Like so many other Sears Auto Centers mine is closing. This has been an interesting last 11 months in my position as Assistant Auto Center Manager. I put in my two weeks notice exactly two weeks ago before my store was announced as closing. I gave up unemployment but I don't care but that wouldn't amount to a hill of beans anyway.
I didn't join up with Sears Auto for the money. I wanted all of my vehicles fixed in every way possible and I really wanted to learn. Mission accomplished. I was flipping vehicles trying to make cash there for a couple of years and sometimes I could and sometimes I couldn't. I needed to know why. Now I know.
I learn quickly and quickly learned how to take advantage of SYW and the employee discount as well as the difference between dealer pricing and Sears pricing. I learned what was going on sale before anyone else did and locked myself in. I gamed Eddie hard. I earned and burned into the four figures of just SYW points alone in eleven months. You should see my garage, it is a mini-sears auto. I started giving away my $4.99 oil change coupons to my techs because I didn't need an oil change.
I am happy. Maybe a little sad because I will miss my co-workers. They are all asking me if they can use me as a reference and I said of course. I felt bad for my young CSA who was let go yesterday through no fault of his own. He asked for a reference and I said yes of course. I even bought the crew pizza a couple of times after deciding I knew I was leaving.
One of the guys from appliances wanted me to write something vitriolic on Pebble but I am not going to that because I don't feel vitriolic. They are going to miss me because I would stand up for them. I didn't care what anyone said from management. They will miss me and I will miss them too but we all must go our own ways. I am not going away mad, I am just going away.
That said, this should be my final post on this board. In parting, I would thank this board for all of the ways that it helped me smile after a long day of listening to customers and reading e-mails that told me that I s---. Most of you folks here do provide a great deal of support whether you know it or not.
Remember that I will become a hiring manager again and if your resume has Sears listed on it I will follow up with you. Best of luck and best wishes to all of you...even some at corporate. If you want to pebble this please do. I wish to remain anonymous.