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Car Trouble

Car Trouble

My wife and I went to the Providence Auto Show last night. It was as only Rhode Island could do it—boring.

We now get in as “seniors” so the tickets were $6 each. I gave the woman a hundred dollar bill, and she needed a calculator to determine we were to receive $88 in change. She used a crayon on the bill, to ensure we didn’t give her a counterfeit.

(Digression: Most states are now abandoning cursive writing in the school systems, which means that students will no longer be able to read notes from Thomas Jefferson or Civil War generals, or grocery lists from their parents. I have nothing against keyboard skills—I type 60 words per minute—but I can read and write cursively and do math in my head. We are raising a generation of idiots by constantly lowering the bar. At least bank tellers won’t hand over the money when a robber slides a note across the counter, since they won’t be able to read it.)

The car show had no attractive women draped over exotic cars, nor exotic women with attractive cars. There was a single Bentley (the mammoth Mulsanne which my dealer insisted I sit in a few days ago in the showroom and which immediately aged me 20 years), a Mercedes SLS (very sharp, but far too small). Both of these, by the way, were roped off. There was a lone 2013 Corvette—locked.

There was no music, no excitement, and no sales efforts. I wandered through the Mercedes area, and while I probably look like a schlump, my wife had on a fur coat. (The animals all died of old age, don’t send me letters.) As I looked at the $200,000 SLS and a $125,000 SL, NO ONE APPROACHED ME. There were hardly any visitors, I could have bought both cars on the spot, but the staff had other things to do—chatting, looking at the ceiling, respiring.

We toured both floors spent maybe 30 minutes in the place, then went to dinner. The GM people WERE very nice. When I told them that Hurd Chevrolet had twice failed to send me anything since indicating I was interested in buying a 2014 Corvette (a “toy” which I think I’m due to go get the mail), they organized to get me a different local dealer’s vice president and someone near Cleveland (!!) who could help me. One woman chased me down the hall to give me one of the names. That’s a good reason to once again buy American!

I don’t know what it costs to mount this debacle, but if the Convention Center, visitors’ bureau, and all those car companies want to gain some ROI, I’m the best solo consultant in the world and I return all my calls within 90 minutes.

I’ll get you on the right track. Right now, you have car trouble.

© Alan Weiss 2013

Written by

Alan Weiss is a consultant, speaker, and author of over 60 books. His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients from over 500 leading organizations around the world.

Comments: 4

  • Gabe Kahan

    February 1, 2013

    In response to what you said about the elimination of cursive:

    I disagree. We aren’t dumbing our standards down (although our education system is below average), we are just changing them. The NEXT generation is very different from any of the previous ones. That entails that things will and are changing. Some, if not most of these changes will leave history to be what it is, the past. The past is valuable, yes, and we should learn from it. Humans revolutionize and change society constantly. The Constitution (one of Jefferson’s notes) is a poor argument. It may be a massive governmental achievement, but its just one out of a list of others. Cursive is a dying trend, just as the papyrus paper that the Constitution was written on. The handwritten document is purely an artifact that at this point no longer is a legitimate legal document, if you want to read it there are printed copies. Also, I wouldn’t say eliminating cursive makes people illiterate to it, to me it’s at least somewhat legible. I just disagree with what you claim. Cursive had its day in the sun, but the US is realizing it’s time for a new chapter of handwriting. It’s a simple change, just like any other new trend in society.

  • Alan Weiss

    February 1, 2013

    Wow, it’s good to know that you can declare cursive dead, you can look into the future, and in the meantime let us know that the Constitution’s original versions are unimportant. And that someone trying to make a note quickly in a store, or have someone read it is no longer necessary. If you agree our educational system is below average, that’s because it HAS been dumbed down by nutty endeavors like this, lowering the bar on a very simple skill to learn. “The US is realizing…” with what, its below average education? You must think that Facebook replaces intellectual debates among learned people, as well! After all, it’s another trend….

    Every generation is very different. You need to get that narcissism out of there. The Constitution represents the greatest experiment in freedom in history. Sorry to use such a poor example, as “just one of so many others”!

  • Peter McLean

    February 1, 2013

    The bank robbers will just text the tellers telling them to “hand it over”, or pass them an iPad with their account details for eft.

    “Can you please tell me which account I need to put the stolen funds into?”

  • Alan Weiss

    February 2, 2013

    We are creating generations of otherwise high potential kids who can’t calculate in their heads, can’t write longhand on a piece of paper, can’t find Bolivia on a map, and have no idea when the Civil War was fought. The good news, of course, is that it’s easier to stand out in a crowd than ever before, since the crowd recedes around you. When I was younger, I felt proud when I knew more than others and could compete well. Now I’m afraid I’m often out in front merely by default.

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