I dialed the 800
number, slowly and carefully. It was the third 800 number I had
encountered on the Internet as I searched to find a new or
reconditioned radiator for the pristine, almost perfect 1974 Mercedes
280SL sitting just outside the door that leads from the front counter
into the shop.
I took a deep breath as the machine automatically
switched my call to the same familiar recording I had just finished
listening to twice before. As soon as I heard the name and the numbers
it was clear I was three for three: three calls, all of which led me to
the same 800 number, all tied back to the same company.
And, despite
the fact that I was “assured” my needs would be met and my expectations
exceeded, I was still frustrated and disappointed when I hung up the
phone.
To make matters worse, I was quickly entering what my wife
not so affectionately refers to as “Hunter/Killer Mode.” It’s that
mental state where a man with a television remote and a mission to find
the one program out of the 350 included in the cable package finds
himself in as he “sits and clicks his brains out!” (This would be my
wife’s description of the physical manifestations of the condition
described above!)
This should be familiar to those of us who have
either found ourselves searching for that elusive program or tasked
with the responsibility of finding that elusive part. It’s especially
familiar to those of us who refuse to accept defeat or who will not
quit until we have emerged victorious from the quest.
The search for
“280sl Mercedes” and “new radiator” took me to five more sites that
looped me right back to the same 800 number, the same company and the
same disappointment.
I found this experience particularly
disappointing, frustrating and depressing for a number of reasons. It
was disappointing because having eight numbers associated with eight
different listings — listings meant to offer you the illusion of
choice, is disingenuous and results in anything but a choice if they
all take you right back to the same place. It was frustrating, because
no matter where I tried to go, all roads led not to Rome, but to the
same company I had called before I started my Internet search.
In
the end, I found a radiator. In fact, I found two — one at the dealer
and one that could be custom built to look the same, but outperform the
original. I found it without consideration or regard for the time it
took or the money it cost. I found it because the client expressed very
clearly that he expected nothing less — nothing less from me; nothing
less from our company; nothing less from our industry. I found it
because I looked and continued to look until I was successful and I was
successful because that is what we do and what we are expected to do.
In
the end, it may be primal. It may even be a manifestation of a unique
form of Compulsive/Obsessive Disorder found only in this industry. Or,
it may just be plain annoying to the folks who must tolerate our
tenacious quest for whatever it is we are searching for. But whatever
it is, that quest for the “right” part (or, the right program), the
correct component (or the perfect channel) is what drives this
industry.
And, regardless of how neurotic those of us who have
dedicated hours, perhaps even days to the process of ultimately finding
whatever it was we were looking for may seem, we are the folks on both
sides of the parts counter who keep this industry vital, viable and
moving forward. We do all of this even in an economy such as the one we
are currently enduring, by passionately, fanatically, compulsively,
obsessively and single-mindedly pulling those parts through the
distribution system.
Mitch Schneider co-owns and operates
Schneider’s Automotive Service in Simi Valley, CA. Readers can contact
him at mschneider@babcox.com.