Lessons Learned Working at Dewey's

To help pay for those four years of university to get my degree in Business Administration I worked at Dewey's Service Station in Fenton. Now before any of you city short-timers get to thinking that I am talking about Dewey's Auto Center on Leroy Street let me clarify for you. It is the same Dewey who started the auto center. However he began with an Amoco station out on the corner of Owen Road and US 23.

This was back in the day when you actually received service at a service station. Gas ranged in price from as low as 25 cents a gallon and shot up to 40 cents a gallon. Translating that into 2011 gas prices, it would still be under $2 a gallon.

So, yes back in those late 60's and early 70's I was young and dumb but thinking that the education which cost me years of savings, working during learning and more years of paying back government loans was where knowledge came. Years later the realization dawned on me that I learned more working for Dewey.

All of what I gained has served me well in life. Some knowledge came just from social interactions. But a great deal came from both watching Dewey and listening when he gave advice.

While I learned much, here are just a few of my more memorable lessons:

Women constantly make a much worse mess in public bathrooms than men. As low man on the totem pole it was my job to clean the bathrooms. Men may have bad aim every now and then. However Women seemed to take delight in seeing how much toilet paper they could throw around and producing public art displays of used feminine hygiene products. That experience has followed me in life. Before we married I told my wife that I do not clean bathrooms.

People are idiots but the customer is always right. Sometimes people drove off with the gas nozzle still connected to their tank. But real knuckleheads were more than just forgetful. I remember the lady who came in on a very hot summer day complaining that there was a problem with her tires. While driving down US 23 they constantly made the sound of bump bump. I tried to explain to her about expansion strips, but that concept was obviously well above her and she gave Dewey a lecture about the incompetent people he hired. The boss told her that he would personally take care of the problem but it would take awhile. She should return at about 7:30PM or 8PM and the mechanic would be finished by then. Then he gave her a ride home taking the service drive.

The only time I saw Dewey at a loss of how to allow a customer to save face was the lady who brought her car in because while driving she kept hearing a ting ting. She left us her spare key and went shopping while our mechanic checked things out. He took it for a test drive and heard nothing. The lady brought the car back the next day stating she still heard the sound. Our other mechanic went over it thoroughly plus took it for a test drive and heard nothing. Again the next day the lady returned still complaining. Every single employee including Dewey took it for a test drive and no one heard anything. When the lady came back Dewey offered to ride in the car with her so she could point out the sound. She stuck her keys in the ignition and off they went. Sure enough there was the sound that none of us heard. Dewey returned looking really perplexed. "I didn't know how to tell her that her key chain hitting the steering column was the problem," he said.

Do not treat employees like mushrooms. Obviously we never knew how much money the station made. However Dewey treated everyone like part of the work family. He shared with us such things as markups on parts, how the bays compared to the pumps in profit and what items sold best as well as other things. In return employees were never left thinking the worse or believed they deserved more. In my eyes it made Dewey appear as a very honest man.

Double check everything. Over the years I have noticed that mistakes cost time and money. In a service station they could cost you your life. Dewey taught us not only in words but also in his actions. Of course every now and then something went awry. I showed up to work one morning and Dewey was already there along with the police. As he explained it to me they had contacted him at 2AM to advise him that he had a stolen car parked at this station. Seems that a customer called in that their car would not start. It was located in a parking lot in town. Dewey's tow truck driver went with the description of the car and picked it up. Unfortunately he did not double check the license plate, just make, model and color. Yup, he towed the wrong car.

The government and corporations always get their money before you. At the time I worked, another now defunct oil company, Boron, was across the street. On some days they would lower their price below ours. Dewey always had to call the company to allow him to change the price. The funny part was that the company always seem to give the permission as long as the decrease came from our share and not the company's.

As for the government, well they were not much better. Of the 50 states only five have higher gas taxes than Michigan and back then it seemed we were trying to be number one. I can remember the gas tax being raised so of course the corporation also raised its prices. The customer complained bitterly, but they never complained neither to the State of Michigan nor Amoco. It was always us poor attendants who caught the blunt of things. Fortunately when a customer got too irate Dewey would always come and talk with the person.

An unexpected reward every now and then helps. Back in my days when you drove into a gas station  your windshield got cleaned, you oil checked and your tires checked. This happened even in the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. On some of the super cold or super hot days, if we worked hard Dewey would slip employees a $5 or $10 bill and thank them for their hard work that day. I can tell you as an employee it sure made me feel better working for the man. I followed his example later as an employer and found my employees worked better and harder than those in other departments.

Customers will abandon you for a penny. A few won't but 99% will. When the station across the street lowered their price by one cent they received a line of cars while we dwindled down considerably. Interesting to note that if their windshield was dirty or they wanted their oil checked they came to us usually with a very demanding tone. Of course they always came to us for repair of their cars because of Dewey's reputation for good honest service.

Managers today can learn by Dewey's examples. If they did I do not think we would have research reports showing that 75% of employees are disinterested in their job. Today many employees are treated as disposable assets and they respond in kind. ProPublica just wrote a report about how many places instead of teaching unpaid interns a skill are treating them like free file clerks.

Follow me on Twitter:  @kershawjoe
You can also subscribe to receive Email updates about my Patch blogs. Go to my blog page here and click "Get email updates" near the top.