Genre: Fiction

Subject: Social Credibility

Nation-X

Cancel Culture

                                        by Bridget May

Illustrated by PPA

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: A Boost for Business………………………………………………………………… 1

CHAPTER 2: A Low Blow……………………………………………………………………………….. 5

CHAPTER 3: The Truth Comes Out……………………………………………………………….. 9

CHAPTER 4: The Double-Edged Sword……………………………………………………… 13

CHAPTER 5: Gone In The Night………………………………………………………………….. 17

CHAPTER 1: A Boost for Business

It was a quiet afternoon at Kanga’s Auto Service; Peter and Alfonse were working on the only car in the mechanic bay.

“Wow, quiet day, huh. Nothing booked for later?” Peter asked, noticing the lack of activity around the auto shop.

“No,” Alfonse sighed, “since that new quick lube shop opened with all their online appointments and coupons for service, we just can’t compete.”

He wiped his hands on a rag as he slid out from under the car. “Even our regular customers have taken advantage of the deals they offer. I don’t know how they do it. I don’t know how we’ll be able to keep going.” He sighed again.

“Huh, I didn’t realize it was that bad.” Peter sympathized.

Peter knew of the new shop he was talking about. They had thrown a big opening party with balloons, free food, coupons, and discounts. It was all over social media and had been a big deal.

Peter hadn’t thought it would dramatically affect Kanga’s Auto Shop business. They had been in business for over fifteen years.

But over the last week or so, the cars coming in were fewer and fewer.

He had an idea.

“Why don’t we move Kanga’s into the digital marketplace and take advantage of that too?”

“What do you mean? I can’t compete with their advertising budget.” Alfonse replied, frustrated. It had been years since he had advertised beyond the small ad he ran in the paper and a social media page. Alfonse didn’t even have an advertising budget.

“I don’t mean you have to compete, just have a presence – when was the last time you even posted anything on the shop’s social media page?” Peter asked. He had helped Alfonse set the page up a couple of years ago. Alfonse scratched his head, “to be honest, it’s been a while.” He looked thoughtful. “Well, you need to start again; remind our customers that we are still here!” Peter encouraged him. “I think you should also put something on Yello.” Alfonse looked confused, “what’s that? I haven’t heard of it. Is that a trade magazine? Is it expensive? What do I have to pay to advertise in there?”

“Wow, Dad, really?” Peter asked incredulously. He was surprised at Alfonse’s limited idea. He continued,  “it’s only the most popular app for businesses to advertise and get reviews. Everybody uses it. It’s free if you’re just a regular person and a small monthly charge for a business. We can do it all ourselves.” Peter had the app on his phone. He checked it daily; his gym had a massive presence on Yello. Peter knew firsthand how effective it was. He studied their page frequently for new posts about specials or whatever else was going on at the gym. The auto shop could do with a boost like that.

He pulled up the app on his phone and showed Alfonse. “Huh,” Alfonse was interested, “so people can write things about the business and interact with the advertising?” he was amazed.

Peter laughed, “yeah, Dad, and we can do it for the shop as well.”

“It’s worth a shot, I guess.” Alfonse was thoughtful, “what does it say about that new quick lube place?”

“I don’t know. Let’s check it out.” Peter laughed at how quickly Alfonse was interested in Yello.

He pulled up the page and read what information there was on the business. It all sounded like pretty standard stuff; come in on this day and get 20% off, buy one of these, get the next one-half price, etc. All sorts of significant savings and deals. Great, until he got to the reviews, which started to show some holes; the reviews were decidedly average, with most people complaining that they had awful customer service.

 “Hey, Dad, I think I may have found our advantage.” Peter was excited; it was so obvious. They would have the upper hand. Their page was going to be amazing!

He thought about it for the rest of the week. This was going to be great.

On Saturday night, Peter and Alfonse sat at the dinner table and designed the Yello page for Kanga’s Auto Service. Alfonse contacted some of his regulars and requested that they like and follow the page. Alfonse had serviced hundreds if not thousands of vehicles over the years, and everyone he messaged was happy to help. Some even offered to write reviews.

They also updated the Auto shop’s social media page. Peter thought Alfonse should start offering weekly hints and tips for people concerning their vehicle care. Alfonse wasn’t sure about that one; it sounded like a lot of work. He wasn’t a big communicator at the best of times. He suggested Peter take ownership of that idea. Jewel had joined them by now, and she suggested they make a big deal of the punch card Kanga’s offered. Alfonse kept a punch card system so that every third oil change was half price for his customers.

“Of course!” Peter was enthusiastic, “our best marketing, and we are so used to it we forgot to mention it!”

When they were done, Peter hit publish, and it all went live. Alfonse was nervous. Jewel thought everything looked great.

Now all they had to do was wait.

The flaw Peter had spotted in the new quick lube reviews was the strength that Kanga’s could offer – they were well established, provided excellent customer service, and guaranteed their work. They had to let everyone know—especially all the new people who were continually moving to Midland. There was a vast untapped market for new customers.

Alfonse was glued to his phone all day on Sunday, continually hitting refresh to see how many new likes or reviews Kanga’s Auto Shop had received. Peter laughed and told Alfonse to relax. They had done what they could for now. He was secretly obsessed also. It was exciting seeing the likes and comments roll in. Peter hoped all the interest translated to lots of new customers and the ones they hadn’t seen for a while coming back.

CHAPTER 2: A Low Blow

Monday morning, Peter and Alfonse were at the auto shop bright and early. Mondays were usually steady and, lately, the busiest day of the week. Alfonse remembered not long ago when every day was the week’s busiest day.

They were both disappointed to see there was not a noticeable increase in customers during the morning. At lunchtime, Peter was looking at his phone and checking Yello. Kanga’s Auto Shop only had a few more likes and reviews than last night; Peter was stumped. He decided to check out the quick lube shop’s page and was so shocked he nearly spat out his sandwich. It appeared they had explicitly taken a dig at Kanga’s Auto Shop in a new post: “Don’t waste your day waiting for the OLD auto shops! We’ll have you in and out in no time!” And to make it worse, they were also holding a new event and doing all oil changes and services for half price! All of them! No wonder nobody was interested in their puny offerings. Peter decided not to tell Alfonse immediately. He needed to think it through first.

From the lunchroom, he could hear Alfonse talking loudly to someone. As Peter came out into the mechanical bay area, he could see his cousin Darrell standing in front of his car talking to Alfonse; he dropped his car off for its regular oil change. “Hi, Peter!” Darrell called out as Peter came into view. “I was just talking to Uncle about the competition. Pretty tempting, you know.” He winked at Alfonse.

Alfonse turned to Peter, “have you seen what they did today?” Peter nodded. “I just did,” he replied. Alfonse shook his head, “I can’t believe it; it’s like they are trying to run me out of business.”

“I wouldn’t take it personally, Uncle. I’ve done some research, and if you look at the history of this company, this is exactly what they do. Establish themselves in a new town, offer discounts and specials, perform subpar work, offer no support or reimbursement, and move out in the middle of the night.” Darrell folded his arms, nodding. He believed what he was saying. Peter wasn’t so sure. That sounded so extreme; wouldn’t they have been shut down by now?

Maybe most of what Darrell said was true. Peter knew he would have to do his own research on that one. Alfonse sighed, “I hope they don’t do that. Many good, hardworking people around here just want to save a buck, and their vehicles are everything to them.” Peter was not surprised by Alfonse’s sentiment, he loved working on the cars, but he loved being able to serve his community even more. “Don’t worry, Dad,” Peter said. He faced Darrell, “we’ll just have to check on those details, I think.” Darrell wasn’t sure what Peter meant, but he nodded. He would do anything to support his uncle’s auto shop. “How about I deliver your car to you this afternoon, and you give me a ride back to the shop?” Peter asked. “Yeah, sure,” Darrell replied.

Later that afternoon, Peter and Darrell drove past the quick lube shop. They were about an hour away from closing, but Peter could see every vehicle bay full in the shop. Along with several vehicles parked in the parking lot. Including a few cars he recognized. Kanga’s customers! “I can’t believe it!” Peter gasped.

“Uncle was right; people just want to save a buck. Who can blame them?” Darrell reminded him. “Yeah, I get it. But still, where’s the loyalty?” Peter wondered out loud. He decided he would not tell his dad about recognizing vehicles there.

The shop was bustling, probably taking business from the other auto shop to the east as well. Peter returned to the thought Alfonse had expressed earlier. “How are they able to afford such specials?” he wondered out loud again. He knew at Kanga’s they were very reasonable. They didn’t charge too much for the labor, and their mark-up on materials was minimal. They sat across the street and watched for a while. The three mechanics in the shop were rapidly changing oil. Peter thought they almost looked like machines; he wondered how they could do the job correctly going so quickly. What if they missed something? When he earned his Mechanical Engineering degree, Peter recalled what his tutors always told him, “haste makes waste.” He couldn’t help but mention this to Darrell. “I know, right?” he replied, “it almost looks like they are in a race.” They watched a little longer, then Darrell dropped Peter back at the shop. After work, Peter decided he would go and work out. It always helped him sort his thoughts out.

He had another idea he would run by Alfonse.

After talking with Alfonse, Peter decided that Kanga’s should focus on what they were good at – which was excellent customer satisfaction. They needed to remind people that it was better to have an auto shop stand behind their work than beat a timer.

Alfonse agreed, and that night they made another post emphasizing their guarantee to stand behind the work they did. How year after year, they took care of the vehicles of the good people of western Peace City and beyond. It seemed a small action, but Alfonse and Peter agreed that sticking to the truth was the best way. Neither one of them wanted to drag down another business for the sake of business.

By the following day, their page on Yello was trending, and Alfonse was excited. Darrell called and asked if they had seen the most recent post from the quick lube shop. When Peter took a look, he couldn’t help a surprised laugh. A post from a customer asked why their car left oil spots in their driveway and why there was a burning smell after their oil was changed the day before. The one-sentence reply said that was normal after an oil change, that it would just burn off. Peter knew that was not entirely true.

“Hey, Dad,” he yelled over to where Alfonse was working, “They sure have an interesting approach to customer concerns.”  Alfonse read the post. “I wonder what they’ll do?” Peter speculated. Alfonse didn’t know, “but I do know what we should do.” He fixed Peter with a solid stare, “we should worry more about our business and less about theirs! Let’s get some work done.” Peter nodded and put his phone away.

CHAPTER 3: The Truth Comes Out

The day was steady, and Alfonse and Peter were both busy. Before they knew it, closing time had rolled around. As Peter was starting to lock the mechanics’ bay doors, a convertible car pulled in, consumed by a cloud of choking blue smoke. Marilyn Leap was in her vintage convertible, she had on oversized sunglasses, and her long flowing scarf was wrapped around her face like a mask. She was coughing and waving her arms to clear the air as she got out of the car. “Thank goodness I caught you, Alfonse, and Peter!” She said emotionally. They were standing away from the car out of the plume of smoke. “I was so worried that you would be closed! I already called Monica; I thought I was going to be stuck here if you boys had gone.” She walked over to them and dramatically motioned to her car. “Look what they’ve done to my beautiful car!” She sobbed, turning back to them, “can you save her?” She pleaded. “Please say she can be fixed.” When he proposed, Marilyn was referring to her car, which was an engagement gift from Hugh. She was very fussy about what was used on her car, most of the time anyway.

“What happened, Marilyn?” Alfonse asked with concern. Although he and Peter already knew what she was going to say next.

“This morning, I thought I’d just stop into that new quick lube place to take advantage of that half-price oil change.” Marilyn let out a big sigh. “That was a mistake. Sure, it was fast and cheap, but this started almost as soon as I got down the road. I noticed a burning smell and a little smoke coming from the car.” Marilyn sighed again. “I went straight back, and they told me they must have spilled a bit of oil on the engine, which is why it was smoking. That it was normal!” Marilyn looked shocked and disappointed in telling the story. “What did you say, Marilyn?” Peter asked, interested to hear her reply. “Well, I told them,” She shook her finger and put her hand on her hip, recalling her posture, “I wasn’t born yesterday, and I’ve had this car over twenty years, and she has NEVER done that before. This is something YOU did! Then I asked to speak to the boss – I had to make do with the manager – and demanded he fixed it.”

“No way, Marilyn! Did you?” They both laughed. Nobody messed with Marilyn Leap.

“Yes,” she folded her arms and sighed, “it didn’t get me anywhere, though. Even the manager said it was normal.” Marilyn used air quotes with her fingers on the last “normal.” Alfonse shook his head, “that is not normal. That is sloppy work.”

Marilyn went on, “even worse; they refused to do anything about it. Even when I told them who I was! I am so darn disappointed! I am writing a review on Yello about this; see if that will change their minds!” Peter reached under the dash and popped the hood. Since the car was turned off, the smoke had dissipated.

Marilyn leaned against her car, tapping away furiously on her phone’s keyboard. On a hunch, the first thing they checked was the oil. It was the wrong grade. Alfonse was not surprised at all. The incorrect grade of motor oil can cause the seals to fail and oil to leak throughout the engine, which happened to Marilyn’s car.

Alfonse explained to Marilyn what had happened and what they had to do next. Driving the car was not an option until the oil had been drained and flushed and the correct oil was used to replace it.

“I can get an early start tomorrow morning, though, and I’ll have her all ready for you by lunchtime.” Alfonse offered.

“Oh, could you?” asked Marilyn, visibly relieved. “That would be so great!”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Alfonse replied.

“Oh, you are the best!!” Marilyn exclaimed.

“No problem, Marilyn, it’s my pleasure,” Alfonse said graciously.

Just then, Monica pulled in to pick up Marilyn, “perfect timing!”

Monica wound down her window, “Hi Peter, Hi Alfonse,” she smiled at them both, “thank goodness you guys are still here. I’m glad Mom is not stuck on the side of the road somewhere!”

“We will call you tomorrow when the job is done, as Alfonse mentioned,” Peter confirmed with Marilyn. “Thank you both so much,” Marilyn said gratefully, “I appreciate you!” She blew air kisses in their direction as she got into the car.

Monica and Marilyn left, and Peter and Alfonse wheeled the car into an empty mechanic’s bay. They locked up and headed home.

“I wonder what Marilyn will post on Yello?” Peter speculated. “I don’t know, “Alfonse replied, “we’ll just have to check it out later.”

After being at the gym, Peter took the time and looked at the Yello page for the quick lube shop. Marilyn’s post was right at the top of the page; it was a scathing review of how badly they had messed with her vintage car, nearly destroying the engine. Peter chuckled to himself; Marilyn had been a great actress and still loved being overly dramatic. She also voiced her displeasure at their lack of customer service. The review already had almost a hundred likes and comments. It appeared her’s was not the only car they had put the wrong oil into that day. Peter showed Alfonse, who just shook his head, “I feel bad for those people.” Peter wasn’t sure which people Alfonse meant. The quick lube shop had not posted a reply. “Their silence is odd,” Peter pointed out, “they were very fast in reacting to previous customer reviews.” Although Alfonse reminded him, “there have not been any negative reviews of Marilyn’s magnitude yet. It is always easier to respond to positive feedback.” Peter agreed. Jewel had the idea to post on their page about their ability to fix mistakes from other shops. Without mentioning business names. Alfonse and Peter decided that was a great idea. Peter added the post immediately.

CHAPTER 4: The Double-Edged Sword

Alfonse was up early the next day and got to the shop before the usual opening time to start on Marilyn’s car. Peter decided he would follow him at the regular time. He had a quick look at Yello and was drawn in instantly. The quick lube shop’s page was filled with angry, negative reviews. And not a single response from the shop. All commenting had been turned off, so Peter knew they had seen the posts. He wondered what they would do. He spent longer than he thought scrolling through the comments and was almost late for work.

He decided to put it out of his mind as he headed to work.

The morning passed uneventfully. After Peter had finished one job, he helped Alfonse finish the work on Marilyn’s car. When she came to pick it up, she was so excited to start it up and hear the regular purr of the clean engine. She gave them air hugs and blew air kisses to both Alfonse and Peter as she was leaving. “I’m telling everyone how great you are! I’m sorry for ever going to a different shop to save a buck!”

As she drove off, Darrell pulled in. He had also been following the social media activity and was eager to report the scene he had witnessed at the quick lube shop on his way over. He was excited. “There were cars lined up outside each bay and people queueing outside the office. I don’t know if they used the correct oil on anybody’s vehicles from the air pollution!” Darrell laughed, “gee, Uncle, do you want me to go by there with some flyers for your business?” Alfonse wiped his hands on his coveralls, “no, Darrell, that won’t be necessary. Hopefully, these guys will do the right thing and fix their mistakes.” He paused, “I don’t think we need to be involved; they have done this to themselves.” Darrell laughed, “You’re too kind, Uncle. I would be rubbing their faces in it!” He exclaimed with enthusiasm. Alfonse grinned at him. “Sometimes, you just got to step back and watch.” Peter had an idea, “Why don’t we add a post on our page about what putting the wrong grade oil into the engine does? Or what can they do about it? We could do it as a helpful hint post so people reading it won’t feel so panicked if it happened to them.”

“That’s a good idea; I’ll leave that to you,” Alfonse turned back towards the office, “now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of my customers.”

“Wow,” Darrell turned to Peter, “he’s so relaxed about all this! I would be dying, checking Yello every hour to check out what’s going on.” Peter laughed, “you do that anyway, Darrell.”

“Yeah, but,” Darrell stated, “I don’t want to miss anything!” 

Peter laughed again. “Who said missing out on self-imposed drama was bad?”

“What do you mean missing out?” Darrell asked half-seriously.

Peter flicked his rag at him, “Get out of here; we have work to do.”

“OK, but if I see anything major developing with all of this, I’ll text you; I know you want to know too!” Darrell got into his car and headed out.

Peter followed Alfonse into the shop, “what do you think they’ll do?”

“Who?” Alfonse asked innocently. “The quick lube shop!” Alfonse shook his head. “Honestly, son, I’m done with this social media carry-on for the time being. It’s tiring trying to keep up with it. I will stick to our original thought of focusing on what we do best – taking care of our customers and their vehicles.” Peter didn’t have anything else to say, so he took his lunch break and posted tips on correct oil usage.

When Peter was done, he could not help himself. He had to check out the quick lube shop’s Yello page.

He saw a trending revenge page started by one of the disgruntled quick lube customers. They had tagged it and created it to look like the original page but called for everyone to lodge complaints with the Better Business Bureau and boycott the shop in general. Peter thought that was harsh but could understand the frustration. Although he knew Yello probably would not leave it up for too long.

When he checked out the quick lube shops page, there were no solutions or apologies from the business, and the page was still locked. No one had been able to add comments since last night.

He spent a few minutes reading some of the posts on the revenge page.

There were dozens of them! Peter could not help his morbid interest. A mixture of genuinely disgruntled customers complained about the oil changes and terrible services. But also many posts from angry people from other areas of Nation-X where the business had previously set up and left a trail of disaster behind them. Peter shook his head, glad he did not have to deal with all those angry people. Alfonse was right; it was better to focus on their own business and do it well.

That afternoon, three more people came in with their vehicles wanting the oil problem corrected properly by professionals. They were business people and courier drivers who did not have the time to wait to see if the quick lube shop would fix their mistakes.

They also had Marilyn Leap’s neighbor stop in for a second opinion on some work she needed on her vehicle. It seemed the quick lube shop was giving quotes for work that did not need to be done.

That night as they sat around the dinner table, Alfonse, Peter, and Jewel read the glowing post from Marilyn. It was an outstanding testament to Alfonse and Peter’s work at the shop. Alfonse remained humble, “those are very nice things for her to say; we were just doing our job.”

The numbers were impressive; there was suddenly a lot of positive interest on the page, with over fifty new page likes and close to two hundred likes of Marilyn’s review and Peter’s post about using the correct oil.

The conversation turned to the terrible quality work from the quick lube shop.

“I don’t understand,” said Peter, “why would you go to all the expense of setting up a business and advertising and running a successful social media campaign only to do such terrible work that no one stands behind?”

Alfonse agreed, “I don’t know; I must admit I was worried for a few weeks there. It was a very effective start to the business. I thought our days were numbered.”

“Well,” added Jewel, “I think you should be grateful because now you have increased Kanga’s social media presence, and that can only be a good thing.” “I guess,” Alfonse agreed, “as long as we keep on  doing a good job.”

Peter agreed too. He was still thinking about how much hate and anger the quick lube shop had now generated through social media. Crazy how something that could create awareness and sales could just as quickly flip it to be the exact opposite.

 

CHAPTER 5: Gone in the Night

The rest of the week at Kanga’s Auto Shop was busy; Alfonse was relieved how quickly business had returned to normal.

Darrell kept texting Peter to keep him updated with the revenge page and the quick lube shop. Peter already knew; he was quietly watching it all unfold on Yello. The revenge page was finally taken down, but only after there was talk of lawsuits and running them out of town or burning the business down. There were some angry people.

On Friday, however, there was finally one short post from the quick lube shop explaining their position: their supplier had provided a lesser oil grade, and it was not their fault. There was no mention of reparation or making it right for people. They didn’t even apologize! Peter thought it sounded like they were trying to shift the blame. Alfonse agreed but reminded Peter, “we can only focus on what we do and do it well.” He was wary of the power of social media and could see the apparent benefits but preferred to think of it all as a tool – something to help you do your job. Not something to live by or be notified of every time there was a new comment or reaction. Peter convinced him they should keep their Yello business page updated.

Together, they came up with a list of weekly topics they could post on Kanga’s Auto Shop page. The hints and tips for dealing with the wrong oil post were so popular that Alfonse agreed it would be valuable to post ideas for car maintenance regularly.

As they locked up the garage for the weekend, Alfonse felt satisfied that they had had a good week and that many previous customers had returned.

Peter headed to the gym.

On Saturday morning, Peter got a call from Darrell. “I told you I was right!” he boasted. “About what?” Peter asked.

“About them leaving town in the middle of the night!”

“What? No way! I gotta tell Dad!” Peter was shocked. “How do you know?” He felt a swirl of emotions. “That’s crazy!” was all he finally got out. “What happened?”

“They left in the middle of the night! I drove by this morning, and they cleaned out the place! Not a single sign or tool or anything! Just gone! I told you they did that!” Darrell continued. “I told you!”

“I just didn’t think it was possible,” Peter answered. He was still stunned as he finished the conversation.

Alfonse was just as surprised as Peter had been. Peter pulled up the Yello app on his phone. When they looked for the business page for the quick lube shop, it was gone. When they typed in the name, it returned an error message with “page not found.” Maybe they were done and would not be opening anywhere else.

Jewel was equally amazed. “What? What sort of business creates a mess and doesn’t front up to fix it?” She voiced all of their feelings.

“That’s a tough situation for everyone involved.” Alfonse shook his head and sighed, “I can’t even imagine what would be going through that owner’s head? How could you put the wrong oil into not just one car but dozens of cars? That’s willful incompetence!” Peter nodded in agreement. Alfonse went on, “I feel terrible for all the folks who thought they were saving money, and it’ll end up costing them much more!” Jewel put her hand on his shoulder, “do you think you could offer a discount for people to have the mistakes fixed at the shop?” He turned to face her thoughtfully, “you know, Jewel, that’s a great idea.”

The three immediately sat down to figure out how much discount they could offer for the community at large. When they came up with a figure, Peter posted the offer on Yello. He turned off his phone and left it on the table. “I think I should leave that right there for the rest of the day,” he said firmly. “What? No more social media?” Alfonse asked.

“No more for today, or at least the afternoon,” Peter replied. “You are right. All this drama is exhausting and technically not even ours to have to worry about!” he exclaimed. “It takes up too much time and brainpower!” Alfonse and Jewel laughed. “I think I’m going to go and work out.” As he left the house, Peter returned to get his phone. “You  know, Dad, you are right.”

“About what?” Alfonse asked.

“The best course of action is to just focus on what we do and do it well,” Peter replied.

“And you doubted me?” Alfonse teased.

“Of course not.” Peter laughed as he headed out the door.

On the way back from the gym, Peter drove by the quick lube shop premises. Darrell was right; it was locked up and completely deserted. Except for an overflowing dumpster and bits of trash lying around.

He contemplated how quickly things had gone badly for the business as a result of their actions. He promised himself he would never put himself or their family business in the position to be canceled like that.

Peter had heard of that happening to celebrities and businesses but had never witnessed it the way he had this week. It was a valuable lesson in the power of social media. One he hoped not to see so closely ever again.