True Patriot Love

Well, the 2010 Olypmic Games have come to an end. Canada performed above everyone's expectations. We are truly a golden nation today!

Jacques Rogge didn't proclaim us the best games ever, but no Canadian tonight cares. Over the course of the past 17 days we have come together as a nation as never before.

I think everyone will remember where they were when we got our 14th gold medal and once again confirmed that hockey is Our Game.

Good Job Canada!

Until Tomorrow.

Writing it Up

Today Michelle took a class on creative writing. Now, this doesn't mean that we will begin to tell tall tales about what happens at the shop! On the contrary, hopefully we will better be able to put into words what our shop is doing and be able to express ourselves in a way that will not put our readers (and I know there are at least 2 of you!) to sleep.

As always, we try to continually upgrade our training at the shop, whether it be techical, marketing or even something a little bit more creative in nature.

Now, if it really is tall tales you want then catch Verl on a good day and he can regale you with all sorts of stories from his childhood and jokes (always clean) that he likes to tell.

Until Tomorrow.

Looking Forward

It has finally ended! The worst month we have had in 5 years has come to an end!! Thank Goodness.

Are we going to dwell on the past month? Not really, we will disect it a bit to see what we could have done differently but as the saying goes, "There is no sense crying over spilt milk."

So we are going look forward, because there is a new mountain looming just ahead (called March) that we need to conquer.

Wish us luck!

Until tomorrow.

Support your Local Sherriff or.....

When you live in a small community, such as we do here in Barnwell, it is important to support those business that reside in the community. While there are not that many here in the village, we do try to do our best to support them in every way and hope that they can return the favor.

Today, we made a goof. We sent our newest guy to purchase stamps for our monthly newsletter mailout. Since we mailout over 1200 by first class mail this is quite a large amount for our local post office. But we goofed - we automatically thought that our new guy would know that we have a local post office in the village and that we support it as much as possible. Well, since he doesn't live in our village he didn't know that we have our own post office so the stamps were purchased elsewhere. Oh well, nothing can be done about it now....

But you can bet that we will continue to purchase our postage products in our own local post office and support our own local businesses as much as we can.

Not supporting local business means that the one time you do require their assistance they may no longer be there.

The moral of our story: support local, although it might not be the cheapest or even the most convenient it will quarantee that when you need a service from your community it will be there.

Until tomorrow.

Branching Out

When you own a small business and have a true entrepenurial spirit it is easy to branch out into other niche areas of the automotive business that previously have not been explored.

Once a month we prepare candy boxes or gift bags that are sold to other shops that are trying to give their customer the WOW that we try to accomplish here.

Ryan helped Michelle build 150 candy boxes for other shops yesterday. Inside each box is some seasonal candy made specifically for that shop. While it is not in anyways mechanical in nature it truly is automotive in spirit.

The Client is the most important asset we have and this is just another way to keep them happy.

Until tomorrow.

Female Friendly

So since we have held one ladies car care clinic and are about to host another we believe that we can qualify for being called a female friendly facility. (Try saying that 3 times in a row!)

We try our best to answer all questions in a straight-forward no nonsense manner and will not talk down to you, ever. The female population is the fastest growing group of car owners and you need to know and understand the basics of your own car. If we can help you achieve this then that is wonderful.

Yes, there is a group out of the US that qualifies shops as being female friendly.
We are trying to get our name on the list for this honor. After all, one of the owner is a female, one of our part time workers is female and we do have one the cleanest bathroom around!

Until tomorrow.

Talking Heads

So some of the anchors covering the Olympics must be running out of things to talk about. It has been mentioned that the Canadian Olympic Committee will have some explaining to do if Canada doesn't get the 22 medals they should win.

That is truly not the spirit of the games.

The Olympics is about the celebration of sport.

Granted, winning is also very nice, but the majority of the athletes at the 2010 games will only be able to say, "Yes - I am an Olympian", than those who have medals.

If we truly wanted more medals then perhaps there should have been much more funding available to our hopefuls - instead of making their dreams unobtainable because they had to hold down a job as well as train. (No Shaun White or Micheal Phelps in Canada)

Let's not forget the years of training, struggle and sacrifice that our athletes have gone through just to be able to participate.

I for one am proud of Canada and our athletes, no matter the medal count.

Until tomorrow.

Everyone loves an Underdog

So I bet that almost every tv in Canada was watching the US vs Canada hockey game tonight. It was even on in our house (and Mickey hates hockey).

The unthinkable happened - Canada lost to the US. So what happens now? Do we curl up and slink away? Of course not, we are Canadians and no matter what hockey is still our national sport.

Among nations in the world Canada is one of the most favored - why? I think it has to do with our grace in the course of adversity.

At the shop, we had hoped that February would be a banner month, it definately started out that way! We have one week to reach our goals in order to call the month a sucess and not lose ground financially. Is it going to happen? Well, all I can say is we are going to play our hearts out, just like Team Canada. If we fall short, well everyone loves an underdog....

Until tomorrow.

Dedication

Yes, even on a Saturday you can sometimes find us at the shop. When it comes to our customers,(or travellers, or anyone) if they have a problem, we will do whatever we can to help them out of their situation. That is part of being a small business owner.

So yes, Verl had to help out a customer today. Did we complain about having to take time out of our lazy day to help someone, of course not!

It was our pleasure!

Until Tomorrow.

All is Quiet

Today, the shop is quiet. Obviously we have fallen down on some of our procedures for this to happen. So quiet, in fact, that we have sent home both Spencer and Ryan. No sense their sleeping on the creepers (do we even have any creepers anymore? will have to look!).

Since we can't blame our clients we must blame ourselves, so pardon me if this blog is a little bit short today, but looks like I need to make some phone calls.....

Until Tomorrow.

The Show Must Go On

When you own your own business, no matter how icky, or sick you feel you have to go to work. Yup, the small business owner, who is also the janitor, bookkeeper, peacekeeper, head technician, accountant, service advisor and manager has to show up each day no matter what. Can you imagine what would happen if he didn't? At least 7 other people wouldn't show up that day either!

Verl was feeling ill yesterday, so he left early, and we struggled on without him for the rest of the afternoon. Last night, Michelle came down with one of her quarterly migraines so she spent most of the morning today sleeping it off. But we are both here now, a little bit bedraggled, but present.

I am sure we will be back to our bouncing selves by the next day, after all, if we don't come to work, at least 7 others don't as well!

Until Tomorrow.

Don’t Check those Smiles at the Door!

Not all auto repair shops are the same. You need to shop around and find one that you are comfortable with. Do they listen to what you say, do they take the time to talk to you? Is there a smile in their voice when you call and do they greet you with a smile when you walk in the door? It has been shown in studies that one smile to a total stranger can make that person’s day. Now, none of you are strangers to us so if we forget to smile at you, feel free to remind us!

Smiles are free and we want to give out as many as possible!

Until tomorrow.

The Unexpected

Today a customer pulled up to the door and handed Spencer a dozen donuts from Tim Hortons. He did this totally unexpected but welcome surprise "Just Because".

Wow!!!

We are so grateful to our customers that think of us that way - it really does re-inforce our stand to be the best little auto shop around!

We truly hope that we can give you the same unexpected and over the top experience here at Verl's and if you have a great idea on how we can accomplish this please drop us a line, after all, we are in a service industry!

Until Tomorrow.

Happy Family Day

Today is Family Day, so we hope you had a chance to spend some quality family time with your families. We travelled to Medicine Hat once again to spend some time with Mickey's Mom, then had supper in Bow Island with her Dad.

We are also a family at the shop. Verl and Mickey and Spencer are there full time. Tyler helps out when we have computer issues or just need someone very tall to reach something! Ariel, while she is at school is not around much, but we fully expect to see her back at the shop making all those phone calls as soon as the term ends. And about once a week even the dog, Patches, puts in an appearance!

We hope you enjoyed your day with your family, for us the family will be hard at work together first thing Tuesday morning.

Until Tomorrow.

The Winds of Change

Yes, today the Chinook has finally started to Blow In! Hurray!!! That means to us Southern Albertan's the nicer weather can't be far behind. True we will have to put up with the wind for a while but soon, oh so soon, we will be able to feel Spring.
Winds of change are happening at the shop as well. We have had a new employee start (and Ryan is doing a great job!), training in re-flash technology is about to begin, and our new attitude of get out there and Just Do It! is beginning to pay off.

Thanks to Yvonne Dreaddy of the Terry Fox Foundation for the kind and gracious words today. They mean a lot to both Verl and Michelle, we didn't expect them, making them all the more meaningful.

Will we continue on with our choice to become more involved in our community? After those kind words, the answer is yes!


Yes, that is green grass poking through the snow!

Until Tomorrow.

The Eyes of the World are Upon Us

Yes, the Olympics are finally here.

The entire world will be focused on Canada for the next few weeks. I am confident that Canada will shine forth with our legendary hospitality, generosity and we can’t forget our wonderful natural scenery.

Will we be declared the "Best Games Ever" by the president of the IOC? Will we win that elusive gold medal on home soil? Well, only time will tell. But you can bet your last dollar that every Canadian is feeling a sense of nationality and pride that our laid-back nation often doesn’t show.

So, for now, let’s all stand tall and declare, “I Am Canadian!”

Until Tomorrow.

Seize the Day

Today, will be a little bit off topic. Mickey's mom is in the Medicine Hat Hospital undergoing assessement for Dementia and Alzheimers. Today was the assessment meeting with all the health care professionals involved in her case. Severe Atrophy of the Brain is the clinical diagnosis. What does this mean? Well, we need to place her in a secure, safe and loving environment within the next 2 weeks.

Our lesson or moral of the story today? Seize the Day! Find a hobby that interests you, keep fit, eat right and no matter how tired or sick you may feel don't let that give you an excuse to not do something. The more we stay active, the younger we are mentally and physically.

Are we going to dwell on the issues we are facing in our personal lives or even business lives? No, we are going to just get out there and Do It!

Seize the Day.

Until Tomorrow.

Well, at least it isn't as bad as that!

While we have been complaining about our long, long winter(someone else must have bought all our Chinooks!)at least we have not been hit as hard as Washington DC or Dallas Texas.

Truthfully we live in a very stable area, no earthquakes, no hurricanes, one really bad storm 2 summers ago, and 1 tornado 4 years ago(and how many of us didn't take shelter but went and watched it?) So perhaps 30 very windy days per year is small price to pay for our little slice of paradise.

Verl is an eternal optimist, he always has been, even in those sleepless days and nights and months when he was unsure whether or not we should continue operations.

This attitude is now one we try hard to incorporate into our daily lives here at the shop and at home. Is it working? You tell us.

Until Tomorrow.

Paying it Forward

So we realized this morning that we have helped quite a few organizations out in our community in the past few months.

We love the great feelings that come from a generosity of spirit. To be able to help and see our community prosper is what life is all about. And sometimes it isn't even about money!

Safe Haven - recipient of cash donation
World Vision - recipient of cash donation
WR Myers Basketball Tourney - recipient of cash donation
Terry Fox Foundation - recipient of cash donation
WR Myers Grad - oranges (I think everyone in the entire shop is turning orange!)
Barnwell Cub Scouts - supplies for cub car rally
Toys for Tots - toys donated (We also collected from our caring customers - thank-you!)


And as always - our popcorn machine is available to any organization that would like to sell bags of popcorn to raise funds for their worthy cause!

Until Tomorrow.

We are Rappers!

Say Welcome to Ryan Brill!

Ryan comes to us through the RAP (Registered Apprenticeship Program) and will be with us for the remainder of his grade 12 year at WR Myers. He shows a keen interest in all things automotive. As other RAP students in the past can tell Ryan, he will get a well-rounded hands-on experience here in our shop.

We are proud to once again be able to help new talent enter the exciting world of automotive repair and Ryan will be exposed to the latest technologies all the way from alignments to reflash technology!

Until Tomorrow.

Why Do You Do This?

Today, I was asked by a customer waiting while his oil change was done, why do we do the newsletter?

My answer is really simple - we find that the friendly, non-confrontational style of advertising is a refreshing change from the advertisements you see in print, magazines and on tv. Lets face it, most of us just tune that stuff out these days because we are so over-exposed to it.

And if it helps you to think of us when the time comes to repair your car, then we have all the re-inforcement to continue publishing that we need!

Until Tomorrow.

Sittin' Around the Poker Table

Last night at the casino the main topic of the night - the weather! Guess we aren't the only ones tired of the fogs.

So we tried to think of as many weather related sayings and predictions as we could and this is what we came up with.

90 days after a fog means rain. Guess that means April Showers will bring more May showers......

6 months after a heavy frost means a very bad storm. Doesn't bode well for the August long weekend!

Red sky at night - Sailor's delight, red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. We live in the prairies!

Cows lay down before it rains - I thought they were just tired!

Leaves turn over means storm approaching - thought that was the wind.....(again)

Let us know what other ones are out there - after all the weather is always facinatating and unpredictable in our little corner of the world!

Until Tomorrow.

The Sun Will Come Out.....

Today, driving to Lethbridge both of us remarked on how it has been so foggy and kinda gloomy all week.

Thinking back on our week we believe this had an impact on the week we had. While the shop was busy, I don't think that we were as productive as we should have been.

We had 3 setbacks that caused our spirits to fall, and the lack of sunshine didn't make it any better!

However, as Little Orphan Annie puts it "The Sun will Come Out Tomorrow!"

Until Tomorrow.

Yes, it's True!

Twice in the past couple of days I have had someone comment with surprise that their car was clean when they picked it up.

Yes - it's true - we do try to wash each and every vehicle (and leave a gift) before it leaves our hands.

Sometimes, however, it isn't feasible to do this - in that case you will get a free oil wash card for whenever you want. This is normally a rare occurence - and might just be due to the extreme cold - no good to you if you can't get into your car if the doors have frozen shut because we washed them!

Until Tomorrow.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Now, when a job goes south, and let's face it, some do, we have an obilgation to try our best to correct the problem no matter what. Period.

Recently we found ourselves in the position of being the client. We are dismayed that the company that sold us their "quality product" doesn't stand behind their product. The engine we purchased was faulty and the manufacturer has since gone out of business.

Our customer, the one we installed the engine for, has no issues - he is happy because we did cover the cost of the faulty product and he will not incur any additional costs.

However, we thought that the rest of the business world operated to the same standards as we do. Foolishly we have found out that we were wrong. Well, you know that old saying, "Once bitten, twice shy" so will we ever purchase another engine from that company? Not Ever.

Until Tomorrow.

Winter Wonderland

Well, the groundhogs were right!

Looking outside today at our world of white we realize that we are in for another long haul this winter.

Although chances are that we will not hit -40C again, it is still a good idea to keep your car winterized. Check your fluids, your battery, your tires and keep your windows, lights and mirrors clear.

We will be here to make sure your car is ready for another month or so of winter.

Darn it!

Until Tomorrow.

Groundhog Day

Yes, it's Groundhog Day - and does that mean winter is over or not?

According to the leading experts, Punxsutawney Phil, Shubenacadie Sam, and Wiarton Willie we will see 6 more weeks of cold and snow. So prepare yourselves - keep the maintenance up on your car so you don't get stranded in the cold.

Alberta's Balzac Billy didn't see his shadow, so it is possible that winter for Albertan's is coming to an end. In that case you need to prepare yourself for spring, is your wiper fluid full, are you wipers in good condition, do you need to book an appointment to have your winter tires removed, is your a/c system ready?

I prefer to listen to Alberta's Balzac Billy (I really want winter to be over - the seed catalogues are out!)

Until tomorrow.

A Brand New Month!

Well, now it is February, always a big month here in our world. The month starts with Verl's Birthday and then our daughter, Ariel, has a birthday on the 11th and of course we can't forget St. Valentine's Day!

We are beginning something new this month. For every car that visits us we will be putting a small token of appreciation into your vehicle. We will be continuing this every month from now on and the gift will change each month.

Here is a sneak peak at what we are doing for February!

Until Tomorrow.