On Monday, I came to work to find a grim atmosphere. The Director of Fixed Operations (DFO) was stalking around the dealership and had taken over the General Manager’s (GM’s) office to conduct phone calls behind a closed door. Our GM, Ralph, appeared a little late, wearing a dark suit minus tie, an uneasy smile on his face, and entered his office, door closed.
Shortly thereafter, Ralph announced over the PA, “All sales personnel, sales desk, please.”
He started off the announcement with some typical Manager’s Bullshit (MBS).
“This is something that no company likes to have to go through.” Dramatic pause. Terrified smile. “Ford has decided to close this point,” which is business-speak for “We’re closing.”
Then the DFO gave us some more MBS about customer retention–i.e. how the company will service the customers at its other locations.
Our GM met with each salesperson individually to offer us positions at the other stores. One of us had already given notice. I declined the offer (more news on that to follow). And the other two sales guys are (probably) going to take the new positions.
The senior repair techs were offered jobs, too. But our office staff and receptionists will lose their jobs at the end of the month, and so will some of our department managers.
And, yet, for these last two weeks, everyone is at work, albeit in a sort of shell shocked state. Management is on us to sell one more truck to meet some quota. But that alone is poor motivation.
I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly sorry to see this job evaporate like this. I am sorry to see the store close. It’s been here for fifty years, and a lot of people are getting screwed. But this is what happens when major corporate brands suffer.
It’s a grim reality of our corporate consumer system.
No Comments