It has been a hectic few weeks in so many areas. It seems the older you get the busier you get with a smaller amount of time.
I remember as a child the times my father would promise some small treat or time together to do something. It was important to me at the time. Often he would forget and the promise would be broken. It was something you never forget and I still feel sad. Because all of us have experienced that in some way or other most of us make the attempt to deliver on whatever we promise.
Now we are no longer children and the promises we seem to get are more of the commercial nature. Products and services, businesses and agencies, we have numerous encounters where someone promises to deliver something. It seems more the norm though that these promises are broken time after time. Most don’t deliver their promises and those that do tend to be the ones we remember. And depending on how we were brought up most forgive but never forget the incident. Just how hard is it to deliver a promise these days? Probably more difficult than we think because we tend to rely on a chain of people or companies to assist us in keeping the promise. If that fragile chain is broken the promise deliverer is the one that gets it in the neck.
Last Sunday, on Mother’s Day, my wife and I went to a local VW dealer and bought a new Beetle. This is my wife’s very first car. We had never had more than one car since we were married in 1972. Now with both of the kids gone and our active lives outside the home it was almost impossible for both of us to get to events and meetings with only one car. Marjun picked the car and the colour, I picked the promissory note and car insurance premiums. Tonight we head out to pick it up but 2 hours before we leave the phone rings. It is the dealership. The car is not going to be ready, something about the undercoat. The broken promise.
I have no idea why but tonight we are still going over there to find out why. To find out why a simple phone call, when it was realized it wouldn’t have been ready, wasn’t made earlier. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome, there is a good chance it may all be sorted out but when you are sitting with a broken promise, an economic broken promise, the brand has been tarnished now and it didn’t have to be.
Post Script – When we got there they explained we would have to wait at least 40 minutes or so. They actually had heat lamps setup to make sure the undercoating was completely dry and ready when we drove away. The treatment we received was more than first class. For this car dealership, Westminster Volkswagen, I would give them a 10 out of 10 for taking it to the next level in customer satisfaction. Thank you Steve and Chris for making this a memorable event.
Off we went to Stanley Park. Marjun let me drive. After driving the car for less than 40 minutes we were stopped by the police. He just said I was driving way to fast and to slow it down.He must have smelt the ‘new car’ smell and let me go. Thank you officer, I’ll give you a 10 out of 10 too!
Tinfoiling 
Even so: That is a rockstar of a Mother’s Day gift. I hope you two can pick it up soon.
Nice. Good timing. The Beetle will fit right in at the Grateful Dead concert this weekend. 🙂
I took my wife to her favourite burger joint the day before Mother’s Day. Your gift made me feel pretty inadequate, Gene. That is, until you said you were stopped for speeding.