The internship process is about constantly yielding to compromise, doing things I used to be reluctant to do; it cured some of my bad habits.

Rotation

The day before yesterday, on August 9, in the morning I was suddenly informed that I needed to rotate; it was expected but still very distressing. This rotation required going to the workshop, primarily to learn automotive maintenance knowledge, engine disassembly and assembly, and electrical circuit systems, then rotate to the parts department. It didn’t require deep study; it required knowing the basics and the overall after-sales process, but still demanded solid hands-on practice.

As for the rotation, I personally think it’s necessary. When I first joined the company, the manager talked to me and said that if I didn’t want to rotate, she could arrange for me to directly become an After-sales Service Advisor Assistant (hereinafter SA).

At first I was quite happy, because rotation is indeed exhausting; you have to work in the workshop, and compared to the front desk where you could slack off every day, it’s a world of difference.

But I ultimately chose to rotate because it’s indeed necessary. There are two reasons:

1: Operational coordination

• (1) Our company currently has 14 after-sales consultants; most have rotated, and they are very familiar with technicians from the workshop’s various departments, and they even work together. Your car would be fixed by me; you bring in the car, I fix it; the two of us collaborate very well. If I hadn’t done the workshop rotation, subsequent business would be difficult to carry out; for example, for the same car as other SAs, the technician would surely take someone else’s first.
• (2) Customers who come to the shop for repairs or maintenance directly interface with the consultant; the car’s problems will first be discussed with the consultant, who needs to help the customer make a preliminary judgment of the fault points, and submit a work order to the workshop for targeted repairs. Therefore, if you rotate through the workshop, you’ll have some professional knowledge and won’t be at a loss when asked questions; after all, no one wants to hand their car to a novice.
• (3) Sense of time; many disputes in the company are caused by mutual misunderstandings. After the service consultant takes an order, they need to give the customer a concrete pickup time; different projects enter the workshop at different times. Obviously maintenance takes 3 hours, but if the consultant doesn’t understand that you can pick up in 1 hour, it will cause unnecessary arguments. Customers complain, the consultant and technicians are fined together. After the rotation, you can manage time yourself, tell customers a more precise pickup time, and coordinate more smoothly with the technicians.

2: Trial and error

• I needed about half a year to rotate through different roles; I think this is a chance to trial and error, to experience different posts, and ultimately decide which one to do; if none fit, it’s better to exit the industry early to seek other paths.

So, based on the two points above, I ultimately chose to rotate; even though the manager said it could be avoided for more comfort, in the long run rotation has more advantages than disadvantages.

Mental Compromise

I am a person with a very strong cleanliness obsession; after starting work it cured my OCD. Now my daily commute uses a shared bicycle for short trips. In Ningbo helmet enforcement is very strict; the police on duty times align with work hours; weekends are off, so I prefer weekend commutes to be smooth sailing, without having to outsmart anyone.

I am willing to wear a helmet, but not the helmet from shared bicycles. Shared-bike helmets sit on the roadside all year; exposed to sun and rain, dusty; perhaps in summer there’s sweat from the last rider, and there are even cases of malicious sabotage by competitor companies (I’ve really seen: inside the helmet there’s an unknown liquid, the QR code glued with glue, the saddle torn to deter sitting, making customers fear there are needles or diseases underneath). In short, I despise shared-bike helmets. At first I battled the police daily, but now I have compromised with the shared-bike helmet; unless it’s raining and there’s water inside, I won’t wear it.

Some friends suggested I bring my own helmet, but that’s just too troublesome!!! Commuting to and from work with a big thing on hand and nowhere to store it. Overall, very annoying~

Moreover, during the rotation period, I had to disassemble various items, including engine oil, brake fluid, coolant, and so on. Initially, even a little oil on my hands was extremely repulsive; the stickiness and fear of corrosion, when touched I would hurry to wash my hands. Now I’m immune to it; I calmly pour some bottled water on my arm to rinse, finish the job, and move on. Brake fluid dissolves in water, so there’s no panic... It cured my problem.

But I still have a bottom line, because the rotation time isn’t long, I will absolutely not work in the workshop in the future. My final requirement for myself is that I must wash my hands very clean; I’m afraid that if I don’t thoroughly clean for a long time, the black grime will fuse with my nails; many long-tenured experts are like that... So I clock out at 17:30; I usually wash my hands for about 10 minutes, until the skin is peeling, with no trace of black in the nail crevices; this is my final bottom line, I cried...

Alright, thank you very much for reading my rambling; it records my life and represents my phase of experience. Finally, I’ll share a photo I took! Have a great weekend off!