It may be hard to believe… But I know what I was doing twenty years ago in 1996 on April Fools day.
It was my first day at Fort’s.
I started on Monday, April 1st after interviewing with Jeff Nau a few weeks before. He hired me… Begrudgingly, because I pressed to get a job with a Toyota store… Preferably Pekin. I was absolutely tired of running the Comfort Inn in Pekin and decided that a salesman’s hours were actually better than the hotel.
When I came in for that first day of work… I was told Jeff no longer worked there… And that Rich Younker was now running the desk. He was still officially used car manager but was the highest-ranking guy at the store.
Rich didn’t want me. I was a “green pea” and I don’t think that I was on his list of things to deal with! Thankfully, he didn’t tell me to hit the bricks one hour in.
Over the next few months, I was trained with a few other new recruits on the finer points of selling. It worked out.
Over twenty years… I have met some great people… And some not-so-great people. It’s been everything you might expect from this business. Most people view it from stereotypes and preconceived notions… A lot of those are based on fact. But, what you, the consumer, don’t think about… There are truly great people in this business who care about the job they do. I have worked with plenty of those folks over the years and I respect them more and more as time goes by. It’s hard to get clubbed every day and still come back smiling. Lots of us do it every day!