you discover it's a blessing.

As I've told here before, I make my living driving. Almost always have it seems. From hauling farm supplies and custom field work to hauling auto parts,propane fuel delivery,dump trucks hauling rock,dirt and sand,and for the last eight years doing pickup and delivery for a major tractor and mower shop here in Kentucky.

All that changed about a month ago! We had a guy in the parts department retire at Christmas and being in the slower season the bosses let it ride a while until a few weeks ago when they decided to pull me off the truck and throw me into parts,all without asking me if I even wanted the job!

Understand I was a farm kid growing up,and have never been happy trapped inside. I tried that early on in a couple of factories and again in my 30's as a desk jockey. Just about killed me!

Anyhoo........ after almost four weeks in the parts department I can honestly say that yes,I do miss being out on the road but I'm not missing pushing,pulling and dragging dead equipment onto trailers. I don't even miss fighting the slick roads and stupid traffic too much. I do miss the freedom of setting my own routes and all the customers I met on my rounds.

BUT........the parts manager is a great young guy. He is patient and has given me considerable leeway in learning the ropes. He not only listens to my ideas but solicits my advise based on my years of dealing with equipment out in the field. Due to all my contacts I've made over the years he assigns many of the odd parts requests to me,knowing my contacts broaden the scope of outlets for parts we may need.

I've also been able to take advantage of Stihl Equipments online training courses for dealership employees and have already completed and passed several of them! I've also been able to delve into sales a little bit,and have sold a few pieces of Stihl,saws,blowers and trimmers.

Something must be going right. My wife even comments on how I seem more confident and happy! Go figure!

So yeah, I feel blessed! Even though the pay is the same as when I was driving,being able to do the Stihl training and all the other learning is an added benefit.

So I just wanted to let you folks know sometimes what seems like a royal &%*#ing just might be the start of something new and better.

Or,to quote the "Father of Soul'......"I Feel Good!"

Congrats man! nice to hear a that things are going well for you!

ZAR

Well you know you moving up in the world when instead of going to the folks the folks come to you ! ;  

Is that a 96 in the picture ?

I drove commercial from 7/99-10/01, and then from 1/07-1/11 and pretty much hated every minute of it. Except for when I was in my sleeper truck with a refrigerated load. The gen set hums/vibrates just right to send me directly to sleep.

I'd love to have another parts counter job, did that from 5/05-12/06. Hated the shop, loved the job. Money was crap but...

Now I'm either working on the computer or on the farm... which reminds me... I need a bunch of stuff for a 1958 John Deere 1020UL... 3 cylinder gas burner... and a Stihl 036... and a Stihl 015...  

Local Memphis area sod hauler, then a Pacific Northwest heavy export container hauler. OTR? Not a chance...

Kubota? Hows about some L1501 (JDM museum piece) stuff? Or F3060?

Stihl 036 is from 1996 or 97. The 015 is even older... the kids at our local Stihl shops get a "We made those?" look on their face when I bring the saws in. One even tried to tell me the 036 with perfect compression had a cracked cylinder because it is old, a real German made saw, and he was scared to work on it. Pretty much ANYTHING 015 except the bar, chain, fuel lines and spark plug have to come from an "obsolete parts warehouse"...   Which sucks, vibration finally broke the front handle loop. Great limbing/topping saw, another real German made. US made Stihls are like US made Husqvarnas... badge engineered Poulan junk...

Things sometimes work out well in the end.

I'll be starting my 11th year at Economy Auto Parts here in S. Williamsport, PA. We're a privately owned Carquest affiliate. My Position here would best be described as a Counter/Driver. I am on the Counter as needed and pick up the slack for the drivers when they get behind. We do not do retail. We're a Wholesale/Jobber store. We have about 150 shops as regular customers and have 5 drivers making deliveries daily. We have 6 ph. lines and 3 countermen. I've seen all six lines lit up at once many times.  It keeps you hopping, but I really enjoy the work. Have made lots of friends over the years. I hope you enjoy the work as much as I have. Good luck to you!