JoeyJ0506

I had TUUKS installed on them after I struggled with the stock holders. Believe me... I tried everything I could to make them work.

I loved the boot, honestly, fit like a dream. But, I have a very good group of guys that sharpen my skates for me and it definitely was not the sharpening. I just do not have enough ankle strength or skating wherewithal to make these things work for me. It broke my heart to sell them. But, I feel more confident in my APX, meaning I skate better and play better in them. I wanted the Makos to work, I just could not perform in them to my liking.

This... I really wanted to love the Mako skates. They were the best fitting/feeling boot that I have put on my feet. However, when it came down to it, there just was not enough support around my ankles. My feet were coming out from under me on turns and cuts that I normally had no problems with. The final straw, for me, came when I made a turn next to the wall and my feet were just gone. I fell, blade of my stick was against the boards, butt end almost impaled me, stick exploded into three pieces (Thank goodness). I had a bruise on my ribs the next day that lasted almost two weeks. Those skates got sold a few days later.

Photo courtesy of MSH Member Apes44's father.

More great product from Bauer, their offerings continue to grow on me!

Traded to Edmonton for Magnus Paajarvi and a 2014 Second Round Draft Pick

Well guys... I recently got engaged to my girlfriend of two years. To anyone that has met her at the last two WFs you know how special of a girl she is. She is my best friend and I could not possibly be happier. She helped pull me out of an existence anchored in a pretty dark place. Wedding date is 05/10/2014, and I cannot wait. It took a few weeks to get this news posted here... Between work, class, hockey, wedding plans, and general stupid amounts of happiness I have not had much time to post here.

Pittsburgh Penguins Adult Hockey Classic sponsored by Labatt... Hoisting the Labatt Barrel/Keg. It really was an awesome weekend. The final was played at Consol Energy Center

My right eye has been twitching most of the day. Side-effect of stress. Really starting to get annoying though.

Wow, great color combo and design. I am really impressed.

Sitting at work (9am to 9pm shift today) and I have an absolutely monster migraine. Luckily the vision problems have passed already, but my left hand, left side of my face, and tongue are completely numb. Sensitivity to light, noise, and touch are also still here. Just praying a customer doesn't come in the remainder of the night. I struggle to speak clearly when they are this bad.

One of the few benefits of working for a car dealership: 2012 All Wheel Drive Cadillac CTS Luxury Sedan Touring Edition Actually worked out to be less expensive than a new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu when all was said and done.

Had a customer email me today: "Thank you for all of your hard work over the last couple of weeks. We were thoroughly impressed with your responsiveness to every email, and the amount of information you were able to provide to us. We were able to complete our purchase with another dealership over the weekend. Again, thank you for all your hard work." In short, I did all the work selling the Cadillac, answering questions, getting the lowest price around, the lady and her husband took the numbers and went to another place. Any dealership will match numbers to get the deal. This is about 10 times this has happened in the last two weeks. I am close to blowing a gasket.

It is an issue that I am currently trying to work through with my sales manager and owner. They are having a hard time understanding just how readily available information and extremely competitive pricing are with the internet. In about five minutes I can have 5-10 different dealerships falling over themselves to get me their best price. Many of the same issues that are in this thread regarding LHS and the big-box stores are what I am facing with my internet sales position. We are a small, family owned dealership that has been in business for almost 90 years. The majority of our salesmen have been with us for 15+ years and have built loyal customer bases that are going to keep coming back no matter what, but most of that base is, honestly, too old or set in their ways to utilize the internet to their advantage. My job, and my issue, comes from catering to my own generation. I am extremely comfortable with the internet, and so are my peers. Honestly, most of my customers tell me if they could get a car without ever setting foot in the dealership they would. They do not want to go through the hassle routinely associated with car shopping. So they take the 5-10 minutes to go on Cars.Com, TrueCar.Com, etc. and get me and the other guys doing my job to get them the "best price" we can offer, then they play our offers off each other. It is a race to the bottom, with price being the only deciding factor. We can all get the same vehicles, we all get the same manufacturer rebates. It is a matter of who is willing to go the closest to breaking even, and yes, even losing money to sell their vehicles. This also leads to people using us as a "fitting room" to test drive a vehicle and have a salesman really do the job of selling the vehicle only to go hope on the aforementioned sites and put us all in a bidding war against each other. People will, without a doubt, drive 2-3 hours to save $100-$200 on their out the door price. Even if we offer better customer service, after sale attention, and service department. It gives me a whole new world of respect for the privately owned LHS fighting extinction against the Monkeys and Warehouses of the world. In much the same way my job is being threatened by the Super-Dealerships. That is the "Bait and Switch" routine. Unfortunately it is very very common in the automotive industry, and one that is encouraged by management. The idea is to get the person in the door on something that is too good to be true then either that mythical vehicle is "sold" or MIA. Hopefully you have them in the mood to buy and can sell them what you were originally planning to sell. Personally, I could not live with myself using the underhanded tactics I see a good deal of guys using. But, then of course, maybe that is why my sales manager and I do not exactly see eye to eye...

So, to build off of this, "late customer," issue I bring this to the table for consideration: I sell cars, new Cadillac and Chevrolet, as well as an extensive preowned inventory. Our hours weekly are Monday & Thursday 9am-9pm, Tuesday Wednesday & Friday 9am-6pm, and Saturday 9am-3pm. We have what General Motors calls "Mystery Shoppers" to deal with. These are people hired by GM to come to our dealership and evaluate our skills as salesmen to ensure that customers recieve the proper buying experience. A bit stressful, but not an entirely bad deal. Now that you have that information... I am the dealership's internet sales manager, handling all internet generated sales leads. I get a lead first thing Monday morning on used inventory. I responded letting the gentleman know our offer on the vehicle, and that I would be happy to set up an appointment for him to tour the dealership, test drive the vehicle, and then we can go from there if it is to his liking. I get no response and figure it was just another window shopper. Friday evening rolls around and, at 5:45ish a gentleman walks through the doors waving a piece of computer paper around asking for the salesman that sent him an online price quote. I invite him into my office and ask him how I can help him he says that he is interested in the vehicle and would like to test drive, but that he is not interested in buying tonight. I grabbed the keys and a plate and took him out to SUV. After driving the vehicle we get back to the lot and the guy starts wandering around the lot asking about other vehicles. By this time it is 6:15 (I have plans at 7) The gentleman asks to drive another vehicle. While I go to get the keys I make a call and cancel my plans. This goes on through two more vehicles. at the end of the evening the guy doesn't ask to see quotes on any of the vehicles, says he'll be back tomorrow to talk numbers and hopefully buy. I leave the dealership a little after 8pm. Next day, again, we are getting ready to go home for the weekend at 2:45ish. The same guy from the day before drives into our lot and asks to drive two of the vehicles from the day before. (I again make a call and cancel my plans for the evening... afterall the guy had said he planned on buying) Two test drives later we get down to numbers. After some negotions on the original vehicle the guy had inquired about we get to the point where the guy is ready to buy but needs to take the numbers home to show his wife. I shake his hand and then close up with my managers. It was 5ish. Monday I leave a voicemail on his phone and send an email. Same the next two days. Thurday I get an email asking that I stop contacting him, the price was too high, and he bought somewhere else. A bit later I get a Mystery Shop Evaluation with a not so great score back. Now, the names and some details are removed, but it does not take a genius to go back and figure out which customers these people were. This idiot had given me bad reviews because I had apparently "sighed" when he showed up on Saturday, and for "harassing" him with emails and phone calls. The kicker is because he was a mystery shopper he never had any intention of buying, wasted roughly 4 hours of my time, and had caused me to cancel my plans on two consecutive days. No matter what, customers rolling in 10 minutes before close to initiate a process that routinely takes hours to complete is frustrating, but getting the sale at the end can lessen the sting. Knowing that someone very intentionally came in right before close never having any intention to buy, then had the nerve to submit a poor review... I would love to see this guy outside of work.

My "Just Because" Gloves

I agree 100%, all the times I was able to "control" it in the past was like patching a hole in a submarine with chewing gum and scotch tape. This time feels different somehow. I think it is because I have willing let some trusted people in on what is going on with me and where it originates from and how I can go about letting go and forgiving for what caused me to end up where I was. I will say this, I never really thought much of how much bullying can affect the balance of an individual until I really did some soul searching and found out most of my insecurities, anger, and depression originate in one specific place and time in my life.

To give a run-down of where I am: I have struggled with some form of depression in one way or another since I was about 13 years old. My grandfather (responsible for raising me in all but the living in the same house way) passed away when I was 15 and I repressed almost all forms of emotion since. I would have an outburst here and there of rage, or uncontrollable sadness but nothing I was ever able to not control. Fast forward last 7 months and I have not been able to repress it or control it. It has affected my work, friendships, and relationship. Why is this in the "sweet spot" you may be asking. Well about 35 days ago I decided it was time to admit it was a problem. With more help than I think I deserved from someone that I hurt the most because of it, I was able to stop feeling sorry for myself and start doing something to change it. Namely, talk openly with other people about the pain I was experiencing, seek some professional help, and get back to the gym. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, even though I know that it is still a long journey to reach.

About half our league fee per season.

Players on my Rec League team that do not help support the Restaurant & Bar that sponsors us. Really frustrating when planning a "team" event and half the guys don't show.

It's the same everywhere. I've taught hitting clinics (Baseball) where kids are in flats, batting gloves, helmets, and even bats that are way too big for them. All in the parents' attempt to save a few dollars by giving them something to "grow in to." They do not understand that doing this is unsafe, and actually promotes bad habits.

Robert Morris Island Sports Center requests car keys in exchange for locker room keys. Shoot, I've even gotten emails/phone calls the next day if all of the tape doesn't find its way into the trash can and the locker room and bathroom door are not relocked.

Not sure if serious?

If they tested for the combination of Jello and Coconut Rum I would be SOL