It’s a bright Monday morning and a deep rumble is resonating from within the Flight Centre shop in Kerrisdale. Locals flickering past the red-and-white storefront cast knowing glances at the rattling doorframe as they dash into coffee shops for their morning hit of java.
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A visit to the headquarters of the Great Little Box Company feels a bit like spending time at an evangelical revival. The place is abuzz with fervour and communal happiness. But instead of talk of salvation and the afterlife, there’s excited chatter about the upcoming volleyball showdown and the profit-sharing bonus at the end of every month.
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A leggy blonde emerges from a change room, gazing into the three-way mirror at her pin-up model reflection. Wearing nothing but a knitted sweater pulled down over her hips and a pair of tan cowboy boots, she hinges over at the waist, perking her bottom toward the ceiling as her long hair sweeps toward the floor. She casually twists around to inspect another angle in the mirror, checking to see if her lacy gear would be exposed should the knitted top inch up ever so slightly. It resembles some bizarre mating ritual that leaves onlooking shoppers gaping.
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I have to admit I’m a little nervous. It’s my first day on the sales floor at OpenRoad Toyota in the Richmond Auto Mall and I keep thinking of Jimmy Pattison, who used to keep the sales kernels popping in his car-dealership frying pan by firing the bottom sales person at the end of each month. I’m relieved to find the mood disarmingly relaxed. Sales manager Chris Mah greets me warmly and the members of his assembled sales team smile and nod. They have reason to be happy. OpenRoad in Richmond is one of the three busiest Toyota dealers in the country, on track to sell as many as 3,300 vehicles in 2006.
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“Come on, it’s time to sing ‘Happy Birthday!’” calls Ryan Mountain over his shoulder, as he sweeps by with an impossibly full tray of dishes heaped with spumoni ice cream. He leads a troupe of young male servers to a table of giggling pre-teen girls. “Just say ‘hey’ at the end of each line!” He catches my blank stare. “Okay, okay, just mouth the words. But come on, this is the fun part!”
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Since I love bicycles, I jump at the chance to chase my dream job – working at Norco, which has been making bikes since 1964. As perverse as it is to admit, I’m less interested in company president Jim Harman’s corner office than the mobile desk occupied by product tester Ryan Leech.
Unfortunately, I might have a better chance at the former than the latter. In addition to having been with the company for 10 years, Leech, 27, is one of the world’s premier “trials” riders, which is to say he can hop around on the rear wheel of his bicycle like it’s a pogo stick and jump over cars like a superhero in a comic book. He also sets his own schedule and gets to take home any bike he wants. I ask him for some tips on how to ride like a pro but he looks at me apologetically and shrugs. “I don’t know how it works,” he laughs. “It’s kind of weird.”
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