My Journey North: A lesson in respect.

I left late Friday, about 10-10:30PM. I just wanted to get the heck out of town; I just had my oil changed, gassed up, and my car is getting great gas mileage. At about 4am I couldn’t see straight anymore, so I gps’d some lil family hotel.

Never in my life did I think it would be such a rewarding stay. It was $50 for the night. In the morning I called the office because I noticed they had WIFI. The gentlemen asked if I was staying in his motel, which room I was in, and then provided me with the WPA key. What ended up happening next is still a somewhat a blur.

Apparently all the locals smoke in their motel rooms, and it’s a big problem for them – even in a small town like Edgewater, FL just 20 miles south of Daytona Beach. They want to stop it, as it is causing them a lot of grief. I suggested maybe they should make a website similar to my blog, and then every time someone trashed one of their rooms they could post all the dirty details on their website – everything from empty beer bottles to used prophylactics. I’m not sure why, but he loved my idea – and being a mover & shaker much like myself, he added to my idea! He said he couldn’t wait to meet me.

A short while later we bought a few domain names, he paid me for my time (which I gladly gave him a discount on), I packed my things into the car and we went out to lunch. It was so much fun talking with Peter.

The entire Gordon family are truly “Kindred Spirits” (ref Anne of Green Gables, you have my mother to thank for that). Their legendary hospitality most certainly did not go unnoticed. I felt like one of the family, and unlike some of my previous employers they speak to me with kindness and respect. Sadly, this is a rare quality to be found in this day in age. I would soon find out why. These fine people are quite intelligent, well spoken, and they run a very successful business and keep it all in the family. They don’t rent to just anyone: while I was working someone came and quickly left. I heard Peter say, “Sorry, we’re FULL.” [guy mumbling]. He was apparently drunk – not the type of guest they want!

Various family members jumped to ask a question at the same time, so I quipped that they should elect an agreed upon representative. [Starting to sound familiar here?] We understood each other for our brilliance in two very different fields. I would soon come to find out that Peter and his brother are quite accomplished ASE-certified mechanics (when I mentioned that I needed to stop by the local auto-parts store to get some oil for my car)! [HOW LOVELY… I’m really liking – no wait LOVING where this is going! Peter sends his maintenance guy (his brother if I’m not mistaken) to the store with me to get the necessary part after looking @ my car for a minute or two. Much to my surprise the faulty oil sensor that was responsible for me losing oil (like it was going out of style) was only $5! It was however in a very hard to reach position on the back side of the engine block against the firewall. About 35 minutes later I walked out to see how the repair was going and noticed my car had been moved to their on-site shop. 😀 He told me to start it up, and the car runs great! Not a drop of leaked oil – it runs solid, and performs like Michael Phelps!

Why can’t this sort of thing happen everyday??? I was offered an extra night’s stay on the house to keep me around a lil longer, but I had to decline. I have to be on my way, I really want to start enjoying Liz’s company. 😀

This is yet another lesson in not immediately judging someone you just met. When his brother was talking engines & lawn mowers I had trouble keeping up with the conversation; it just isn’t my area of interest. Each of us has their own strengths and areas of expertise. People as a whole need to stop thinking they are better or more important than someone else because of what they do, how much money they make, etc. Get to know someone, treat them with respect, and you may soon find that you really need their services, and they may need yours. Surely this has to be intelligent design!