First day

As far as I know, Filko/Cobra was purchased by Standard in the middle '90s. Standard maintained the brand for some time, but I'm almost positive it's been gone since the early 2000s. Niehoff was purchased by BWD, which itself was later acquired by Standard. When I was a kid, Standard and Niehoff were the best-quality stuff out there. Standard still is, though the T-series (formerly "Tru-Tech") is the budget stuff. If the last digit of the part number is a "T", it's not near the quality of the regular Standard brand, and nowhere near as good as Blue Streak. Blue Streak points are the absolute mack daddy in quality.

Another good day today, and pretty busy as well. Since my friend and his family leave for vacation tomorrow, he thanked me profusely for making good on my offer and told me how much it puts his mind at ease knowing I'll be there. I'm really just happy to have something to do during the day, and next week I'll be there full-time.

A customer called today, and when I answered he was shocked. "Jass?! Jass?! You're on the wrong side of the street, buddy! Did you get out of the wrong side of the bed? Accidentally leave for work out the back door this morning? What the hell?!" :D Another customer told me he was glad I was there now, but I told him it's temporary fill-in work, and that's all.
 
Gald things are going well Doc. I have a sneaky suspicion that you might end up being there a bit longer then you think.....;)
 
I don't see it happening, to be honest. I'll work all next week, and then the following Monday since the family flies back into Chicago around 7PM a week from Sunday, which means if everything goes perfectly, they won't get home until almost 1AM. Terry said he was coming to work, but probably not first thing so he asked me to work that morning, until noon or 1PM. After that, they'll call me if they need to cover a sick day or a vacation, and that's about it. If I can help 'em I will, but I'm not expecting them to put me on the payroll.

Besides, I'm expensive.
 
If they do offer you a position, I hope you make the right choice. Besides, you'll bring them a whole bunch of customers and they'll make a killing having you there! ;) I'm with Cow on this one. Glad you can help an extended family out and do it from the goodness of your own heart but, I see bigger things there for you in the future. :) Best of luck bro! Keep doing what you do best as long as you can! ;)

"Now go do that voodoo that you do so well!"
 
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We'll see what happens, I suppose. I'm not expecting it, just like I wasn't expecting Terry to hand me money yesterday. I tried weakly to refuse it, but I'm not exactly in a position to put up a huge fight. I feel pretty about accepting it, really, but a brother's gotta survive too.
 
Fishy said:
(I once took a pic of him dry humping Stretch in his sleep though) :shifty:
Click to expand...

That supposid picture seems to be nothing but rumor. I don't remember that event nor have I seen the so called picture.
 
Yeah, me too--usually by girlfriends when they ask about ex-girlfriends, or if they're really determined to ask a question to which they won't like the answer, 1993. Why do women ask that stuff?!

Ah, the good old days...
 
I know I posted it a looooong time ago. Can't seem to find it now. It may be buried on my desktop, which is down at the moment or I'll have to dig through my Photobucket for it. :doubt:
 
So, for some reason the boss thought it was a good idea to leave me alone in the store today. I'm glad he felt confidence in me to do that, but the second he did the phones started ringing off the hook. I had to field 8 calls in 7 minutes, and due to my training at Auto Value I did not once pick up the phone and say, "Northern Supply, can you hold please?" That was forbidden at AV, to the point where if the DM called and you did that to him, you were looking at disciplinary action. Answer, write down the info, then ask them to hold was policy. So, I fielded all of them, took 1 message from some company for the boss and found everything for all but one of the other 7 calls because I told him I'd have to call him back. I was just finishing up the last call when one of the other guys came back, and of course, the phones then fell silent for 20 minutes.

It felt like the good old days, actually, and it's nice to know I've "still got it" on an unfamiliar system that is not nearly as fast as AV's, either for keyboard shortcuts or falt-out system speed. It's just too mouse-based and I'm lightning on a keyboard-based system. Stretchy probably noticed that I wasn't nearly as fast when he called me for a hub this morning.

Also found some stuff for a guy who, when he came to get them, told the boss, "I remember him from Advance and a little from AV. He's really good. You should keep him." :dance: Of course, there's little to no likelihood that it'll happen, but it was nice to have Randy pass that along to me. There are also still a number of confused customers that think they called the wrong place, hearing my voice and ignoring the fact that I said "Northern Supply" when I answered. None of my old customers are seeking me out, but that's fine since I'm temporary anyhow and my intent wasn't to stick it to AV anyhow. However, one customer did tell me they've ceased doing business there entirely because of the way I was treated--and he's not even the decision-maker where he works. He explained what happened to me to his boss (with whom I've never even spoken!) and his boss said, "I don't care how badly we need it, don't call Auto Value anymore. We'll wait or have someone else get it from them. You don't treat dedicated people like that." I don't think that guy even knows my last name.

Apparently, things are going well on the other boss' time away with his family other than the expected bittersweet moments and some lost luggage. His sister-in-law was there today, and it sounds like the family is really pulling together and becoming that much closer as a result of this tragedy. I wasn't part of the conversation, but I was not far away and overheard some of it. The time away is really helping. That's the best feeling I've had in a long time.

It's been a great week overall, and thankfully my boss asked me to work Saturday morning. I'm enjoying my time there, so a few more hours are great by me. I'm bummed that my time there is drawing to a close, though.
 
You know, I always did notice it being slower for them to look stuff up. I always thought you were just that much better. I had no idea it was because of the operating system differance. That being said, (and I'm not just saying this) You are way faster on their system than any of them are. Keep up the good work.

There is now way something good isn't going to come of this for you. It might not be right away, it might not be in that store, you might not even be able to make the conection of this to what ever is comming but mark my words, it will happen. You can bet Randy and Terry will be at the very least eager to give you the best damn recomendation anyone has ever received! You deserve it too. No matter what comes of this, walk away knowing you did for them, what no one else could do. Yah, what happened at auto value was Bull Shit! Take comfort in knowing that if it didn't happen when it did you wouldn't have been in a position to be there for Terry.
 
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