Thin Skin and No Spine

I recently got an interesting e-mail from one of my newspapers. Well, it’s a former newspaper. You see, a couple of years ago they strangely discontinued my column, and when I asked why, I was told by the editor they decided to “go in another direction.”  A cliche reason if there ever was one, but I let it lie. 

Well, since it’s been a while, I decided to e mail the publisher to see if there was any possibility of me being reinstated. I also mentioned to him that I didn’t really know why I had been uninstated to begin with. 

To his credit, he gave me the reason. He told me that an article I wrote about buying cars had offended a large auto dealer, who happens to be one of their larger customers. He had to apologize to them which hacked him off, so he dumped me. In other words, this guy had to kiss the butt of a big customer who obviously has problem taking a joke. 

Just so you know, the column ran statewide, and no one had a problem with it - with one pathetic exception. A hypersensitive outlier crying in the corner while everyone else was enjoying the article.

So, it’s not just the woke folks that are overly sensitive, apparently some car dealers in Alabama are too. It’s really sad that people have this kind of attitude. 

We’ve heard for several years how many top shelf comedians are refusing to perform at colleges. Even Jay Leno has taken all political material out of his act. And now this mindset has apparently trickled so far down that some podunk car dealers have their tender feelings and self esteem hurt. 

To be honest, it may not have been the jokes that hacked them off; I think some of the advice on how to buy cars may be what did it. There were no dark secrets, just tips from a friend of mine on how to negotiate the most favorable terms of a purchase - tips the dealer probably didn’t want prospective buyers to know - or use. FYI, I just checked, and found most of them with an internet search. These weren’t dark secrets that I procured from a dusty old book hidden away for centuries. Instead of ancient, forbidden Masonic car-buying rituals, these were just basic consumer smarts.

My hope is, that before the publisher finally kissed the customer’s butt, he suggested that they lighten up a bit. But judging by the tone of the e-mail, I doubt that happened. He seems to still be upset. Of course, I wasn’t privy to what went on. Maybe the dealer was so angry it was impossible. Either way, it’s both laughable and sad.

I hope that some of his anger is directed at himself. An engaged editor or publisher should have read my column, and said something to me. An easy fix. Then all of this could have been avoided. One of Nick Saban’s favorite sayings is,”Do your job.” It doesn’t look like they did. 

I’ve considered heading to this dealer when I’m  going to buy my next car, and making a bunch of unreasonable demands - with no intention of buying a car from them. I thought better of it - that would lower me to their level.  

Thank you for letting me vent. I don’t think I’m crazy. I’m just fed up with people like this. They need to learn to take a joke, and accept the fact that they are not going to agree with everything written they read. 

Grow a pair, for goodness sake. 

#newspapercolumns#carbuyingtips#growapair