Internship

Before I started an internship at Bidvest McCarthy VW Silver Oaks I had never worked in a dealership environment nor a sales environment of the sort. This is something I had made known to my recruitment agency but I was very keen on learning all there was to learn as well as showing my worth. However after my experience at VW Silver Oaks, I'll never want to work in a dealership again, well atleast one that is VW and the sole reason for that is the New Cars manager Ruben Bekker. From the first conversation I had with him, up to the last, his display of hostility and lack of people skills is nothing I have ever seen or experienced first hand in a professional working environment. A simple question like 'Hi Ruben, how's everything going?', was answered "You should ask yourself that" with him walking away. Mind you that was on my second day of the internship. Despite that I would still continue to greet him when he would walk past and he would sometimes look me in the eyes and not say anything. I was told I have a "girls" name, that I was "useless" and that I was a "moffie" for cutting paper with sizzors and not tearing it with a ruler. In fact he never once had anything nice to say. Everything was 'f**k this and F that', yet not once was I rude to him or anyone else in the dealership. Never did he offer help or show me how to do anything regarding the role I was interning for. In the second week of the internship I was advised to ask and give him the details required to load me on the system in order to recieve mails and information regarding vehicles and sales but despite me approaching him about it and following up with him as well, that was never done. I was told by him to ask other salesman for leads to make phonecalls and had to learn from just listening to other interns how to talk and what to say over the phone. Yet I was expected to submit applications and have deals, and if I did not have any apps on a particular day that he would ask he would say "so what the f**k are you doing for me". In all honesty I could go on but I'm sure you get the picture. But how is one just supposed to do a job and perform well but not be equipped with the skills to do so? He even went as far as to say that if I do not have a deal by the end of the month that I will be fired. As I said, I was never rude to him or anyone else during my stay and after the first two weeks it was clear to see that I was not welcomed and that I would have to fend for myself in order to get deals, which is why I decided to not put in much effort to learn about the vehicles or put in effort to try and sell any vehicles and just wait to leave at the end of the month as I have.

It was not only me who was treated this way but many a time did I also witness other salesman also being treated any how, regardless of age. I have shared my experience with my recruitment agency in great detail and have advised them not to send anymore interns to the dealership. I had no problem with any other staff members except for a comment that "Indians and coloreds are all the same" when sharing that I was infact not Indian.

I would rather be unemployed in this day and age than be treated as if I was inadequate, inhumane and useless. Some advice from me to him, that the sooner he realizes that treating people especially his salesman (his team) with respect and not just as objects making him money, in turn they will work harder and the dealership will thrive more.