The Voice of Doom

Every dealership has one. He’s the guy who has the attitude of an undertaker on a bad day. He’s the one who seems determined to take the smile off your face and money out of your pocket. He is the Voice of Doom.

For the Voice of Doom, every aspect of the business is a negative, unless of course it’s good for him. The proverbial half a glass of water is always half empty to him. If you don’t believe this, try splitting a deal with the guy. He never gets a half deal. He lost a half deal.

For the Voice of Doom something is always wrong with everything. The store has too much inventory. The inventory is crappy. They’re buried in all the used cars. They’re screwing him on his trade-ins, on recon, on the pack. The managers are incompetent. Everyone is always trying to skate him. I even had a Voice of Doom inform me with syrupy concern in his voice that management was on the verge of firing me. They weren’t.

The Voice of Doom can be deviously clever in his attempts to bury your attitude. He’s like the character Wormtongue in the “Lord of The Rings” movie. He will whisper in your ear and mess up your mind. He will try to destroy your attitude so that when you take your next up you’re too crapped out to make a sale. Why does he do this? Some guys thieve on screwing with people. They’re so obsessed with winning that the prospect of anyone else succeeding is a threat to them.

Of course not all Voices of Doom are maniacs. Some just take that “glass half full” thing to an extreme. They are in a constant look out for threats to their security and feel obligated to pass the information on to you. They’re paranoid to the extreme and can’t conceive of why you’re not too. The weird part about all this (and I truly hate to admit it) is sometimes they’re right. Sometimes the sky actually is falling. Just ask the guys who sell Cadillac Escalades for a living.

A sales manager can also be a Voice of Doom. He can take a Saturday morning sales meeting and turn it into the most depressing thirty minutes of your week. Bound and determined to prove to you that you’re a piece of shit, “Captain Crap Out” feels obligated to ruin your attitude and blame you for it. So much for a productive weekend! The finance manager version of this guy assumes that all customers are guilty until proven guilty or until the buy an extended warranty, whichever occurs first.

As I write this, I’ve started to wonder, am I a Voice of Doom? Let’s face it, many of my writings concentrate on the frustrations of being a Car Man. I will admit to a pretty low opinion and tolerance of “The Others”. By pointing out these things, am I being negative? Has your income dropped significantly since you started reading this blog? Admitting this possibility should somehow worry me, but oddly it does not. I call ‘em as I see ‘em, as the saying goes.

And if it craps you out in the process, well that’s your problem.


Talk to you later,


David