It’s been two and a half years since I handed off the keys to my register and the doors. I threw most of the uniform shirts into the closet and forgot about them. One or two of the company t-shirts makes an odd appearance as a garage shirt when I’m spinning wrenches. Honestly, I find it amazing that I can still accurately write stories from the shop anymore, because I’m only in there to get parts for my own needs or to dredge for a quick story when I’m hurting for content. Hey, that’s reality…gotta make a buck somehow. The one thing you owe your employer…no matter where you are or what you do…is your top effort. If you aren’t busting your ass to earn that paycheck, why should they pay you when there is a line out the door of people who need that money and are willing to earn it? It drives me out of my f***ing head to hear the complaints that I’ve heard over the years from parts clerks, mechanics, service advisors, and other support elements within the automotive world. Lack of good workers. Low performance. Nonexistent motivation. The work is there, the money is there (meager as it is, I know) and it’s not like the demand for things car-related is going to dry up anytime soon. So what gives?

I got my answer a couple of weeks back when I went to my former store to basically hand over half of my check for supplies and parts. Walking in, there is one new clerk I haven’t seen before at the front counter, slammed. The kid is young, and is eager to impress and to do a good job. This is what you are looking for out of a young employee. He might be screwing up on the computer, he might not know where everything is in the store, but he’s doing his damnedest to help customers. There’s a line that Col. Charlie Beckworth, the Army Special Forces officer who essentially was responsible for the creation of Delta Force, is best known for: “I’d rather go down the river with seven studs than with a hundred shitheads.” It might not seem right to correlate that quote to a kid hammering away at the computer of a parts store, but he’s busting his ass and I’d take seven more. With enough training, you’d have a dream team in no time.

But that’s one person. Where the hell were the other five or so that should have been working? Let’s break it down:

“The Beard”, the only remaining worker from my time (who is now the back-counter guy, delivery driver router and effectively second-in-command) is on his regularly scheduled break. No harm there.

One driver is out. No harm there.

One driver, one individual I can only presume is the other counter clerk, and one that might be a counter-clerk, might be a driver, or might be a figment of my imagination, are in the back, out of sight of the normal customers, having a conversation as if the store was empty.

The store manager is outside on a very prolonged smoke break, something that has been getting worse and worse over the last few months.

So, to recover: One new kid is handling all of the store, and only two employees out of six others available have good reasons not to be up front. I waited in line patiently for the guy on the computer to ring me up. I thanked him for his work. I went and put my newfound loot into the car. And then I walked back into the back and raised the kind of hell that would make the Devil himself reconsider getting out of bed.

Store managers, regionals, and above, hear these words: if you are struggling with turnover, with piss-poor workers, with apathetic employees…don’t immediately blame the incomers! That’s too easy to do and I hear it all the time, that “millennials” are the reason why STORE X can’t get it’s shit straight. Have you bothered to look at the mid-level people in the store? Do you know what your store manager is doing? I’d love to see a blunt-honesty anonymous write-in review from everybody in a store, just once. No names, just supply your store number and explain everything wrong with the store using job titles instead of individual names. Twenty to one you’d find your problem in the review. That kid at the counter is going to burn out, realize that nobody at that job gives a shit about him, and start looking for better money and working conditions. Chances are good that he’ll be flipping burgers and will be happier for it.

And people wonder why the parts store is such a painful pit of jokes…it starts with the leadership.