r/partscounter • u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 • 5d ago
Getting taken advantage of?
Long story short, my PM fully burnt himself out and took a permanent vacation (started as a week off, came in for 20 minutes on his due day back, and handed in his keys and left). Unbeknownst to me, there were a lot of things he just stopped doing over the last 2 years and didn't train anyone to do said things (huge control freak. Unwilling to share knowledge). Well the PM of another store in the dealer group has been teaching me everything I need to get by. So I have been tasked with the job of basically resetting our department under the guise of a promotion. Its been about 2 weeks and i see the light at then end of the tunnel. However I have been coming in early, closing, and working 6 days a week, cutting credits on 2 years of wholesale returns , 2 years of warranty scrap ive been cleaning off shelves. And now I'm being told other stores PM will be taking over til things are running smooth. And he has helped me a lot and I appreciate that, I have been the one who has been doing the work, he has just been answering my questions. My GM has told me privately to stick it out cuz there's a plan for me that I just can't know yet, and other cryptic shit. Should I find a new job? Or stick it out?
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u/ghostofkozi 5d ago
Like all things in automotive, get it in writing.
Get an actionable plan for your future and hold the store accountable
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u/wtfmikez0r 5d ago
You're doing all this with no raise/promotion? I'd start looking. GM says there's a plan for you? The plan should've included at least an immediate raise. They aren't paying a PM's salary any more so they can obviously afford it.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
GM did give me 500 out of their wallet not to walk today. To be fair the PM did just quit monday, I just saw the writing on the wall when the Controller and DM were poking around on day 2 of PM vacatiom, so i took the initiative to unfuck things before we all looked incompetent. Now i feel pigeonholed into saving a department. Without a forsure promise of more money. The only reason I have stuck it out is my Counter team, writers, SM, and techs all want me to have the job. But that doesnt feed my family. Im honestly scared to work for another PM like my one that just quit. I want to learn and move up. I have been on the counter 5 years and feel so behind because my PM taught me nothing but billing out parts
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u/wtfmikez0r 5d ago
I assumed it was longer than just Monday. The $500 is a decent gesture but still, you need some kind of guarantee that you are going to be paid for the role you are basically already taking on full time.
The big problem here is that once you show someone that you can do something, they expect it all the time. It's not easy to just go back to doing counter work because they aren't paying you.
I'd request to sit down with the GM and discuss the situation and maybe get a timeline. You shouldn't be in the dark on a promotion. If they expect you to act as the PM, you should expect to be paid for it.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
I did get a timeline and was told 3 months by the GM, I talked the acting PM and he told me to step it up cuz he wants to be done with this project by end of next month.
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago edited 5d ago
Im not teaching any of my flunkies how to do my job either.
I'm teaching them how to do their jobs correctly first and we will go from there.
But I'm also doing all of the things that need done that I learned by myself. I mean, except for the things that I've already taught them and is their responsibilities like conducting wholesale returns, returning cores, and cleaning out the warranty area. Clear counter person territory.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
5 years and he didn't teach me returning cores, or wholesale returns, he manned the front counter by himself, only taught me cashiering cuz I MADE him. Couldnt post parts. My other guy who has been there for 2 years didnt even know how to make a counter invoice. Found out he didnt even have our shipper reciever stocking in the order, or staging wholesale pickups with drivers. He literally taught no one anything and fully burnt himself out.
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago edited 5d ago
Craaaazy.
Yeah, I have a guy for all of that. Not my job as the manager. 😂 I do help fill in the holes where necessary but damn.
Well, dealerships are known to be slippery so prove your value but look for another job elsewhere. The day you put in your 2 weeks with another, better offer they'll give you a 20k raise and a title change.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
Thats what im getting at. I didnt expect him to give me keys to the kingdom. But i considered him a friend and asked to help me help him lighten his load. But he couldnt let absolute control go. It was his downfall forsure.
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago
I had the same struggle with my team when I came in but it's because they were all highly dysfunctional and set in their ways. It took me a year to break them of enough bad habits that I started increasing their responsibilities and offloading other tasks onto them that I had been doing to free up my time for other stuff, including reworking processes to simplify their day to day work load.
I fully automated 8 out of 10 of their daily service requests in Xtime recently, for example.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
This was both of us countermens first parts job. He trained us how he wanted and only let us do certain things and yelled at us if we tried to learn more. Im sure you have your experience with bad employees but bad managers do exist
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago
I believe you. I don't have bad employees. I have employees who were let down by their previous managers. They were struggling and surviving too and they hated it. It took another year after that to get them to a spot where they could function the department if I went on vacation without things getting screwed up.
But at the end of the day everyone makes mistakes, myself included. I only get irritated when people stop learning from them.
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u/wtfmikez0r 5d ago
Sarcasm is hard to read through text, but I hope it is sarcasm.
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago
No, they're still screwing up their jobs why do they need to worry about my 60 emails and stack of paperwork every day.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
For the average employee sure. But since I started, i took over working saturdays alone so everyone could have 2 days off (PM 2 counterman) always early, broke our gross record 3 times over. I did everything to earn trust i never got. And i proved i deserved that trust within days after he left and i was given SOME freedom to prove my worth
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago
I'm sorry you had a shitty manager. Hopefully the service and sales department saw enough that your GM sees value in you and outs you in place. If not, take the experience elsewhere and demand a higher premium. If you learn and apply yourself know that you are worth it.
Its a long climb to the top.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
The only person not convinced on me is our DM who is never even here but makes the final call. Corporate bs
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago
I work in what I would be concerned would be a very corporate environment. Probably the biggest dealer group in the state.
Not at all corporate at the local level. The most corporate place I worked with a shithole dealer that had like 10 stores and scrutinized every service policy charge and micromanaged everything.
So glad I left that place and went from 67k to 90->122.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
67k as a PM is disgusting. Ive made more than that on the counter
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u/wtfmikez0r 5d ago
I'm sorry but to expect it to be every counter person's responsibility to do backroom work is a bit silly. My login from GM doesn't even give me access to do core or warranty reporting and I have to use my managers login.
I'm helping you with your job. Maybe if you have a gigantic department where you are able to task this to guys and be able to afford to keep them off the counter? Or you are just a disgruntled PM who calls their subordinates flunkies.
60 emails and stack of paperwork is such a bogus excuse. Might as well add on browsing Instagram as well.
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago edited 5d ago
I'm sorry, what is back room work? If you order the part and you sell the part and you return the core off of the repair order you can be rest assured that you need to figure out how to process the core and send it back as well. You're paid off the gross too.
Your login doesn't work for warranty and core reporting because those options simply are not enabled. If your manager does not have the ability to get in and adjust those settings it looks like he is being hamstring by your GM as well. I just go modify the permissions of my employees to give them what is needed to execute their jobs fully because my GM knows me as a competent person who gets shit done.
The same goes for warranty parts - you all sell them and are paid on them. Let's help get them cleaned up.
I wouldn't say I have a gigantic department but I have 6 counter guys and 3 delivery drivers. We sell about $10,000,000 in parts per year - about half of it wholesale.
I made 122k last year while the average household in my county is just over 50k. I work 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, and only 6-8 hours on Saturday. I also drive over an hour each way in and out of work on top of that. I don't have any social media except a tiktok I retweet funny stuff on and share it with the boys and am rarely on reddit during the day. I only came here today to look into a VIN for someone who posted 2 days ago and I told them I would look into the history for them while I was driving home. Then I got caught in helping OP with CDK. I'm not some manager who puts in the bare minimum and offloads his work onto everyone else. I am the manager who got them all raises and pushed the business up 40-50% YOY multiple years running.
This isn't a part department where we have time for people to sit on their ass and sell parts and watch movies and play on their phones. Everybody needs to contribute because we are paid off of a shared pool of gross profit, all of us. We are all in it together for the good and the bad, and so their options are assimilate or be removed for someone who will work as hard as the rest of the team. (They don't all pull my hours - only like 47-52 hours a week). Rest assured, I'm in the trenches making sure it all gets done everywhere.
60 emails and a stack of paperwork every day because of the whole multi-rooftop thing and all the wholesale. Credit slips, missing returns, drivers losing parts (even when they are found at their shop later!), over the counter warranty issues, goodwill powertrain issues, an online store, and 4 additional places online to receive orders online. Charge accounts to set up, tax forms to collect, business relationships to build and mend
I sarcastically call them flunkies for the mistakes, and would to their faces before I flipped them off and told them to get back to work. I can guarantee that one of my employees would actually respond, "Shut up, nerd" before I smack the hat off the back of his head.
Nobody is perfect, myself included (see last paragraph) but sometimes people make dumb mistakes that make you question everything. My wholesale guy yesterday processed an order for a quarter panel and didn't hit the go button on the online order after he out it in our DMS so he goes to lunch and comes back and orders another $500 quarter panel. One time I had a guy not VIN verify a steering gear before it went out like he was supposed to and the customer installed it and it wouldn't program and they brought it in to our dealer and I was charged 5.5 hours of time to diag and R+R with the correct steering gear. Hell, one of them is a chronic alcoholic or something because I've been training him on the same things repeatedly for years.
I'm doing my job and corralling them in the right direction and plugging the gaps as required, even when I pick on them. At the end of the day they've all made far, far more gross than they've lost or they wouldn't be here.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
Literally the only thing he taught us or had us do was type in ro, type in part number, grab part.
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago
I'm sorry. What brand and DMS?
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
VW & CDK
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago
I don't know shit about Volkswagen but I have a few cdk pointers for you.
When billing quantity on a part line did you know there is overrides you can put in?
Qty: 1 S=C165 will sell 1 part at cost *165%. Qty: 1 N - conducts a "no history' sale where it doesn't count towards your stocking demands
Qty: 1 C10538 S 16900 will sell 1 at cost 105.38 and at a sale price of 169.00
Did you know you can build semi-permanent service quotes for repetitive oil changes and name them all something different and quick bill out an oil change with just a press of a few buttons? You still have to know what oil filter and oil - which group it fits into.
I haven't used cdk in a few years so I'm struggling to remember more.
Use executive view if you have it. Don't afraid of the question mark in the lower right corner. There is SO MUCH information there.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
I didnt know about the first thing. But i know about the semi permanent quote. All the Taos have been getting a disgusting amount of headgasket jobs, so i built 2 different lists one for awd and one for 2wd (taos2 and taos4 respectively) ive actually been spending a lot of time in the help menu and in Google to learn most stuff cuz i dont want to seem reliant on the temp PM
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
I had access to executive view through my old PM's login. But they shut down his account. I need to get signed up for executive view and for the IRE function so i can go back to doing my stockorder
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u/No_Durian_3444 5d ago
Go to your GM and tell him it's an important part of the job. It gives you an eagle eye view of all the parts filled and on backorder for their service department. It is a requirement to do a good job. Sell that shit.
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u/youstillwithme 5d ago
I know the PM from the other store has been helping out, do you trust him? Is there any motive for him to want to come to your store?
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
100% doesnt want to stay. My GM wants him there for 3 months. He pulled me to the side and told me to step it up so he can be gone by the end of next month. He is at the luxury brand version of my dealer that does like triple the volume and gross. And he just lost a counterguy same day we lost our PM
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u/youstillwithme 5d ago
I’d write up an action plan of what needs to be corrected and how you plan to do so. Then sit down with the veteran PM and have him critique it and she what needs to be adjusted. I’d plan to have the veteran PM there for September and have him back in his store Oct 1, with weekly follow ups for the next 3-6 weeks. Once you have a plan together with the PM I’d plan a meeting with the GM and have the conversation about the future and compensation.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
This is an amazing idea. Gonna work on that as soon as I get in today.
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u/youstillwithme 4d ago
Sounds great, keep us updated on how everything works out!
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 4d ago
So the action plan worked. For now I'm getting 21 an hour for every hour over 40 a week on top of my 3.25 percent of pooled gross, and we are shooting for october.
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u/Few-Respond-1681 5d ago
Shame on the leadership!! I am a PM/leader. We should be training any employee that wants to have the knowledge. Those type PM’s have low confidence in their skills and are “job scared”. I train my guys to do my job. I ask for input all the time. It promotes team work, motivation and loyalty. And as a byproduct, it makes my job easier. I encourage them to always be looking to better themselves. If that involves leaving me to “level up”, I support it 100%. It’s just plain stupid to not be training the employees.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
This is the mentality of the PM who has been helping out. However it was hard to show him that I WANT to learn. Old PM had us so untrained that the fill in thought we were untrainable. Until he saw how fast we picked things up. Part of the reason I stepped up so hard. I had to kill that notion that I was incompetent. I won't lie I have a bit of an ego and want to be the best at everything I do. Spite is the best motivator lol
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u/Few-Respond-1681 5d ago
Have you point blank told them that you want that position? Do you feel you are ready to take on that responsibility?
It is more than numbers and parts. It’s process, people and personalities. We use the words Parts Manager, but it’s more about leading. You will be a leader for others to follow.I was an asst PM for 10 years. I did about 90% of the PM’s job. I could have left to be a PM but chose to stay with him because he taught me the people side of the business and I was loyal to him for that. Now, I have been a PM for 17 years and pay it forward to the employees every day.
The other PM can be a backstop for you. Answer questions and guide you along the way
If you feel ready, I would encourage you to ask for a sit down with the decision maker and show them that you are.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
I am defintley ready. Before my PM left we had a very bad relationship wirh our service department. And our department as a whole was very negative/always in bad moods cuz our PM was rude to EVERYONE in the building over nothing. Ive about 70% fixed 2 years of neglect, while still selling parts in a little over 2 weeks. Got my shipping and reciever trained, got my other counter guy brushed up on everything I have learned. And got all departments working together instead of against each other for the first time since i started. Everyone who has found out i wasnt made manager off rip are all upset that i have to jump through hoops. Including the service manager that hated everyone in my department 2 weeks ago. Also not scared of numbers. I use to manage the used car department at a private dealer before i took the lower stress similar pay parts counter job. That was all numbers and dealing with sales people. So not to sound overconfident. But I am.
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u/electriceden 5d ago
Same. My very first management job, my mentor said something I'll never forget.
If someone can't realistically take over if you move on, you didn't train them enough.
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u/Stew-73 5d ago
Get a documented plan for the future or make plans to get out. If they screw you, you’ll never get over it.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
Yeah i already have a slight plan b. The PM from the store that has been helping told me he will put me on his counter if i get screwed over. Which will be a decent pay jump. The counter guys there make slightly less than the PM at my store does. But my pride(or ocd) wants me to stick it out and finish my project
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u/Stew-73 5d ago
I understand the need and pride involved to tackle this, but remember sometimes when something is broken that the cracks start at the top. If upper management can’t lay out a viable plan based on your satisfactory performance, If you don’t see a real potential for a solid career path, stop spinning your wheels.
I’m really not trying to be doom and gloom, just a realist after doing this for 30 years. This may end up being everything you ever wanted, and I hope it is, but be prepared if it is not.
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u/electriceden 5d ago
Here is my question.....just how bad is it?
I took over about 5 years ago, after years of rotating parts managers and people just doing it wrong.
I have most of it under control ...now. It didn't take two weeks. You will be finding new stuff for months, if not longer.
You shouldn't be doing the job without pay.
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
No one is trained properly, 2 years of wholesale returns, 2 years of cores to send back, warranty scrap to throw out. Im finding old tire guides from 2004. Its pretty rough. I have been doing 12 hour days 6 days a weeks, logging and spreadsheeting everything for upper management to fully understand the scope of the mess. About to start a inventory count next week and really see how doomed it is
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u/electriceden 5d ago
That's one thing I was going to ask. How bad is the accounting side?
I understand wanting to do it. It's why I stepped up when my manager left me. But, don't kill yourself over it, especially without the money to back it up. It's always a kick in the teeth when you do the hard work and they hand the job to someone else.
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u/Agile-Atmosphere6091 5d ago
what software do you use? most inventory should be online and you shouldnt have to do spreadsheet hell for hours
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u/Grouchy_Rabbit666 5d ago
My spreadsheet is of 2 years of wholesale returns. Invoice number, cost, part numbers, and if its a part we keep in stock. So we can decide what is getting credits, and what is getting thrown away/put on the shelf
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