[stuplich@ymail.com]

'Composing my last post brought back memories of past shop/customer relationships:
Remember when you were the "kid" that hung around the "service station" in your neighborhood with the, new to you, $125 car that had more issues than your DP has now.
You got to know all the regulars and made lasting friendships with many and with the owner/mechanic.
Sometimes he would let you charge some gas until pay day. actually he would take the money from his pocket and put it in the till, so his wife and credit manager, "Helen Waite" didn't find out.
("If you want credit go to Helen Waite").
You helped new guys as they came along and you made more friends.
You pumped gas for an evening, now and again, so the owner could take some time off. It wasn't out of kindness, you got to use the lift and work on your car between customers.
Soon you got married and had kids, to take along when you "got gas" or service.
At the shop, the owner or his wife, sometimes his kids, would give your kids candy, when ever you had them along.
You and your family visited at their house, our yours, when either of you took the family for a drive on a Sunday!
In a few more years, you would have his kids wash, sometimes wax, your, now newer, nicer car often so they could earn extra pocket money.
After moving to the far side of town you continued to get your gas and service a good 25 miles out of your way, for another 30 years.
For many years you even spent part of every New Years Day eating AND DRINKING from the buffet set up on the grease rack, turned table, in the shop that was almost your second home for over 50 years.
Then, suddenly it seems, the owner, your old friend, got sick and then died.
He was a guy with integrity, a guy you could trust!
Mel'