By Casey Neill
George Greig has notched up 40 years with Patterson Cheney.
He landed a job with the Dandenong-based automotive company after being put out of work at Boyanton Motors.
George also interviewed at Preston Motors but liked Patterson Cheney better.
He was put onto the front counter at first, and then spent 23 years on the road as a mobile parts representative.
The 63-year-old travelled across Victoria and into New South Wales with the role – one he initially turned down.
“It was a very big thing back in those days,” he said.
“I knocked it back the first time, and they did ask me a second time. They must have had a bit of faith in me.
“I was out two nights each week in different areas, covering down as far as Gippsland, Mt Gambier, Mildura, and as far north as Gundagai and Narrandera.”
He was responsible for looking after dealerships and government car and truck fleets.
George is now a parts interpreter at the Patterson Cheney Isuzu branch in Dandenong and said he’d stuck around because he’d always felt valued.
“The company’s been very good to me and the workers, they’re all fantastic – and the office staff,” he said.
“Management, they’ve done the right thing by me.
“You’re not looking over your shoulder.
“They’re allowing you to do what your job expectations are.”
George has watched cars and dealerships change immensely during his four decades in the industry.
“The showroom here, I was working just beside it in that little used car area and watched every day as the showroom went up,” he said.
“Showrooms back in those days were normally just car lots, cars sitting outside.”
He experienced the introduction of the first computer system, and “had a little bit of a hand in that sort of thing”.
In terms of the cars themselves, “I like the luxuries of the new ones, but I like the old ones, too.”
