Body Shop Closed Its Doors

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,146]

Congrats Ray!!

Gotta love a story with a happy ending .

Mike........

[dclarke 4,082]

Glad to hear it Ray. good luck. :)

[Operator 7]

Good for you Ray! Glad to hear the news.

Randy

[stevasaurus 23,276]

Ray...nice chatting with you...good things come to good people.

Oh no...72 hours and I have to get up and go to work..... :USA:

[Indy w h 5]

Way to go Ray!!!!! Glad ya found a job !!!

Indy :)

[MikesRJ 558]

FANTASTIC! Glad to hear it Ray!

:wh:

[Horse'n Around 22]

Im glad that things came together for you Ray. Now you can have a nice enjoyable worry free weekend

John

[Butch 194]

Good for you Ray!! :)

[bustedglass 1]

Thats great news Ray. Here's wishing you the best of luck with the new job .

[JimD 3,347]

Best wishes in the new job Ray. Glad to hear this news! :)

[TJ 184]

I knew it would all work out for you. I hope your new endeavor proves to be prosperous and enjoyable.

Tom

[Buzz 502]

Hey Ray, good luck tomorrow. We are all rooting for you. :)

[Suburban 550 28]

Thanks guys. I'll be leavin' for the new job in about a half hour. Sorta reminds me of the first day of school, heading into a new venture. :USA:

[CasualObserver 3,411]

Congrats to you Ray, good luck with it!

[whfan74 2,071]

That is fantastic Ray and I am glad everything fell in to place for you. What a huge relief that must be. I hope your first day is a great one and you are able to settle right in and not miss a beat.

:)

[Butch 194]

How was your first day Ray?

[Suburban 550 28]

Guys, there is a heck of alot to learn. More of a mental job than physical one. Day 1 went pretty well though and I think it will get alot better as times goes on. Thanks again for all your well wishes. :USA:

[Buzz 502]

Hey Ray, how'd your first week go? A lot to learn but you'll get it. :)

[Suburban 550 28]

Hey Ray, how'd your first week go? A lot to learn but you'll get it.

Well Buzz, the first week went terrible, so bad that I ended up with chest pains that was caused mostly due to the stress of the job. I do have some medical problems and this place only made it worse. After I sat back and thought to myself why I didn't just sit back and collect unemployment for awhile before jumping into a retail job. On Friday, I received a phone call from a State Farm insurance adjuster telling me a towing and collision center about 17 miles away from me heard about our body shop closing and wanted me to come and see him. Well needless to say, after my stress test on Monday I headed down to see him and it turned out to be the best move I made in my life. He gave me the opportunity to come visit the shop over the next couple of days, meet the workers, see the way they operate and see if it was for me. I spent about eight hours between Tuesday and Wednesday at the shop checkin' things out and at the end of the day went in the office to talk to my future employer. I told him I would come to work for him on Thursday and Friday and if it didn't work out for either one of us we could just let each other know without any hard feelings. On Friday, about 11 o'clock I was called over the intercom to come to the office and wasn't even asked my opinion of what I thought of the job (although I felt at home) and was told he wanted me to stay on. He sat me down and told me this is a family run business and I was not just a number here, that I was a valued employee. I ended up with a great boss who really cares about his employees, better salary, health insurance, 401 K, vacation time with time off for the 2011 Wheel Horse Show without even being there a year, a gas allowance for traveling 17 miles one way, a big Christmas party for the employees and their family and a great working environment. Needless to say, I called my last job of 7 days and told them I wouldn't be returning and I'm hopefully looking at this job taking me to retirement. Oh yea, I said I was done with body work, I guess it is something that I could never get away from. :)

[JimD 3,347]

Congratulations Ray! Good things really do happen to good people. Best of luck in this new job. You will be very happy there from the way you describe it. Now maybe you can relax a little and eliminate some stress. :thumbs:

[Suburban 550 28]

Thanks Jim. You don't always get opportunities like this in life. I know this is a place I can call home and I don't know how many people out there can really say they enjoy there jobs. Pretty hard to change things when you're used to workin' at a job for 35 years.

[mavfreak 11]

:thumbs:

[Gerry w 2]

Great news for you Ray,

Sounds like you have more then a new job, sounds like it's run like a family. If that's so it's a really rare place you have found. Best of luck to you, and their darn lucky to have you, remember that.

Gerry

[Daddy Don 909]

:thumbs:

[MikesRJ 558]

Ray,

Glad to hear all is working out for the best. I'll call and check in with you when I return to the states.