“Then you came to the right place.”
He hands over his key and his information and then leaves.
Right away, I pass the key to Jimmy along with instructions. “Put the customer’s name on a piece of paper and tape it to the key. Then…”
“Log it down,” Jimmy mumbles.
“Exactly.”
“I’ll be logging notes in my sleep,” the old man mutters as he walks away.
“Carlos, Blade. Do a full assessment. Log all the issues you see. I’ll verify and sign off on the logbook when you’re done.”
Carlos scratches the back of his head. “That seems like a lot just for a bad starter.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “How do you know it’s a bad starter?”
“Dunno. Just sounds like it to me based on what he said.”
“Rather than guessing, we should conduct a full assessment. After inspection, we can discuss our theories based on the symptoms and come up with a detailed repair plan before presenting to the customer.”
“Complicated for no reason,” Blade whispers belligerently.
“What was that Blade?”
“Nothing.” He slips his hands into his jumper pockets and removes himself to the other side of the garage to sulk.
Unbothered, I retreat to my office where I carefully document the time the customer arrived, the car type and model, and the complaint lodged.
Rebel gave me access to The Pink Garage’s computerized maintenance records system, but at my old job, we used paper as the primary, authoritative record. So that’s what I stick to.
There’s a knock on the door while I’m writing.
I look up and find Jimmy hesitating in the doorway.
“Hey, Jimmy.”
“Boss, I put up the key nice and safe like you asked me to.”
“Thank you.” I draw a long line in the book and head the column as ‘labor tracking’. “Did you label it like I asked?”
“I did but…”
I glance up when Jimmy goes quiet. “But what?”
“Why do we have to label a key when there’s only one key?”
“Because it’s the system, Jimmy. Even if it’s only one car, we need to follow the system.”
“Right. Right.” Jimmy bobs his head, but I get the feeling he doesn’t really understand.
It’s only our first day. They’ll get into the habit of meticulous note-taking eventually.
Alone again, I jot down all the details that I need, close my book and head to the bay.
To my horror, Carlos has the hood of the truck open and he’s pulling wires out at will.
My eyes widen and I trot over. “What are you doing?”
