Working For Enterprise Rent A Car

Hello There My Lovelies,

As you probably already know, I used to work at Enterprise Rent A Car aka ERAC, which I also sometimes like to refer to as ECRAP or EFUCK.

I was visiting a website called www.failingenterprise.com. I've been checking up on this site ever since I quit about 2 years ago. I still have nightmares once in a while about renting cars to questionable people.

Anyway, on this website people there can come together and commiserate about the rental experiences that they have had, or former employees can talk about experiences they've had. There are so many disgruntled employees that this website is flourishing. Some of the posts are very juicy.

Below is a cut-and-paste of an "You Know You've Worked At Enterprise When......"
As a bonus, I've added my witty commentary. Enjoy......

In the early stages, you brag about others' paychecks that you've never seen, are quick to answer the phones within one ring, feel priviledged to be given such an awesome business opportunity, look up to your fellow upper management team, shrug off warnings from customers about the reality of your job, believe that you will be making six figures in six years, etc. etc. SO VERY TRUE

After a few months of 60 hour weeks, you begin to discover it was all farce. The opportunites and growth are not really there afterall. Upper management really doesn't make as much money as you thought or were told. The company's retention is atroscious, even though they claim it is average. Soon this begins to ensue:

You begin to lash out at significant others, friends, and family because you are so miserable from your day at work where you got to wash a dozen cars, write a dozen contracts, and listen to a dozen customers complain their cupholders were dirty before asking to be driven home. I NEVER REALLY LASHED OUT AT ANYONE, BUT I WAS TIRED

You begin to question why you even bothered getting excellent grades, working hard, and going to college when your reward was a job in which you were nothing more than a glorified cashier, taxi driver, janitor, and peon for ignorant customers. VERY TRUE, ESPECIALLY SINCE I OWED SO MUCH ON MY STUDENT LOANS

You eat dinner at about 7:30-8:00 every night because you had to stay after work because the body shop that gives your branch one deal a month called two minutes before closing and demanded a car for Mrs. Carter since you were technically still open. VERY TRUE, I USED TO BE SENT ON PICKUPS TWO MINUTES BEFORE CLOSING, AND END UP DRIVING THE CUSTOMER HOME BECAUSE SHE FORGOT HER LICENSE.

You begin to find solace in talking to the car preps in the wash bay because it so much less stressful than being in the office. In fact, you secretly would like their job since they make almost as much as you and don't have to put up with office politics or whiny customers. I USED TO SOMETIMES ENVY THE CAR PREPS

Your own car begins to get dirty because you don't feel like washing the 20th car that day, even if its yours. VERY TRUE, I WAS JUST TOO TIRED TO CLEAN MY CAR

You love when you have to run a car to another office because you know you will no longer have to be answering three calls at once while the customer in front of you impatiently stares you down, while tapping their fingers lightly on the counter. I ALWAYS LOVED TO DRIVE TO ANOTHER BRANCH FOR WHATEVER REASON JUST TO GET OUT OF THE OFFICE, AS DRIVING HELPED PASS THE TIME.

You are grateful that your parents let you move back into your old room after school because you know that you would never be able to afford to move out on your own on your $32,000/year salary (includes overtime, promotion, car sales, recruitment, etc.) HAHA, MY FOLKS NEVER DID SUCH A THING, BUT I WAS LIVING IN A NICE PLACE

You are so motivated to find a new job that you begin asking every customer what they do, where they work, and if they are hiring. THIS IS HOW I GOT MY CURRENT JOB, HAHA. IT TOOK ME A FEW MONTHS, BUT IT FINALLY HAPPENED ! MY AREA MANAGER FOUND OUT AND TOLD ME THAT I SHOULDN'T HIT UP CUSTOMERS FOR NEW JOBS. HAHA, APPARENTLY SOMEONE I CONFIDED IN RATTED ME OUT, BUT WHATEV ! WHEN HE TALKED TO ME, I TRIED TO KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE, BUT ENDED UP GIGGLING A LITTLE.

You begin using flex time, sick days, and vacation to go on interviews hoping that your prospective employer does not invite you to take off your suit coat as it would reveal the the true condition of your white dress shirt complete with dirty wrist and pit stains from those 90 degree days in the wash bay. I COULD NEVER GET THE TIME OFF TO GO ON INTERVIEWS, AS I ALWAYS SPENT MY SICK DAYS ACTUALLY BEING SICK FROM A COLD BECAUSE I WAS WASHING CARS IN COLD WEATHER. I ONCE GOT BRONCHITIS, AND IT WAS NASTY. PLUS, THE HR DEPARTMENT WAS ALWAYS SCANNING SITES LIKE MONSTER TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU WEREN'T POSTING YOUR RESUME AND LOOKING FOR ANOTHER JOB. AND IF YOU DID, MANAGEMENT MADE YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE HELL.

After you quit, you are so happy and appreciate your new job more than you would have had you never worked for ERAC. MY CURRENT JOB IS NOT MY DREAM JOB BY ANY STANDARDS, BUT I HAVE IT SO GOOD HERE COMPARED TO ENTERPRISE. I DON'T COMPLAIN, AND I AM ALWAYS WILLING TO GO THE EXTRA MILE FOR MY BOSS AND EMPLOYEES BECAUSE I KNOW THINGS COULD BE WORSE. I HATE IT WHEN MY COWORKERS COMPLAIN.

You feel cheated, abused, and bitter months after you left. You feel compelled to post on this site to warn all the naive college graduates not to work for this terrible company.


You didn't think that I was just gonna stop there, did you ??? As a little extra something for you, I wanted to talk about the interesting things that I've found in our rentals in no particular order......

-Forceps over a plastic bag. It was in a cheap Aveo, our economy car. I have no idea what the hell our customer was doing. Maybe opening up a gynecological clinic on the street ? My boss called the guy and the dude actually came and picked it up.

- One dude rented a Ford Taurus and left it a hot mess. Underneath the seat was a paperbad full of porn. He looked like a conserative Sikh man and all with his turbin. He also had his teenaged daughter in tow. He gave my coworker the evil eye for checking out his daughter.

- Some genius left a bag of panties and viagra under the seat of the Ford F150.

- Of course people would leave 420 pipes. One family with a special needs kid came into my branch one day and told me that a pipe was left behind. She said her disabled kid found it. I was so incredibly lucky that this woman was nice about it. Of course the car prep didn't do a thorough job. I thanked her for being nice, appologized profusely and got her into another car.

- One gem rented a new Chevy malibu from us. This guy returned it with the back seat full of blood. He kept saying that his dog was bleeding. We called the cops on that one and took pictures.

-Customers would barf in our cars. It would suck, because you couldn't get the smell out, and we'd turn around and re-rent it, because it was the last car on our lot and there was a wait. And of course people would come back and complain.

Some other things worth mentioning..............

- I was in two accidents while I was on the job in my two years there. The first time around, I turned left on a green light. The guy misread the lights, and ran his red light and hit me.
-The other time, I got rear ended in a Chevy Cobalt. It was a nice jolt. The woman that rear ended me was in a Chevy Malibu. Her front was all bent up, while I just had a little dent in the back of my bumper. After I returned the car to my branch, the idiots turned around and rerented it to an unsuspecting customer. About a month later, her insurance company called me at work and tried to get me to accept liability for her rear-ending me. My coworker grabbed the phone and told her to talk to our Loss Control Department and to leave me alone.

-My grandma in Austria passed away, and I received the call while I was at work. I took time off to go to Austria for the funeral, but it was useless going home that day because all of my family was overseas. My area manager took me out to lunch. I thought he was trying to make me feel better, but he was really trying to tell me to get over it. On top of that he was trying to discuss ways to improve my sales numbers and improve business at the branch.

-ERAC was recently sued in a class action lawsuit, and I got a piece of the settlement pie.

Okay, so that is all for now. I am sure I will have more to add later......