Oct. 4, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Silverstar Car Wash.

We don’t want to spoil the story – but Catherine Gonzalez Paez had a life experience that illustrates how much she truly loves her job.

It started in 2019, when she moved from Rapid City to Sioux Falls.

“I just wanted a change,” she said. “When I lived in Rapid, I was manager of a Subway for five years, so I knew I wanted to get into management but not necessarily in fast food. So when I came here and met my first boss, Marty, he gave me a tour, and I knew I’d found the job for me.”

Her tour was of Silverstar Car Wash, where she began as a cashier but progressed to assistant manager and site manager of the East 10th Street location.

“I think Silverstar is probably the best company I’ve ever worked for. And in my teen years and early 20s, I probably didn’t hold jobs down very long. I was that person. I was switching jobs constantly, and with Silverstar I just don’t see myself leaving,” she said.

“I feel like I’m going to continue to grow with them, and people looking for careers should definitely take a look. If you’re thinking, ‘Who wants to work at a car wash?’ that’s what I thought, but it’s great people to work for and a great company to work for.”

Here’s a closer look at her Silverstar career.

What does your job entail?

I pretty much do any of the ordering of anything we need, including parts of maintenance and things to keep our store clean. I do all the scheduling, and we do any of the maintenance, so if there’s anything that goes wrong with my store, I do what I can to fix it. I’m not that mechanically inclined, but I’ve learned a lot.

We’re all hands-on. I do all the training for the cashiers I hire, and I’m doing training for my leads, so I’m teaching them to deal with revenue, labor to sales, things like that. We also have a weekly report we do as managers, and that’s just keeping track of sales and what we’re spending. So I stay pretty busy throughout the week.

What’s the best part about working at Silverstar?

I love my job. I really do. The best part about my job is everybody I work with. Working here for 2.5 years, I’ve pretty much worked with the same people at the same store, so they’ve really become like my family, and we’re all growing and learning so much. So it’s very fun to watch everybody learn. When I started with my bay manager, I knew nothing about the wash bay, and now every day I learn something new, and it’s just awesome to watch that happen with my crew as well.

What would you say to someone else thinking about applying to work at Silverstar or maybe becoming a site manager like you?

I would say absolutely go for it. You’re going to learn a lot. Every day I come in, there’s something new I learn that day, and I think that’s probably the most challenging thing about my job. And then I have to teach something new to someone else. It’s not a job you’ll get bored with because you are learning every day. You will grow to love the people you work for and you work with. My bosses are amazing. We all have our lives at home, but our Silverstar family helps us with that.

What has been your most memorable Silverstar moment?

In all honesty, I went into labor at work, so that was probably my most memorable moment. … They said you need to know when you’re going to have the baby because you’re on the schedule, and I said, “No, I’ll know when I’m going to go into labor.” And I was at a meeting when I went into labor and at home my water broke, but I worked up until the day I gave birth because I love my job. And when I went on maternity leave, I had just started, I had only been here 10 months, so my whole team got together and pitched in money and got me a $500 Target gift card, which helped tremendously, and it’s not something they had to do.

What’s the coolest car you’ve ever washed?

I would say when we get the classic trucks that come through. I couldn’t really give a name, but there’s a red and a green classic that two older gentlemen always bring through, and it’s always so nice to see a cool truck like that.

Be honest: What kind of vehicle do you drive, and how clean is it?

I drive a 2020 Mitsubishi Outlander. It stays clean. We actually just cleaned it.

Want to work with Catherine Gonzalez Paez or other amazing people like her? Click here to start your Silverstar career.