That Time I Changed My Flat Tire and Learned About Leadership

🚗 What in the hell does changing a tire have to do with leadership?

Great question! 🤩

Janette Edmonds brought back a memory with her post on changing her own flat tire. Great post, you can see it HERE.

Upon reading her adventure, I recalled that the only time I changed my own tire—over 20 years ago—did not have a positive outcome. But, I learned a lesson about leadership and that's the important thing.

🐴 I was a young whippersnapper going to school at Western Michigan University (go Broncos!) and had taken a part-time job at a large superstore chain in their systems department at one of the local stores. The Systems Team assisted with various computer and device issues around the store. I was majoring in Computer Info Systems and had a friend who worked for corporate in a technical role, so I thought it would be a great opportunity. Maybe I could get a job at corporate down the road! 💻🖨📞👩🏻‍💼

⛄️ ❄️ One blustery day I had to go to our satellite gas station across the vast parking lot to help with a problem. It was near blizzard conditions so I drove my car. Safety first. ⚠️

⛽️ As I pulled into the station, an ill-designed curb caught my tire. It was almost impossible to see under the 5-6 inches of snow that had already come down that morning.

Flat.

Shit. 💩

☎️ I went inside and called back to the main store to let Tina, the store manager, know the situation. I had only anticipated being at the gas station for 10-15 minutes and my tire situation was going to extend that a bit.

I fixed the cashier’s computer issue within a few minutes, then went back out into the blizzard to change the tire. By myself. 💪💪💪

🌨️ It sucked. I had to shovel snow with my hand to even get to it. But, I was young and didn't have the greatest insurance plan or AAA, so I just dug in (literally) and got it done.

I was feeling pretty accomplished in spite of the weather. I changed my own tire! 👏👏👏

When I got back to the main store, my boss greeted me outside our office. Hey, Cathy! ✋ I was ready to vent about the tire and end on a high note. I was in pretty good spirits in spite of the crappy weather and the fact that I'd likely need to buy a new rim on top of the tire.

Then Cathy informed me that Tina, the store manager, was docking my pay for the 30 minutes I had been gone. 💵🚫😲

That's right. On company time, doing company work, I got a flat tire driving over the unshoveled curb...called in my situation immediately, fixed the computer problem, changed my own damn tire, and now they were going to deduct a half-hour of time from my paycheck. 😡

I barely made $7.00/hour. It wasn't the money. Not for me or for them.