MegaMushroom
500+ Head-Fier
Chapter a week? I might have time to get some good schiit before the story ends! Looking forward to this.
The second chapter reminds me of something that I experienced in the early 80's, while working for a major Japanese audio company (name is unimportant).
One of the guys I worked with came to me one evening, and told me of a moonlighting opportunity at an electronics retailer a few miles away. This retailer needed experienced electronic techs to come repair equipment. I was interested, so I decided to show up one night to try my hand at it.
We were paid a percentage of the repair bill, which is probably the wrong way to encourage a repair technician. Gear that was under warranty didn't pay much, so people tended to dig into the high profit margin repairs. I was the new guy, so I got the stuff that others didn't want to deal with.
The very first rig I was given was a big reel to reel tape deck. It was a warranty job that had been sitting unrepaired for months. So I sat down and took a look. One of the reels didn't spin, so tape would come off one reel and spill onto the floor. I popped open the case and took a look at what was connecting the reel deck to the motor. Turned out that there was a loose screw on the shaft that connected to the motor on that reel. I tightened the screws and bingo, working tape deck. Took me all of about 20 minutes.
Then I made the mistake of writing up the repair ticket honestly. When the owner of the shop saw what I'd written, he literally blew up in my face. "I can't give this back to the customer with this explanation!" he whined. Really wasn't my fault, but he made me scribble out what I'd written on the repair ticket and come up with a phony story how it took a long time to repair blah blah lie lie bs bs... I think I made $10 bucks on that job.
One of the next jobs was fixing an old, cheap turntable for an old lady. I tinkered with this old turntable for a good half hour, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it. So I wrote the ticket up honestly again, and sure enough, the boss blew his cork again. He again insisted I write up that I'd spent much more time repairing it than I did, add charges for cleaning chemicals and other crap, and charge her - for nothing.
I experienced a couple more like this, and one night I decided to blow up on HIM. I told this man that I simply could not continue to work at a company that consistently lied to its customers, and walked out. I didn't care about being paid. I just left. I don't have the kind of conscience that lets me do that to other people.
Back at the shop the next day, the man who originally told me about this job, told me about what the boss said after I left. It was funny and sad at the same time, but the rest of the guys just kept working for him. I guess they didn't care. My friend reminded me that working for a retailer was different than a major manufacturer. I suppose he was right - but I didn't want anything to do with it.
It is rare to find people who have the veracity and integrity to treat people with honesty and respect, and give good value for the money. That is clearly a large part of the Schiit success story.
The second chapter reminds me of something that I experienced in the early 80's, while working for a major Japanese audio company (name is unimportant).
One of the guys I worked with came to me one evening, and told me of a moonlighting opportunity at an electronics retailer a few miles away. This retailer needed experienced electronic techs to come repair equipment. I was interested, so I decided to show up one night to try my hand at it.
We were paid a percentage of the repair bill, which is probably the wrong way to encourage a repair technician. Gear that was under warranty didn't pay much, so people tended to dig into the high profit margin repairs. I was the new guy, so I got the stuff that others didn't want to deal with.
The very first rig I was given was a big reel to reel tape deck. It was a warranty job that had been sitting unrepaired for months. So I sat down and took a look. One of the reels didn't spin, so tape would come off one reel and spill onto the floor. I popped open the case and took a look at what was connecting the reel deck to the motor. Turned out that there was a loose screw on the shaft that connected to the motor on that reel. I tightened the screws and bingo, working tape deck. Took me all of about 20 minutes.
Then I made the mistake of writing up the repair ticket honestly. When the owner of the shop saw what I'd written, he literally blew up in my face. "I can't give this back to the customer with this explanation!" he whined. Really wasn't my fault, but he made me scribble out what I'd written on the repair ticket and come up with a phony story how it took a long time to repair blah blah lie lie bs bs... I think I made $10 bucks on that job.
One of the next jobs was fixing an old, cheap turntable for an old lady. I tinkered with this old turntable for a good half hour, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it. So I wrote the ticket up honestly again, and sure enough, the boss blew his cork again. He again insisted I write up that I'd spent much more time repairing it than I did, add charges for cleaning chemicals and other crap, and charge her - for nothing.
I experienced a couple more like this, and one night I decided to blow up on HIM. I told this man that I simply could not continue to work at a company that consistently lied to its customers, and walked out. I didn't care about being paid. I just left. I don't have the kind of conscience that lets me do that to other people.
Back at the shop the next day, the man who originally told me about this job, told me about what the boss said after I left. It was funny and sad at the same time, but the rest of the guys just kept working for him. I guess they didn't care. My friend reminded me that working for a retailer was different than a major manufacturer. I suppose he was right - but I didn't want anything to do with it.
It is rare to find people who have the veracity and integrity to treat people with honesty and respect, and give good value for the money. That is clearly a large part of the Schiit success story.