Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.~ Dr. Seuss

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Trying to redeem myself



I thought about making this a long story short, but in the end, I decided that I would need to do some explaining in order for this to be a real redemption. So here goes...

I've worked in some form of the automotive industry for over 15 years.

At my first job,  I arrived (the term used for checking in) and inspected  rental turn-ins at the rail-yard. These were fleet cars that the major rental companies were turning back to GM. After inspection and ownership transfer, they would be shipped  out by rail to the various auctions around the country to be sold to dealers at the factory sales.
Arriving and inspecting cars was a hands on job. To arrive them, I used a little hand held machine that I would record data about each car into. The make, model, color, and mileage. After all the arrivals were done, I would go back and inspect the interiors. Looking for any damages. Burns, tears, dings, etc. Any damages found were also recorded into the little machine. At first, there was an inspector who went behind me and inspected the exteriors for damages, either repaired or not. After a while, I was that inspector too.

After I left the rail yard, I got a job at a Toyota dealership as the used car secretary. Now I know that sounds like a cushy job, and for the most part, it was. Except on Tuesdays, in Las Vegas, in the middle of summer, outside, on the hot asphalt, doing inventory of every.single.used.car.on.the.lot!
Although it was a Toyota store, the owner was a used car guy at heart, and we had a ton of them. I was required to touch every used car in inventory. Sometimes, the cars weren't even on the lot. But I wouldn't know that until I was completely finished and had searched every inch of the dealership.


By now, you might be wondering why I'm telling you all of this. Before I tell you, I just want to say a couple of things.
First, I've always liked the fact that I could identify all sorts of different cars, just by looking at them. And even though it's been quite a few years since I've done any "hands on" work, I still try to keep up by walking the lot at work just looking.
Second, Just recently, someone told me that I always have to be right. And to that I say - I don't always have to be right. I just don't like being wrong and I usually don't say things unless I know what I'm taking about.

The other day,  I was leaving work and a funny little car caught my eye, and I wondered to myself what kind of car it was. I planned on taking a picture of it for my 365 resolution when I got back. I didn't have my camera so I  snapped a quick picture with my phone and using my all-knowing car model super-power, decided it was a Scion. I didn't need to check the model, because I could easily google it when I got home and get it posted on my blog. You can see that post here.

So after all that; guess what? It was pointed out to me just today...It's not a Scion...It's a Nissan Cube.  What? How can that be? I googled it! I looked at pictures! I used my super-power! It was a Scion the other day! What in the world happened? I immediately pulled an inventory report, hoping to find a Scion. Nope! No such luck. Shoot...it's a Cube.


I don't always have to be right...I just hate being wrong!