My first response to that question would be a very firm yes. Having graduated into that select and wonderful group, I experience it almost everyday of my life. Oh, there are still a lot of people that come from the old school way of thinking and still have respect for the seniors, but they are quickly falling by the wayside.
What on earth is this guy talking about, you may ask? I got my first experience in the attitudes of the younger generation towards the elderly in the last few years of my working in an automobile dealership as a service manager.
I had been employed with the same dealer for over ten years and things could not have been better in my life. The only thing was I didn’t see it coming. I was so intent on doing a good job, and in fact was doing an outstanding one at that, that I did not see the signals that I should have.
The Porsche dealership that I had enjoyed working for all these many years was changing internally. Changing in ways that would surely affect my future as an employee. I was getting bits and pieces from some of my many friends that worked with me over the years. “Watch your back.” “Something is going down, so be careful.” Not what you would call concrete information, but something was up.
Then I heard through the grapevine that Joel Mooner, our used car salesman, was whispering into the ear of our owner, Easy Samolot. “You need to get rid of the older employees and save yourself some money. Cutting out the four and five week vacations and the five and six sick days and paying for their insurance and etc.”
Joel Mooner was your typical Chicago Western Avenue used car salesman. Screw everybody, the customer and even your employees. Money and a number was his motto. Never mind that your dealership was running smooth, and you were making a good profit and you had the blessings of the employees, the customers and even the automobile companies that you were working with.
Sadly enough, Easy Samolot bought the whole package. Joel made sense. Look at all of the money that I am paying out to the older folks when I could hire younger people and pay them less money and give them less benefits. Easy’s brain was working overtime as he pondered the idea.
I was called into the office a few days later and was told that they were going to hire another service manager. I would be in charge of the Porsche Division and the new guy would be in charge of the Audi Division. I would still get the same pay and keep all of the benefits that I had. It sounded to good to be true . I for one did not believe it for a second, but decided to ride the horse and see when I was supposed to fall off.
A few weeks later the new guy, Ken Oliver. showed up in the service department and I had worked with him before about fifteen years back. He was a service writer and I was a warranty clerk at the time.
We shook hands and he asked if we could go into my office and have a short talk. I advised him that I was very busy at the moment, but perhaps in about ten minutes or so we could meet. He advised me that he was going to get a cup of coffee up front and would wait for me up there.
We had our so-called meeting after about thirty minutes or so. He advised me that he was going to be the new service manager and that I could stay on as a service advisor if I so desired. When I asked him about our sharing the responsibilities of the service department, he with Audi, and myself with Porsche, he started to laugh.
“Where in the hell did you hear that crap?” He chuckled.
I wasn’t a rocker scientist by any means, but I knew that I had just gotten the shaft and Ken got the gold mine. You see, Easy didn’t have the balls to fire me, and had just left it up to Ken to do whatever he wanted to do. Ken knew that I was a valuable employee and was hoping that I would stay on. I had an awful lot of responsibilities to my family and carried a heavy mortgage on our property. For me to just get up and walk out would have been stupid. I know that a lot of you readers would have said the hell with it and left, but I was worried about my future and decided to stick around a bit.
I was always on the lookout for another job that was similar. I could have gotten a job the next day with another dealer, but did not want to take such a drastic cut in pay. Then something strange happened. The service started to slow down, almost stopping. Customers were upset and did not like the new service manager. He was cocky and very rude with them. It was his way or the highway as far as he was concerned. However, Easy was a stubborn owner and had made his decision. He was not about to get rid of his new prize and revert back to the old man who had been doing such a wonderful job.
The service department suffered for over a year, loosing customers and loosing its high rate of customer satisfaction from the high 90’s down to the 70’s. That along cost Easy over 10 grand a month. But as I said he was very stubborn. He was a millionaire and it was just a drop in the bucket. But it did not make any sense.
I was offered a job as an assistant to the service manager at a Mercedes-Benz Dealership in Chicago and took the job on the spot. The service manager and I had worked before in the early eighties, he and I were service advisors for a Mercedes and BMW dealer.
Things started to look up and I was feeling pretty good about my self and how the new job was working out. Well it looks like the old man still has it. The customers liked the idea that I had been in the business for thirty years and knew their vehicles and knew how to treat them. Not like the so-called younger generation that had come up the pike so to speak, lacking in the caring of the customers needs.
A few years went by and I found out that Ken Oliver had been fired and was no longer working for the Porsche Dealership that I had left a short time ago. The customer satisfaction index was still very low and they were looking for a way to get it back up again and to get some of the old customers back. Would I ever think of returning to work there again? No not after being screwed out of a job and over four grand in unpaid commissions.
I retired and moved to Wisconsin in 1999 and worked around the house for a few months getting things in shape. I thought about getting back into the work force to bring in a little extra income, after all my wife was still working and I felt like I was not doing enough and I missed it. When you do something for so long, it is hard to just stop doing it.
I walked into a Chevrolet dealer and got a job, starting the next day. I was restricted to working part-time due to being on Social Security. I was able to get the service department operating at a faster pace and increased the workload. After a year the business became so demanding that the owners had to hire a full time service manager. I had screwed myself out of a sweet job. I could not work full time, so I had to leave. In the next year they had three different guys doing what I had been doing, or trying to do.
I answered quite a few want-adds that was in the newspapers in the next year or so. Simple jobs, like parts driver, stockman, maintenance man, gas company employee reading meters and such. Common laborer building walls platforms and the like. Even tried the old K-Mart trick of greeting people at the doorway.
The only call that I got back from all of those interviews was from K-Mart and they wanted me to work five hours a night and drive eighty miles each day to and from work. That of course did not make any sense.
But in talking to the managers and answering their questions, it was apparent that they did not want to hire someone that was in there sixties and would not be around too long. They would not out and out tell you this, but you could feel it in their tone and see it in their body language.
When I really realized that I was old and over the hill was when I had a car financed at the bank and when I tried to get it insured in case I died before it was paid off, they would only cover a year and a half instead of the two years of the loan. Why? Because if you are sixty-six, you can’t get that type of insurance.
I could go on and on about how people look at you, cut in front of you, give you the finger and swear at you without reservation. But I am grateful for those parents out there that have taken the time to instill some sort of love and understanding of the seniors and what they have to put up with on a daily basis into their children. When I see a young person stop and help an elder, my heart goes out to that person. May God bless them and never let them stray.
This is touching and I'm glad that there is someone else out there with a heart for the seniors. Hugs
Reviewed by Dens Dreamweaver
4/8/2002
I understand exactly where you are coming from. Although I am not in the 60's ( and BTW thats young dear..) I am disabled and I know the treatment I get.
Truly was saad when so many companies went from being "families" to being heartless...
Love and Light
dreamweaver
Reviewed by Dens Dreamweaver
4/3/2002
enjoyed this article very much...it is truly fine writing for it communicates the heart of all of us "grown ups". thanks!
So true...you have written a well-spoken article....where is the respect nowadays? My children are certainly being taught that!!
Reviewed by T Cloth
4/3/2002
SD:
It's ironic, don't you think, that these owners will not hire you because you "won't be around long" but continue with a pay and benefit package toward the younger employees that virtually assures they don't stay around long eiter? Wonderfully written... I hope things have changed by the time I get there! ;-)
Reviewed by Florence Fry
4/2/2002
So glad we have found each other, I was beginnng to feel quite lonely here :( But have recently found a couple of old friends which has cheered me considerably. And this was a great article. I can watch for your next one now :). I seem to have hibernated in my old age, and thus fortunately am not affected by the trials and tribulations you mention, but am aware they exist. Which is all very sad.
you know Sam I think a lot of people are learning that cheaper isn't always better ,,, IP got a whole lot more experienced work out of my husband than they are getting out of the fresh out of college guys ... experience is worth a whole lot more than book learning ... this is great article ... and bravo to teh young who realise that but for fate we could be their grand parents ...
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