It’s a different experience today, but is it better?

I took my car in for some “recall” work to be done yesterday and they did it while I waited. As I sat there I looked around and thought to myself how different this is compared to the garage that my farther owned and ran all his working life.

Spotlessly clean, warm, free tea, coffer and food, people walking around in fancy suits, not a spec of oil or grease anywhere and no garage smell. The closest you got to a mechanic or engineer was when you watch the video they make for you showing what they had done while you sat waiting. But you never see the mechanics face. It felt so disconnected and clinical somehow., like they didn’t want you to know what they had done.

When customers dropped in to my fathers garage they walked into the workshop and spoke to my father directly. Customers stood among the tools, the broken down engines and gearboxes and barrels of oil. There were spanners on desks and a grubby sink in the corner where engine part, cups and hands were all washed (often at the same time). But there was a connection between my father and his customer. The customer showed my father what was wrong and when my father fixed it he showed the customer what he had done and they talked to each other and trust was created. Trust that lasted a lifetime and even when my father had retired.

I don’t think you get that trust with the new garage approach and I think I miss it! I know I miss the smell.