Meskers leaves Colfax Chevrolet after 15 years

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX — Rick Meskers says his last day of work at Colfax Chevrolet on September 15 was “bittersweet.”

“It’s been 25 years working with Karl. We’ve never had any issues. Scott came in, and he’s been great to me the whole time. (Then) Bank First offered me an opportunity, and it was a chance to work close to home. It’s bittersweet,” Meskers said.

Meskers has worked in sales at the car dealership on Main Street in Colfax for 15 years, since shortly after the business was purchased by Karl Rynish.

Earlier this year, Karl’s Chevrolet was sold to Scott and Shannon Psak and became Colfax Chevrolet.

Meskers worked with Rynish for 10 years before Rynish purchased the car dealership from Dave Hovre.

“(Colfax) has become like a hometown to me, even though I don’t live here. I feel like I have two hometowns. The people in this community have been great. I’m thankful for how kind everyone has been. I’m going to miss Colfax,” Meskers said.

“That’s the hardest part is leaving. The easy part will be not driving 40 minutes to work every day. That was a deciding factor. I like my job. I like the people I work with. I like the community. I like everything about it. But when you can be five minutes away from your work versus 40 minutes,” Meskers said.

Chetek

Meskers and his wife and their two children live in Chetek.

Meskers’ oldest child is a junior in high school, and his youngest is in third grade.

The winter driving between Chetek and Colfax is not something Meskers will miss.

“In the winter, when the roads are bad, sometimes it has taken me over an hour (to get to Colfax). Just the safety of it. My wife is so grateful that I won’t be making that drive anymore. And now if there’s something going on with my kids at school, I’ll be right there, close by. It will be those little things,” he said.

Meskers’ wife, Tracey, is a teacher in the Chetek-Weyerhaeuser school district.

Over the years, the Meskers did consider moving to Colfax.

“But it makes more sense for the kids to stay in Chetek where she teaches, and then for her job, too. I always said if it had to be one person who commutes, it might as well be me. That’s why we never moved to Colfax. But we thought about it,” Meskers said.

“It will be neat to work in the community where I live. I do probably know more people in Colfax, though, than I do Chetek. I went to school there from kindergarten on up. It’s going to be a change,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to the new opportunity, but I’ve been in the car business for 30 years. I haven’t done anything else but this. And then to get into banking. It’s going to be a different world for me. It will be new and exciting,” Meskers said.

Parallels

Meskers will be an accounts manager at his new job and anticipates parallels with the car business.

“The similarities are, in the car business, we always want to create good service and take care of our customers. And I can’t imagine it will be a whole lot different at a bank. It’s what you have to sell is your services. I hope I can do very well at it. It’s exciting,” he said.

“This whole week has been kind of fun, actually. Every day I drove to work about 45 or 50 miles per hour, versus 55 or 60, just enjoying the drive and taking my time getting here because I knew it wasn’t going to happen a whole lot longer,” he said.

“I wish I could keep both jobs,” Meskers said.

Meskers said he was not looking for a job but was approached by the bank.

“The hardest part of the whole (situation) was having to tell Scott. He’s been so good to me. And here he just bought the dealership. He’s just coming in … That was a tough one,” he said.

Customers

Meskers has been telling his customers he was leaving, but of course, not every customer of the car dealership comes in every week.

“Sometimes it’s even hard to tell people. They look at you and say, ‘what do you mean you’re leaving? You’re the reason I bought my cars here!’ And I say, ‘well, this was a great place. But it wasn’t really me, I was just the guy you got to talk to,’” Meskers said.

“That’s the thing of course, is that both Karl and Scott have taken good care of the customers. That makes it an easy place to work,” he said.

A car dealership is a good plus for a small town. The dealership provides jobs in the community, and the dealership also draws people into the community, he noted.

“I can’t tell you how many times someone has been here getting their oil changed, and they ask, ‘where’s a good place to eat.’ Or they’ll say they’re going to run down and check out the antique shop,” Meskers said.

All of the small businesses are an important part of any town, he said.

“I’m not sure people recognize enough how important it is to support local businesses,” Meskers said.

Meskers still plans to come back to Colfax and will bring his car to Colfax Chevrolet for service.

And another sales person has been hired to take his position.

“I didn’t want to leave this place high and dry. The place means something to me. It was good to me and my family for a long time … I wanted to have a good transition,” he sad.

“Most people leave a job because they can’t stand what they’re doing, or they don’t like the place they work. I’m so fortunate to be leaving a great job that I love to take on another really great opportunity,” Meskers said.

“I would not have changed a thing. It was a good run here,” he said.