October 7, 2008
Life and times of Mom.
A mom’s perspective of a day in the auto shop.
8:05 It’s morning.
We are here at the shop, busting through the door. The girls are already off. Each has started on their own list for the day. Coffee is being made. The dogs are being fed. There are people dropping their cars off. I am here on the computer, ready as things to start moving forward for the day.
My main job is to run for parts.
8:30 Our employee Alex is walking around looking for something to do. Dwayne sets him to work sweeping the floors, while he pulls a Subaru into the shop bay. That’s nice.
The phone rings. Christina gets it, and hands it off to Amanda. I remember when I used to get the phone, now the girls handle that department.
9:30 Dwayne walks through the door. He has a diagnosis on the Subaru. It simply needs tuned-up. He hands the parts list to Christina who types it into the computer. With the computer, we can check online to see if parts are in stock in town for cars. Living on an island in Alaska, we are at the mercy of what is in sock at NAPA, if Napa doesn’t have it, we have to order it. This time Napa has everything. Amanda looks up the time for the tune-up, makes an estimate, and calls the customer. The customer says “Let’s get it done!” They want the work done.
9:45 I’m off to town for the parts.
10:00 I am in town and navigating traffic
10:30 We are in and out of town, and back at the shop with parts.
We get the parts checked in and give them to Dwayne. Alex is already gone for the day when we get back to the shop.
11:02 Dwayne comes back into the office. These parts are nice. Except now there is another issue with the vehicle. It will need even more parts. The tune-up solved one problem, but there is something else wrong with it. It still won’t start consistently. It needs a crankshaft sensor. Alex had inventory done, so we decide to pick up the list of stock parts while we obtain the sensor.
Amanda is on the phone with the customer informing them of the further developments of their vehicle.
11:15 Off to town again for parts. We also do a deposit, and pay a bill. Then we get the parts, and the inventory.
11:45 Just before heading back to the shop, we call the shop to check in.
Amanda reminds us that we need coffee. We head back to Raven’s Brew fast for our coffee.
12:08 We pick up coffee at Raven’s Brew.
12:16 We drive through noon traffic
12:40 We’re back at the shop with the parts. Dwayne had finished a muffler on a Toyota while we were gone, and Amanda is calling the customer to tell them it is finished. The customer remembers that they also wanted an oil change.
12:45 Dwayne pulls the car back into the shop to do the oil change.
1:01 The car is done. Amanda calls the customer. Christina has just finished checking in the sensor for the truck customer. She puts the sensor on the shelf. Then she starts checking in inventory. We make coffee.
1:04 Mail time. The mailman comes through the door with more parts. The girls check them in, and call the customers to schedule appointments.
1:14 The Toyota muffler customer arrives to pick up their truck. They are happy.
1:20 Dwayne is back from lunch, and starts to work on the crankshaft sensor. Hopefully the sensor will fix the car’s problem. I finally have time to have something to eat. A sandwich.
1:23 The girls are doing different things. Christina is replying to an email. The email is to a customer who is interested in buying one of our cars we are selling. We are discussing the price, and she is typing up the reply. Amanda is doing something with watercolors. She likes to help with the business, but her spare time she does many different things with paints, pens, and the computer too.
1:40 Dwayne comes through the office door. “The sensor is the wrong one,” He says. Why is it wrong? Well, the part store’s computer sometimes has a problem. Sometimes it lists the wrong part number. When that happens, we end up with the wrong part.
1:45 The clock is ticking. After a mad dash, and our attempt to locate the right parts, we find the correct ones. They are in stock at NAPA. This means we have to go back to town and get the right one.
2:34 We are back at the shop with the right part. When we get back, Dwayne is gone. “A tow” Amanda says. Also while we were in town, someone brought their car to us for an estimate. They dropped it off, but they want to pick it up that night. It is making a funny noise. Can we diagnose it?
2:40 Dwayne is back. He had towed a car from someone’s house to the wreckers.
“Did you get the right part this time?” he wonders.
3:04 The sensor is installed! The car is running nicely now. We call the customer.
3:20 Amanda is reading, Christina is making some cards. A customer walks through the door. “Can we help you?”
The customer wants to see one of the cars on the lot. They had emailed us earlier, interested in buying it. The girls take them out to look at the car, and explain what needs repaired on it.
3:26 The customer leaves after looking at the car. They want to think about it. They will let us know later if they are interested in it.
Another customer walks through the door. They are picking up their Subaru. The Subaru that was not starting consistently. They pay their bill, happy that their car runs well now.
We head off to town.
4:01 We have a deadline to pay some bills. We need to be in town before they close. Amanda and I head out. Two miles down the road we hear a terrible noise. We pull the van over and see the trouble. A flat tire.
4:06 Before we have time to think what to do, a truck speeds up and parks in front of us. The driver gets out and offers us his cell phone. He even offers to replace our tire for us. How nice! We used his cell to call the shop, and Dwayne is dispatched with the towtruck. We thank the gentleman.
“No problem” he says “I heard you drive by, and i figured you were in trouble”
4:15 Dwayne tows the van back to the shop.
4:18 Back at the shop, Dwayne starts to swap the tire.
4:37 Tire is replaced.
4:38 We’re back on the road again, headed for those deadlines.
4:59 We make the deadlines! Barely, but we make them.
5:30 This is a busy time of the day. Usually at the shop, between the hours of three and six things are busy. Customers are calling wanting parts ordered, and appointments are being made.
5:32 Dwayne has a final diagnosis for the day. He hands the list to the girls.
5:34 “Closing time.” It’s past closiing time. We close at 5:00, but usually stay later. “Closing time” actually means: “time to do some paperwork.” This is also a good time of day to get a hold of customers on the phone. We call people to give them estimates and schedule appointments. Amanda calls people, while Christina enters checks into the computer.
Dwayne is tired and heads home.
5:40 A customer walks through the door. They need an appointment. We schedule a time for the next day, and they leave.
5:43 We make some more coffee.
6:02 I work on taxes with Christina, we can’t be late on these. Amanda is doing her watercolors again. She gave up trying to paint during the day, so she tries to do it at night now. “Too many distractions during the day”
7:40 We are almost finished with everything that needs done for the day. We clean everything up, and get ready to call it a night.
8:04 We are ready to leave to shop. Home? Rest? No, now it is time to go to town and help some people we know. Carriage Works is closing officially now, but our night is now just beginning. Goodnight, here we come!
Do you ever find that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day?
Here is my favorite daughter Amanda
Here ia Amanda with her paintings.
“Hello!”
Here I am getting some coffee. Note the big smile.
Here is my favorite husband Dwayne.
Here is Dwayne working.
Here is my favorite daughter, Christina.
8 Comments
Jump to comment form | comments rss [?] | trackback uri [?]