OUT OF BODY (AND MECHANICAL EXPERIENCES

The Fixer

by THOMAS GRECO, PUBLISHER

For those of you who have read my columns over the years, it’s no secret that when it comes to fixing things, I am as clueless as Joe…Dirt. For years, I have not hidden the fact that I once used a baseball bat to knock a jack off of my ’78 Camaro because I didn’t know how to change the tire and I couldn’t get it off the rear panel. Forty-four years later, I still don’t know how to change a tire. But I sure can write about it!

Now, Greco Publishing Vice President (and 2021 AASP/ NJ Hall of Famer AND Women’s Industry Network 2022 Most Influential Women Honoree) Alicia Figurelli is the complete opposite of me. She possesses all those skills that seemed to have eluded me for the last 60 years. Fix a clothes dryer? No sweat. Put up shelves? Not a problem. Drill a hole in the wall to run an ethernet cable? Consider it done. She has saved me many phone calls to relatives and friends begging for help in these situations. She also gets this stuff done quickly and usually before I get into the office. Alicia is a natural born fixer. But she does have one problem: She spends so much time fixing everyone else’s shit, that she ends up neglecting her own. Especially when it comes to her car.

I rarely get a chance to ride in her car but when I happened to get into it about two years ago, I noticed a small crack in the windshield. Knowing what we know from all the stories we’ve published, I asked her when she was going to get it fixed. She said she would get to it. About a year later, I once again got into the vehicle. And now the crack was about a quarter of the way across the windshield. And to boot, her TPMS light was on.

“I thought you were going to get that fixed.” “Oh stop. I will.” “You know how dangerous this is and how it makes us look bad when we see our clients.”

“I will get it done!’ “What about the tires???” “I WILL GET IT DONE!”

After 19 years together, I have learned not to push.

So when we traveled out to an appointment a few weeks ago and I saw that the crack was almost all the way across the windshield, I had to pull rank. “Okay, as your employer, I am insisting you get this fixed. I am not going to get a phone call saying our Vice President was beheaded when she got into a fender bender.” “I PROMISE I will do it tomorrow.” After 19 years together, she knows how to shut me up.

About a week ago, Alicia left the office and her number showed up on my cell phone shortly after. Of course I thought the worst. Had the windshield finally caved in? Luckily, she was only stranded in our parking lot. Dead battery. When I went down to take a look (as if I would know what to do), she asked if I had jumper cables. I said sure, and proceeded to phone my wife and ask her. She advised that I hadn’t had jumper cables since we moved in 1998. With no jumper cables around, I told Alicia to hang on, I had an idea. I took a chance that the guys at my mechanical repair shop, Mulligan Motors in Nutley, might still be at the shop, even though it was after 5pm. Now allow me to give you a quick back story on Mulligan’s. They have been in Nutley since before I was born. I think I started going there back in the ’90s and they have always done great work for me. But what I always loved the most about Mulligan’s were the two owners, Nick and Ray, who were coincidentally two of my biggest fans. I kid you not. Every time I walked into the shop, they would compliment me on the articles I write in this magazine. What could be better than getting great service and fans who actually READ your stuff????