And He Still Bought It?

Most of you know that I went from Preacher to Car Salesman. And the stories I can tell (on both professions).

Today, a customer came in and wanted to drive this lovely Chevy Tahoe. It's a very nice vehicle and he wanted to make sure it was all it looked to be. We looked at the fuel gauge and it had a little below 1/8 of a tank. However, on retrospect, the vehicle had been on the ramps, suspended about 8' above the ground at a very sharp assent, so the guage may have been off at that point.

We left the dealership and the customer said he would like to take it by his house and show his wife. I said, "no problem." We drove out into the country (not TOO far, maybe 5 miles) and up his long driveway to show his wife the new vehicle. They had just had a baby 2 weeks ago and were needing more space. Well, she liked it, and so we decided to go back to the dealership to wrap it all up. We drove back to the road, and about 1/2 mile toward town, my customer said, "I just ran out of gas." I said, "are you sure?" He said, "yep, no power steering or brakes or anything."

We coasted to the side of the road and he called his sister-in-law to come get his keys to his building so she could get his gas can out of the building so she could go get gas so we could presumably start this vehicle. Yes, a very long sentence and yes, a very long proceedure!

Meanwhile, a customer of mine, Mark (also a fellow member of my church) rode by, stopped to check on us, had a HUGE laugh at our expense and went on his merry way before telling EVERYONE at church tonight at "Victor" practice about my plight. Sister-in-law came back about 15 minutes later with the $4 worth of gas. She left and we poured probably about $2.50 worth in the tank as it is impossible to get it all out. Some was on the ground, some in the tank. My dear customer then proceeded to tell me that we needed to bleed the lines. Whatever that means. I'm a salesman, not a mechanic. He did whatever you have to do to bleed the lines and declared it ready to start. Only one problem. Battery is now dead from sitting with flashers on. So, sister-in-law is called and goes and gets customers truck and we jump off the dead battery.

LESSON LEARNED: $2.50 worth of gas is not enough to start a 6,000 pound vehicle. By now, we have attracted the neighbor who rides up in his golf cart. "Outta gas?" he inquired. Yep, customer said. Well, he had 2 1/2 gallons back at the house and FINALLY, after several attempts, we were on our way back to the dealership.

AND, yes, the customer still bought the vehicle! To which my friend, Mark, from church told me I must be some salesman! I was and am -- after all, Mark is driving a car that I sold him!