5 minute read
Kat Monteiro
The View From My Offi ce
With Kat Monteiro
Here we are, the end of December and Christmas is just a few short days away. A few days a er that we will be celebra ng the coming of a new year - 2022. Bringing in the new year - 2022 - seems almost impossible! Remember when most of us were young, we never even thought we would make it to the year 2000! We thought we would be old and shriveled up by the me that decade came along - but here we are, alive and well, bringing in 2022! Blows my mind! And how many of you went in to work December 31st 1999? Going in to watch the computers, to see what was going to happen when the clock and year changed over to 2000. I know Rick did! And now here we are bringing in 2022. And we are s ll here to talk about it.
I’m in a bit of a refl ec ng mood. Thinking about all the Lifestyles trips we have been on, and being able to spend me with many of you on those trips, how fortunate we have been. With the new year brings con nued changes to our Chrysler world with Stellan s becoming our new leader. And all the thoughts going through our minds wondering what will become of it all. I hope they bring back Lifestyles. Those trips were such good opportuni es for many of us to get to know each other. And it really was a great tas ng carrot at the end of a hard fought year. Happy mes indeed. Going down memory lane brings me to thoughts of these ar cles I write. It all started when I was driving and delivering parts. I always picked a good place with a view to sit and have my lunch. Usually by the ocean, but there were days it was under a shade tree with a view of a grass fi eld full of fl owers, or the salt fi elds in Chula Vista, wherever it was I would snap a picture looking out my windshield and post it on Facebook with a tle of The View From My Offi ce. It kind of became a hit so Don and I cha ed and decided I would write monthly ar cles with the tle The View From My Offi ce. It started off as kind of a blog. Talking about my daily job as a driver, introducing you to some of my favorite shops and introducing you to Jack Powell CDJR. I started wri ng these ar cles back in 2015. It’s been fun! It makes me feel accomplished when you all tell me that you read my ar cles and liked what I talked about in a certain issue. I have even had people from Chrysler Corpora on/ Mopar tell me how much they look forward to reading my ar cle. Jack Powell himself will send Rick and I an email telling me how much he enjoyed something I have wri en. I know I am too ng my own horn here a li le bit, but I do feel proud. I want to thank Don Cushing for all his encouragement and pa ence. There have been mes that I just couldn’t pull anything from my brain and Don would tell me that he knew I could get past my block and write something, and I always did. And some of those ar cles ended up being the best I have wri en. So I truly do thank him for always believing in me. I thank him for giving me the opportunity to take up space in the Mopar Masster’s Guild Magazine issue a er issue. I do enjoy it so much! I have had the opportunity to write about so many things from our business at Jack Powell, life as a parts driver then as an Outside Sales Rep, trips, conven ons, vaca ons, NADA, so many things, how did I ever get so lucky? As I am wri ng this I started to think it sounds like I am saying goodbye. And in some aspects I guess I am. As I write this I have only 7 days le of work. Rick and I are re ring on New Year’s Eve. Rick will s ll be working part me but I will not. It is all bi ersweet. Continued on Page 9
Continued from Page 8 I am very excited about our future. Traveling and visi ng friends and family, staying down in Mazatlan, Mexico and up in Albion, Calif at the coast for extended periods of me. We plan on ge ng a small travel trailer and visi ng the Na onal Parks. We want to visit all the Presiden al Libraries. The best part will be visi ng many of you. This week has hit me a li le hard with the reality of it all. I was si ng up at the front retail counter watching all the sales people walk by, and the service advisors coming up to get coff ee or use the snack machine, and the customers I talked to, and I started realizing how much I will miss being with all these people. Gree ng our GM, Gerold every morning, popping in and saying hi to Jason Powell when he is in his offi ce, fi st bumping with Jack Powell when he comes into the dealership and even though he is wearing a mask I can see his big smile underneath, everyone in our parts department - we are a work family and I will miss you all. Rick is in his 29th year here at Jack Powell, it has been a good run. I am thankful to the Powells for giving Rick the opportunity all those years ago. He has truly thrived here and has really built a good reputa on for himself in the Chrysler world and has made this dealership one of the best. I am so very proud of him. I am looking forward to our next adventure, because for those of you who know Rick well, you know he never travels the same road twice and he always plans great adventures! As far as my ar cle goes, if Don will have me, I would like to con nue. We could call it The View From My Offi ce - the re rement edi on!
I hope everyone enjoys their friends and families over the holidays. Take me to be thankful and be kind, the world needs more kindness.
We look forward to seeing many of you in Vegas for NADA to help celebrate 30 years of the Mopar Masters Guild. What an awesome accomplishment!! Congratula ons to all of you for helping make this group successful and strong. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Kat Monteiro
