Anyone familiar with Repo men and privacy laws?

Back in February I fell on some hard times. I had my car repoed, got it sorted out and got the car back. Restructured my costs and moved on.

A couple weeks ago at my job I picked up another assistant manager under me. Guy had been out of work for awhile, but he really seemed to be a really good service manager. I as psyched, finally had someone who knew what they were doing. He was having trouble getting used to the antiquated operating our system uses. He was sent to me so I could get him over the mountain sized learning curve the system requires.

He was struggling for a long time, but it seemed like he was picking it up. Then one day we're out smoking and I was talking about my wife's car. Then he describes it to the letter and admits to me that he was the one that repoed it. All I could do was laugh and told him that it didn't bother me, he was just doing his job.

Well after that I start getting these weird complaints from my boss that this same guy was complaining that I wasn't training him very well. My boss and I thought it was just my training style didn't mesh with his an told me to have the service manger do the training. I said no problem.

I thought we had moved forward. Still everyday the guy is whining how asinine all the corporate policies and how my boss had screwed him on his salary. I tried to encourage the guy as best I could and give him solutions on how to work around it.

The this Tuesday he saw something on his commission report, flipped his lid, tossed me his keys and said he could make better money working out of his garage. I pulled him aside again, tried to help reconcile him again, but there was no winning this battle. I called my boss told him he walking and got told if he wants to walk, let him walk. Great now short a closer I now had to pull a 15 hour shift because he couldn't hack it.

Now I get a call today from my boss that this same guy called him and talked to him at length and the majority of it was me getting thrown under the bus. stating that I never trained him at all, left him when he was in need and spent most of my day standing outside smoking and otherwise avoiding dealing with issues in the shop. I get told he's going to 'sit down and discuss this with me' next week and not in a good way. The new guy has been taken back and moved to a different store.

I'm fuming and my service manager and I are talking it through and I find the real problem. Th new guy had problem with me because he repoed my car. And the two had talked about it a fair bit evidently.

This as ate me up quite a bit today. It never bothered me that he repoed my car, but when the guy starts messing with my job by making up issues just to get out of my store I want to know if there's any privacy laws I can use against him for discussing this with my service manager. He had mentioned that he could get in quite a bit of trouble for this.

Now I will mention that my service manager is a friend of mine and was even the one that lent me the money to get my car back, but the way it was told to me he wasn't the one that brought up the repo, but rather the new guy did.

Wow.

Sounds to me like you need to do one of two things:

1: do the same as you've been doing, assuming you've been doing the best possible job that you can. I'm going to give you the blind trust for this, seeing as I don't personally know you.

2: Screw the whole ordeal and get a new job.

Although in the end, if you've been a good employee and have done your job you really should have nothing to worry about.

Wait, what?

What the hell is the guy's problem? Was he so ate up with guilt, he went crazy? I mean, I might feel awkward working for a guy who's car I repo'ed, but I...

A. Wouldn't admit it and invite retaliation B. Wouldn't try and make his life miserable because I was afraid of retaliation.

I mean, WTF?

That's a strange situation. Just stay calm and state your case with facts and not emotion. From the bosses point of view there are two sides to every story and the truth is usually somewhere in the middle, but if you've been there a while and know what you are doing I would think you'd get the benefit of the doubt.

I would hope that if I were in your situation I would stop smoking before I stopped paying my bills, but that has nothing to do with the current issue.

Good luck. I can't help you with any knowledge of the law here, but I wouldn't think there is a strong code of honor in the repo world. (Meaning that there is nothing like doctor-patient confidentiuality, not that all repo men have no honor.)

I see two ways this could go. In the first case, he could be honestly crazy & under the impression that it's his cosmic destiny to screw you around – first your car, then your job. Hard to know what to do about this except get the guy a tinfoil hat and some good meds.

In the second case, he's a dirty-fighting SOB who figures that you're vulnerable (hey, you lost your car once, right?) so he can sabotage you at work and take your job. That's not a health care issue, that's an attack. Make SURE, right now, that you have a written record of every time you trained the guy (or tried to), what you covered, how long you spent discussing company policies, etc., etc. Even write up when and for how long you took smoke breaks. Try to account for every hour and day with this guy, because facts are the only way you can fight "he 'never' trained me" and "we were 'always' taking smoke breaks."

Good luck.

Now I will mention that my service manager is a friend of mine and was even the one that lent me the money to get my car back, but the way it was told to me he wasn't the one that brought up the repo, but rather the new guy did.

Might want to rethink your friends.

Also, on another note, why admit something that you don't have to? Unfortunately with the way the world is today, a job is a job, and to talk about things that are extraneous to it in the work place could be asking for trouble (especially about bankruptcy, repossession, etc). I would have just denied it was your's (or your wife's) car. I don't really think this is one of those "lawyer up" things, and from the sounds of it your service manager is not your boss (you have a higher up you are dealing with). Sounds like your service manager needs to make a call or two on your behalf.

BTDT There are just some people who will make up stories for no reason you can discern.

I've found that if you are at a company who believes these idiots when they already know you then nothing will get better and you need to find another company because now you have a tainted pool and they will begin to think strange thoughts about you on their own. They'll begin to wonder if a number of things aren't your fault.

Butt there is one thing to take from this. On some level you did not satisfy that guy's need for learning and support. Try to figure out what it was and decide to do a better job next time. Some people get along with a word occassionally and others need you to hold their hand every second of the day. Your job is to figure out what each person needs and give them that.

neckromacr wrote: All I could do was laugh and told him that it didn't bother me, he was just doing his job.

This is probably where it all when downhill. He really wanted to have more of an impact on your life.

So the guy starts a new job, bitches, and whines, badmouths everybody, then walks out, and complains that you weren't doing your job? If your boss is seriously going to give you E36 M3, you need to go in to that meeting with some attitude. The best defense is a good offense.

It says something about a place that would take back someone who just "walks".

This guy probably wants your job and thinks he is man enough to take it. He took your car.

At my old job we had a guy like that. He was there 3 months before he "knew" more than all the other mechanics combined and started making their work life hell.

He finally got the message to back off after all the other mechanics took turns pissing in each drawer of his tool box.

nobody needs that kind of crap in their lives. I wish you luck?

Thanks for all the input. I'm keeping my eye on this guy and I'll admit I was looking for something vengeful to grab onto. There are supposedly laws that keep repo men from discussing details of who is getting what taken to include ammounts owed. He himself even told me that he could get in trouble for talking to anyone else about it (but had told my service manager before admiting this to me) I was trying to strike back emotionaly. I'm a bit more level headed today but still quite angry.

The one thing I did omit in my initial novel length post was the guy did mix a little truth in with his fabrications. He dropped a bomb on my boss. Company policy says you have to pay to have any and all work done in the shop. Now of course the defacto rule is if you need to do something on your car and just need a lift to work on, and so long as it does not interfere with business you can do such.

So one day all 3 of us are there I see we have coverage up front, its a slow day anyway so I bring my car in to do a wheel bearing that had been screaming at me for a month. And yes I know in all reality I should have done it at home or something to that accord, but when working 6 days a week for at least 10 hours a day, taking care of all my personal business in one day is not always realistic. Add in the fact that finances are tight, I don't have the money for the privilage paying to use a lift. Add in 110 miles of drivng a day and I was already worred I had pushed my luck too far on a bad part.

Well of course in the talk with my boss this was thrown out there and made to seem like this was a constant issue with me. My boss confronts me with it, I fess up no point in lying. He confirms I know I could get fired for doing such. i told him yes, but I could get fired for not showing up to work because my car stranded me. He promised me he would not fire me, but he needed to see some big change up with me. I was angry because I had given him ammo to strengthen his false accusations.

I think my saving grace is the image of a lazy smoker only interested in my own car doesn't fit me. I took this store and made it profitable for the first time in 19 months and have continued to do so for almost a year now.

The crazy part is I've dealt with people trying to undermine me for my job before. He would be the 3rd, but he's also a lot smarter and slicker than the others. He was always bicthing about the pay, I guess he wagered the store manager go paid buku bucks (we don't I swear). I will definately keep my guard up around this guy, and have a few candid words with my boss when I see him next week.

that sucks, I'd love to kick his ass for you, but I ain't so big.

i would almost say if someone thinks that them can do the job better then you, stand back and let them try for a day or so and then step back in after they fall on thier face....sorry just had to say something..... good luck with the wise ass's you work with....then again i would not want to be maganger if you paid me cause its not worth the headache thats for sure..thats just my perasonal shot.....

How was your work prior to this guy showing up? Your boss should recognize the only variable is the new guy, if not he's not much of a manager.

If everything the guy said was true, i.e. he did repo your car, then there's no slander, probably no recourse. It's unprofessional, tacky and in bad taste. Let it run its course, stand on your credentials and reputation, let the new guy stand on his as marsh like as they may be.

Maybe he'll have better luck in his new career.

Dan