 Hey guys. My name is Samuel Sutton. I'm from Marion County and I'm one of this year's 4-H 2020-2021 State Ambassadors and today I have with us my uncle Jeffrey Fikes. He works at Fox Chevrolet in Hamilton, Alabama in Marion County. Jeffrey, today I have a few questions for you. So, what was your major in college? My major in college was electrical engineering. Okay, what drove you to pursue this career? Family. My father had been in the car business since the mid-60s, starting out as a salesperson and then later on ended up half owner in the local Ford dealership for a couple of years. And then when I was in 11th grade, I think it's when it was, we switched over and ended up in the Chevrolet business, so I had to eat a lot of crow there for a while. And so, of course, I was the first in our family to go to college and so I went off to school and he had asked me when I got out, you know, if I would come back and help and I said yes. And so, the folks that I went to work with had paid for a moving van and paid all my expenses and I've worked in Huntsville for three months and then when I moved back, I came back in a pickup. And so anyway, I came back and I've been, that was in January of 1981 and I've been here ever since. So it was really just a family deal. What's a typical day like on your job? Apparently fairly haphazard based on the myth this morning, but you know, generally speaking, I get there, I'm an early guy. I like to get up early and I like to be at work early and so I go over and actually some of the other managers, in particular the service manager, will open up the place and but I come in and finish opening it up and then we, you know, everybody comes into work, we get cranked up about 7.30 and it's just mostly, you know, got a check emails and just going around to make sure that everybody's, you know, got the tools they need to do their job and to, you know, check on the progress of the sales department and check on the progress of the service department and if we've got problems or issues, we talk about that kind of stuff and it's, you know, I do a lot of what they call, I guess, management by walking around where you just go around from department, department, look at things, you know, they say you can't expect what you don't inspect. So it's just, you know, you take it as you go and we've got, we're blessed with some good managers that take pretty good care of their departments. And so, and of course I work, you know, that my brother works there, John Fax and then Jay Fax works there, also my son. So it's a sort of a family deal. So what would you say the best thing about your job is? The best thing about my job? Well, at this stage, you know, I'm coming up on 40 years being there and I do have the flexibility. I don't have to stay put. So I would say if I have the, you know, if I can arrange it where I don't think anything's going to go sideways or something, I can not have to be at the dealership the whole day. So if I need to go take care of something or food, a hobby item or something like that, then I have the flexibility to go do that type thing. So I guess that's the best thing. And as far as just, you know, at this stage, I'm going to say that's not always been the case. What skills do you think are most important for someone in your kind of job work? I mean, you've got to be some kind of a people person. You know, if you're managing folks and everybody's trying to work together, you know, the definition of management, the company results through the efforts of others, then, you know, then you've got to be able to talk to people and, and, you know, we got, you know, we're not a huge operation, but, you know, everybody has issues and problems. And sometimes they're work related. Sometimes they're family related, but, you know, I try to know a little bit about everybody's, you know, family situation and, you know, things that are going on in their life so that you, you know, that folks know that you care, you know, and, and we're sort of like a big family at work. We're not just, you know, we're not, we're results driven, I guess, where that's how we survive, I guess that you could say. But the other side of that is we do, you know, try to look at the big picture when folks are having troubles or family issues or, you know, we cry as long as they're crying and celebrate with those that celebrate. And, but I would say people skills and a lot of that, you know, comes with time, you know, I can, I can think of things, I can probably count on my fingers some things I have said to people in the past that came out wrong or was not appropriate or whatever, and you replay that junk over and over in your head. And over time, I think you do gain a better ability to deal with people and have a positive outcome rather than, you know, making a bad situation worse sometimes. So I'd say people skills was the number one thing. What impact has this job had on you? What effect has it had on me? It's made me an old person. It's been, you know, the car business is, it's not what it used to be. I'll put it like that. You know, when I came back in 1980, the level of automation, how many things that you did that were on a computer were far less. I mean, I started out, you know, our communication back at that time was based on cassette tapes. Nobody can hardly sold enough to remember any of that kind of stuff. The PC did not exist. And so all that has changed. Now, the question was how did it affect me? Was this how it affected me? Yes. The question. OK. So you've had to, you know, I was sort of a good, you know, with my background and electronics and that type thing, I really embraced the electrical side and the communications and all that. So we tried to advance through that through those things as fast as we could. But, you know, I guess, you know, who I am today, I guess, as a sum result of 40 years of working there, whatever, and hopefully I've got some more years to go. It's been a growing experience the whole time. I've played a lot of different roles during my, you know, in my teenage years, I worked in the parts department. I worked in the body shop. I worked in cleanup, you know, and then later on, I was sort of like, I guess, a sales manager and still sort of that role to some extent. But but more than that. And so, you know, I've had to do hiring and I've had to do firing. And so, you know, all that stuff is learning. You know, it's OJT on the job training and you just have to. Sometimes the stuff's a lot of fun. Sometimes the stuff is pretty painful, but it's just part of the job. So, I mean, I, you know, I don't know wherever I am today, I guess I'm the sum result of everything I've been through in the last 40 years. I don't know if that answered the question or not, but I'll try. Is there anything you had wish you had known when you had started your career? Well, you know, hindsight's always 2020. So you don't know, you know, I, you know, I did leave what my education was in and engineering. I do think that the college, the college was worth a lot as far as working toward a goal, you know, being willing to work hard to make good grades, all that kind of stuff. I really didn't get to apply much of that. I'm talking about the overall part of it, I guess, it's sort of like going to kindergarten, learning to line up and be quiet and do certain things at certain times. I guess all that was part of it. But, you know, I'm saying it's looking back, you know, sometimes I say, well, what would have happened if I had a state of engineering, you know, versus being in the car business? And I, you know, who knows what would have happened? But I really don't. I don't know if there's anything I wish I had known. A lot of the stuff has just evolved over time and the world has changed and the corporations have changed. They're not what they used to be. You know, it was a lot more globalization and it's just a different deal. They've built all of the automation and the computerization of so much data has enabled large corporations to have a lot more control down to the minutiae level of what goes on. So it's not as much fun as I said earlier, but it's been a good ride. And, you know, we've made a good living and we've, you know, we've had some fun along the way. So I don't guess there's anything that I'd look back and say I probably wish I had known. I love it. Only thing is you can only second guess yourself sometimes later in life as to what you did or didn't do. We're on our last question. So is there any advice you would give a youth that would be interested in your kind of job work? You need to be a paper person. As far as life skills, you got to be able to be willing to work hard. You got to be willing to get up. You know, you got to get up, dress up and show up. You know, that's the first thing. Unfortunately, we see folks I hate to say this, but you do say some younger folks today that have a little difficulty with that. So I mean, being on being at work and with, you know, of course, attitude can't be quantified. But having a work ethic that you want to come in. And I do believe that we still live in a country that if you work hard, you can be rewarded for that. And the car business is not going away. It is changing. There's a lot of opportunities. A lot of times, the one thing that's good about the car business is it does not require a college degree in most instances. A person that's willing to work and try hard can get an entry level job and a leadership and move up. And I've seen that time and time again at our place. And I've seen it at other dealerships. Another thing that is in tremendous demand are highly skilled automotive technicians. If a guy or a gal is willing to take some basic technical training and it's out there, different manufacturers offer this training. I think that they are in high demand. You cannot hardly find technicians. It's a struggle. They work five days a week in the daytime. It's not shift work generally. So you can be off on the weekends and at night, be home to your family and make really good money and good benefits. So that's one thing that I really feel like that technical training could really lead to some good careers in this country. Don't have to be a rocket scientist or a doctor or lawyer to make a good living. There's lots of technical skills that are needed desperately in this country. So that's my suggestion, is try to get some type of technical education or get your foot in the door. If you get your foot in the door and you do a good job, you'll be okay. That concludes our interview today. Thank you, Uncle Jeffrey, for allowing us to interview you and taking time to be interviewed. You're certainly welcome and I hope I wish you good luck in the future in this endeavor and in 4-H. I've enjoyed being interviewed and if you ever need me again, give me a heart.