Meet Shop Helper Ingrid Lobas and her Welsh Terrier Utka

Ingrid Lobas’ political convictions are as clear as her steelblue eyes and as plain as the peace sign on her push-bike. Those who know her agree that she is as passionate about the idea of participatory democracy as she is about family, painting and drawing, her dog, Volvos, music, and doing a good job as Ackerman’s new shop helper. As a concerned mother and grandmother with a vested interest in the future she believes people cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to politics. “We are lucky enough to live in a democracy, but it’s not perfect so we must participate or politics will get us,” said the handsome fifty-five-year-old, born to a Lithuanian mother and an Estonian father at a German immigration camp near Hamburg in 1951.

Her roll-up-one’s-sleeve attitude towards life and work make her an asset at Ackerman’s where she applies ample elbow grease to mopping floors, storing car parts, and even cleaning and staging the fish tank which she compares to painting a “still life.”

Shuttle Service gives Ingrid a chance to converse about politics

One of her very favorite duties at the shop is giving customers a ride to BART or to their homes while their cars are being repaired. During this time, if the customer is in agreement, she keeps up with global events by tuning into Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!” on Berkeley’s KPFA radio station, or by listening to political discussions on Air America Radio. “This leads to interesting conversations,” said Lobas.

Ingrid Contributes to Ackerman's Green Policies

At work she has not only made a positive difference for colleagues and customers by her “sweet demeanor” as Bruce put it, but by reducing the amount of water used to clean up the mechanics work area, recycling paper towels, and by sprucing up the rest room and lunch room with fresh flowers. She also eliminated paper cups, bowls, and plates in the lunch room and replaced them with cheery, reusable ones. Seated in that light-filled space where three blue, inflated mechanics gloves, annotated with the words “happy birthday,” are pinned to the wall in honor of Bruce’s recent birthday, it’s clear that although Lobas collaborates with mechanics Eric and Adam in cleanup jobs and car-part referencing systems, she sets herself apart by her artistic dress style. Instead of wearing overalls she is dressed trendily in kneelength leather boots, black-leggings layered with a short, black skirt, and a dark jacket trimmed at the collar with a coil of fake leopard fur. Understated embellishments include a simple abalone necklace and two rings on artistic hands which bear faint but stubborn oil stains under the nails. Seven months into the job Lobas confided that she is happily “shocked, and amazed” to find herself working at a car repair shop. For her it’s an unlikely change from her former occupation as a porcelain restorer, a craft she learned from her mother who worked in the business for seventeen years. Since she did that work from home, it has taken stamina and commitment to successfully adjust to the sometimes eight-to-six workweek. In many ways the change has been positive for her.

“It’s a varied job and now I’m doing better than squeaking by. Bruce is a wonderful person to work for. I don’t have to scrimp, and I can fill the tank of my Volvo 240 instead of just getting a few dollars worth at a time.”

Lobas has been passionate about Volvo’s safety features ever since her children were young. In addition to her current car, she has owned four or five Volvo 220s. In fact, her former car mechanic Russell Trivich, who used to own a Volvo shop and is a mutual friend of Bruce’s, is partly responsible for her landing her new job.

As luck would have it, in August 2006, Trivich knew that Bruce needed a helper, and that Lobas, needed a job.

Once Lobas and Bruce met and came to an agreement regarding her dog “Utka,” which means duck in Russian, she accepted the job.

Nor surprisingly, when it comes to her dog, Lobas’ priorities are as straight in her mind as the blond hair on her head. She explained to Bruce that she could only work as shop helper if her brown, Welsh terrier, who resembles a miniature wooly mammoth, could come to work too.

Bruce agreed and the human-canine pair set up shop in the open, back shed which by day houses her car, her two-wheeler bike, a giant golden peace sign, and the Welsh terrier with dread locks.

Lobas even has her own music collection out back; an eclectic collection of music which includes Richard Thomas, Gillian Welch, and her all-time favorite: Canadian-born Leonard Cohen whose 1992 song “Democracy” has special meaning for he On her first day on the job, Utka, the “13-year-old dog with the heart of a puppy,” jumped into an old red-flyer wagon she discovered in the shed and claimed it as her own. For extra comfort Lobas lined the wagon with bubble wrap, decked that with a thick grey blanket, and then suspended a portion of it from two metal clasps so that the wall behind the dog was cushioned. A small electric heater turned in her direction on cold days ensures that even a dog’s life at Ackerman’s is good. The work day unfolds with predictable rhythm for dog and dog owner. In the morning Utka settles in the red-flyer wagon, Lobas makes coffee, fills the customers’ cookie jar with biscotti, and turns on the heaters when needed.

If her owner forgets to take lunch Utka lets out a few friendly barks at around noon. Then like characters in a fairy tale the two prepare to go to the park. Lobas grabs her packed lunch, puts Utka in the wicker basket attached to her bike and cycles to Aquatic Park where she eats lunch and throws the ball to the creature that is her “little shadow,” at home, and her “invisible shadow,” at Ackerman’s. Utka knows that the last piece of lunch will be hers so when the timing is right she drops the ball and waits for her share to be thrown on the grass.

In the same way that music has enriched Lobas’ life by opening up “ a whole new world, of emotion and feeling,” working at Ackerman’s has enriched her life by opening up yet another world of people and points of view she would not otherwise have encountered.

by Liz O'Connell-Gates