"Onion rings in the car cushions do not improve with time" Erma Bombeck

My family owned a gas station when I was young. We sold gasoline, vehicle repairs and service, and tires as our main business. My Dad also decided to sell a variety of other items. Things like hunting and fishing licenses, jewelry, firearms, and assorted candies and snacks. With all of these options available for the traveling public and the local consumers, we were busy most of the time. For a young boy who had an interest in all things going on in the world this was a terrific place to spend the hours after school and much of each Saturday.

 

When there I was expected to help customers that pulled in to fill their gas tank by performing that task plus washing all the windows, checking the oil level, and any other services the customer asked for. Most of the time I did so happily and quickly. There were those odd days when I hoped that each car that pulled in would stop at the self service island. Those days, of course, did not always go as hoped and I ended up waiting on far more customers than I cared to. A funny thing usually happened by the end of those days. I left work feeling a lot better about life than I did when I arrived earlier in the day. Our small town was seemingly filled with people who knew how to smile and make a young fellow feel better about whatever troubles he had.

There are funny things that happen when you are dealing with the public. There are also some not so funny things. I'll share just a few from my memory here today.

One of my least favorite jobs was cleaning the floor to ceiling windows that fronted the showroom and included the entrance to the building. Those windows faced a busy street so they accumulated a lot of dust and grime and needed to be washed and squeegeed regularly. We always knew that something humorous would happen on the days when that glass was cleaned. Whenever a customer would pull in to gas up we would get the work done while keeping an eye on the customer as he/she looked for the restroom. Invariably they would head for the showroom, but with clean glass it was sometimes hard to tell which pane was the door - or even if there was a glass pane in the frame. Many times people would walk straight into one of those windows banging their head or (if they were lucky) kicking it with their shoes. We finally had to resort to hanging signs and banners in the windows so people would stop walking into them.

 

There were also not so funny things that happened. Another one of my jobs was to clean the restrooms several times a week. Usually not too difficult or disgusting. But occasionally.... .

We arrived at the station early one morning and after the first customers had departed and we had some down time Dad asked me to clean the facilities. I took care of the men's room and then headed over to the ladies facility. I opened the door and discovered that whomever had used the room last had missed the toilet almost completely. There was human excrement all over the toilet, the floor, and even on the wall next to the toilet. A new experience for this young man and not fun at all to clean up.

 

There was one day when the Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came in to speak with my Dad. They were always welcome both at the gas station and in our home. This time though these two missionaries said something that got my Dad riled up and he forcibly told them to leave. There was one feeble attempt to calm his anger, he again told them to leave and they did. I remember having them over for dinner a few nights later that week and apologies where made on both sides and everything returned to normal in that relationship. A lesson to me on many levels - managing  anger (still trying to master this one), remorse when in the wrong, and forgiveness always.

I have pleasant memories of sitting in the garage on many quiet winter afternoons observing Dad, Dan or Adolph working on someones vehicle. Tune-ups in those days were frequently needed (spark plugs, condenser, points, timing) and carburetors needed to be rebuilt after a thorough cleaning. A lot of lessons to be learned. The opportunity for a young man to spend time observing men whom he admired and looked up to was well worth the time.

As I occasionally reflect on those simple days and experiences I smile. What a great childhood my brother an I had. Children today live a different life than we did. Even at a very young age they face challenges and distractions that we could have never even conceived. My hope is that, as my grandchildren grow, their parents (and grandparents) will help them find opportunities similar to those we had. Not necessarily how to work on a car, but time spent learning together about this life.

Thanks for checking in. More to come soon. See you then.  

Movement. Balance. Growth.

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." (Albert Einstein)

I remember a Monday when I arrived at work following a major snow storm in the Denver, CO area. It was cold and I was loving life. Cold weather has always been a favorite of mine so I was feeling pretty good that morning. One of our customers came into the dealership mid-morning and informed us that the car we had let him take over the weekend had been totaled. We had seen that car on a flatbed tow truck just a few moments before he walked in but had not yet connected the dots. My good day very quickly deflated. Of course we were concerned about the driver and any others that may have been involved in the accident. he was fine and only one vehicle was involved in this accident. I don't remember all the details as it was quite awhile ago. I do know that there was a crash into a wall and then the car rolled several times down the highway. Modern vehicles are really amazing. So much damage to the exterior but only minor bruising and scrapes to the driver.

I had a conversation with my boss later the next day about the incident. There were many things we had done wrong with regard to a loaned car (paperwork) so the dealership and our insurance would be on the hook rather than the customer and his insurance company. We (my team and I) received a major chewing out later that day. I accepted full responsibility for the snafu with our paperwork and was fully prepared for whatever consequence followed. There were none, other than the yelling and cursing. My boss and I had a conversation a few days later where he did tell me that he was fully prepared to release me from employment with the company until he spoke with his boss (the owner) who said simply, "Did he (me) learn anything from this?" to which my boss replied, "yes", and then the owner replied, "Then we are done with the incident - if we and our employees are not learning from what happens here every day, then we have a problem and changes need to be made. We will pay the deductible, the insurance company will pay off the car, and we all move forward."

I have been grateful for the understanding of a seasoned employer and for the lesson learned every time I consider what might have been.

Movement. Balance. Growth.

Our son, Adam, was given a bicycle when he was 5 or 6 years old (I think.... possibly a little older) and he really wanted to learn how to ride that bike without training wheels. We didn't take them off until late in the summer because he needed to grow physically in order to ride safely. He did grow and the day finally came when we decided to give it a try without those training wheels. We worked for several days helping him to balance and try. I remember the day when he finally understood that he had to keep moving forward or he would fall. There was one thing lacking yet - he hadn't quite caught on to the trick to maintain balance. I finally realized that he had not been given the key to balancing on a bicycle and shared it with him quickly and quietly. "Adam, when you feel the bike starting to tip to the right turn the handlebars slightly to the right, when you feel the bike starting to tip to the left turn slightly to the left." He gave me a quizzical look but I could see him thinking about it and suddenly...the light bulb turned on and he understood. Forward momentum, turn toward imbalance, and the bike will right itself. It was fun to watch him ride for the rest of the afternoon with no training wheels and no tumbles.

I hope we all understand that we grow and learn the most when we are struggling or even failing. This is a lesson I have been learning repeatedly all my life. There is a quote attributed to Robert Kennedy that says, "Only those who dare to fail can ever achieve greatly." I believe this to be true.

Oprah Winfrey once said, "Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it."

Many of us, me included, let the distractions of life (family, entertainment, working for a living) get in the way of what we really want to do. Today is the time for me (you make your own choice) to take some risk. There are things I want to do. Now is the time to begin.

Thanks for checking in. More to come soon. See you then.