They Wrecked My Car and it Earned My Business

The Podcasting Store
2 min readApr 28, 2022

by Drew Holmes

Not the author’s car. Someone else wrecked this one.

Having the front end of your car smashed is usually not a cause for amusement but sitting in the waiting room at the mechanic I was trying to not laugh.

“Would you like a drink?” asked the extremely pregnant front desk attendant.

“No, thank you,” I answered, still trying to wrap my head around what had just transpired.

I was Principal Librarian of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra in Naples, FL. My assistant, Beth, needed to pick up her car at the mechanic, so I offered to give her a lift. Arriving at the garage, I pulled into the only open parking spot, which was directly behind a parked tow truck.

Beth opened her door to exit, and to my horror the tow truck started backing up. I had a split second to decide if I should throw the car into reverse and risk colliding with the street traffic behind me or stay stationary and hope for the best.

That’s when it hit me — literally — the unmistakable crunch of metal and crack of glass. The bumper of the tow truck had collided with the front of my car, smashing both headlights and crushing the grill.

Mechanics, other customers, and the very pregnant front desk attendant immediately emerged from the building to see what had just happened.

“Did that tow truck just hit you?” asked one of the customers.

“Yep,” I replied, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

“Are you okay?” asked the front desk attendant.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “It’s a bit like getting run over by an ambulance at the hospital.”

“Don’t worry,” she said, “we’ll take care of it.”

Quickly the mechanics sprang into action and whisked my car around to the back for repair.

Doing the right thing is always the right thing. At Boomer Music, I try to instill this same sense of service in my staff. While we strive to always get things right, mistakes happen. True customer service is not in always getting things right, but rather in how the situation is addressed when things go wrong.

An hour or so later my car was repaired, as well as could be expected for a fourteen-year-old Volkswagen, and I was not presented with an invoice. Relatively new to town, I had been on the lookout for an honest, reliable mechanic. With how they handled the situation, I was thrilled to return for all my car repair needs. Each time I was greeted by the same friendly front desk attendant, this time with her baby in the playpen beside her desk.

I just made sure not to park behind a tow truck.

--

--

The Podcasting Store

Music retail can be a fascinating business, with lessons learned not just about performing but also about business, mindset, and sales.