On my way to work this morning I stopped at a gas station. I filled my tank and went inside to pay. I grabbed a coke and headed for the cashier. Before she could ring me up I realized I wanted a pack of chewing gum and went back to the shelves to get one. As I was walking back to the counter a middle-aged man with a cup of coffee approached the register. Seeing me he offered to let me go ahead of him. I said, “That’s alright, man, go ahead of me.”
Jokingly he said, “Well, OK, can I have your coke then, too?”
I laughed and said, ” Here, you want the keys to my truck, too?”
But, rather than laugh, he looked outside to my Toyota Tacoma, and asked, “That your truck?”
When I acknowledged that it was, he said, “That’s alright, I’ll keep MY truck.” and as he turned to leave he said, “You know, You’re ruining our country driving that truck.”
?????
Can anyone explain this to me? How am I ruining “our country” by driving a Toyota? It gets better fuel mileage, it’s built better, and, to me, drives better than any other truck on the road. I’ve owned it for six years now, and the most serious (expensive) problem I’ve encountered with it was when a piece of gravel cracked my windshield on the highway.
Is this about jobs, maybe? My truck was built in one of Toyota’s twelve North American plants here on this continent. As for jobs, Here’s the numbers, straight from Toyota.
Toyota manufacturing established operations in North America in 1957 and will operate 15 manufacturing plants in North America by 2008. There are more than 1,700 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sell more than 2.5 million vehicles a year. Toyota directly employs over 38,000 in North America and its investment here is currently valued at more than $16.8 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design. Toyota’s annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totals more than $28 billion. According to a 2005 Center for Automotive Research study, Toyota, along with its dealers and suppliers, has generated nearly 400,000 U.S. jobs, including jobs created through spending by direct, dealer and supplier employees.
I should have told that schmuk that it’s ignorance and outdated prejudices that is RUINING our country, not vehicle preference, and, IF, by some chance I am ruining our country by driving a Toyota- then Selah! I won’t be losing any sleep over it, that’s for sure!
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