Kat Monteiro

The View From My Offi ce

With Kat Monteiro

Here we are again! Time is fl ying by so fast. I hope at the me of this publishing of the Mopar Masters Guild Magazine all of you are well and happy. Hopefully, many of us are already vaccinated or will be soon. Rick received his second shot today and I get mine on the 24th of April. For something we all thought was only going to last 4-6 weeks, this Covid virus has sure hung on for a long me and sent our country in a tailspin! Hopefully, we are on our way to recovery and ge ng back to some kind of normal.

It will be nice to sit at a restaurant and not feel uncomfortable if you are si ng close to a stranger. Even though I must admit that I have enjoyed going to restaurants with their spaced-out, outdoor sea ng. I do like less crowds when I am out and about. Even though I s ll don’t go out much. We are s ll at home, trying to play it safe and get through to the end.

I have been enjoying being back at work. I am not out visi ng customers yet, but I really like being at the front retail counter. I am ge ng to know the regular customers and mee ng new ones. They rarely get away from the counter without having a conversa on with me! I have become quite good ge ng customers to forget how mad and impa ent they were when they walked in, and there is nobody available to help them at that instant. I even have customers that are with the sales department, wai ng around trying to buy a car, come over and talk to me as they are leaving the vending machine. I send them away with an accessory brochure and tell them to come see us when they are ready to buy all the fun stuff for their car!

We are trying to work out deals with our service department for prices for installa on of truck bed tunnel covers and Jeep hard tops. Working together trying to make things happen that benefi t the dealership and our customers. I am pushing t-shirts and hats! Encouraging customers to wear their brand!

So yes, I have been having a good me trying to fi gure out my new role as the Parts Retail Customer Greeter!

We also managed to cook corned beef Reuben Sandwiches for the en re dealership on St. Patrick’s Day this year. Wasn’t sure it was going to happen, but Rick made it happen and the result was a crew of happy and very full employees. Rick, with the help from John Hamilton, one of our long- me parts advisors, cooked up 100 pounds of corned beef and grilled up 120 sandwiches! The dealership employees look forward to this every year.

This was year number 11 for this tradi on. If there was a way to look up the archives of the Mopar Masters Guild Magazine you would see an ar cle Rick wrote about this special event. It was a good day and if only for a me, we forgot about all the stresses of work and Covid and enjoyed the moment. Continued on Page 21

Continued from Page 20

I want to give a shout out to Chris Messer at 10 Missions Media and John Haluch at OE Connec on for hosting a virtual Mopar Masters Guild Trivia Night on the 24 of February. I want to say thanks for being invited because, oh my it was so much fun!! It was fun to see everyone’s faces, and to talk and laugh. I really missed seeing you all and I would have much rather been in New Orleans than at my kitchen table, but this sure came in as a close second! I was very surprised at how well I did at the trivia.

And of course, congratula ons go out to Rick Monteiro for winning the whole thing! I have enjoyed spending the gi card on Amazon!

Continued from Page 21 As I write an ending to this issue’s The View from My Offi ce ar cle, it is a Sunday evening. I have been pu ng off wri ng the fi nal paragraph in hopes of good news from a long me friend and part of our Mopar Masters Guild Family. Many of you know and remember Mike and Leslie Cervantes. They have not been ac ve members for a very long me, but they sure did make a las ng impression on all of us that knew them during their me in the Guild. Mike was Rick’s Vice President for 2000 and 2001. He le his dealership to become part of the Sonic Automo ve group; I believe in 2001. Leslie and I have stayed friends all these years. Even though we don’t get to see each other, we developed a friendship over the years that Mike and Rick were in the guild that will last a life me. Mike’s job has taken them from California, to Ohio, back to California, then to Denver, Colorado where they are now.

Leslie reached out to me to let me know that Mike was in the hospital for complica ons from Covid. He was on a ven lator. She then let me know that he had stabilized, was off the ven lator and out of the ICU. They were trea ng him with oxygen therapy, things were looking good. Then Saturday night he crashed, was rushed back to the ICU where he was s ll ge ng the oxygen therapy. As I write this, they have put him back on the ven lator, fully paralyzed and sedated, the ven lator is at 100 %. To make ma ers worse his kidney stopped working and they have hooked him up to do dialysis. He is s ll fi gh ng for his life. So, I am asking all of our Mopar Family to rise up and say some prayers and send some good, posi ve, get-well wishes to Mike and to give Leslie the strength and support she needs to get her and her husband through this ordeal. I have a group text with many of the ladies and we have been trying our best to be there for Leslie and saying prayers for Mike’s recovery.

I am wri ng about this because the Cervantes will forever be a part of our Mopar Family. Anyone who met Mike would never forget him, his laugh, smile, and just the fun guy that he is! So, I felt that you all should know what is going on, and I don’t have all of you in my contacts. Our Mopar Family is a close-knit group that will always be there for each other. I know this. That is what makes all of you so special, and our group so unique. And it is what makes me thankful every day that you all are a part of my life.

Sad Update

I was so hoping I could write about Mike’s survival story in my next ar cle, but I’m sorry to say that is not going to happen. We just received word that Mike Cervantes lost his ba le with Covid on Monday morning April 19th. His wife Leslie was by his side and watched him take his last breath. Leslie, we are there for you.

My heart is broken and full of worry. I want to thank all the Mopar ladies in my group chat that said their prayers and sent their support Mike and Leslie’s way during this ordeal. It really gave Leslie comfort knowing we were all banding together for her and Mike.

This is what makes our Mopar family so special. No ma er how near or far or how many years it’s been we are s ll a special family and there for each other.

I plan on doing memoriam for Mike in the next issue of the magazine. If you have a memory you would like to share or pictures, please email me at kathy.monteiro@jackpowell.com

I ask you all to please stay vigilant in Covid safety protocol. We are so close to a place where we can relax, but not yet. We are all red, we all want this to be over, we all want some kind of normalcy - but it’s just not there yet. Till next me, stay safe and healthy. Remember we are all in this together so be kind and helpful. Can’t wait to see all of you again someday soon!