Usually a car being worked on at a shop belongs to a customer.

But at Muffler Man on Saturday afternoon, one of the vehicles in the shop belonged to one of its employees.

Kono Boerma, a mechanic for Muffler Man, 101 S. Mission St., for six months, has had to worry about his car as well as the customers.

Earlier Saturday morning, while driving into work, Boerma hit a deer on M-20. The damage done to the car? A busted headlight and minimal bodily harm.

“There ain’t no body panels left if I hit it again,” Boerma said. “I called my wife and told her to bring the other car.”

What was amazing about that incident was the traffic, he said.

“Yesterday, it was bumper-to-bumper coming in,” Boerma said. “But there was hardly anyone this morning.”

Boerma, 37, works five to six days a week in 12-hour shifts — typically 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Boerma had brothers working on cars since he was a toddler and said he works a job he loves.

Back at home is his wife of 22 years. With three children at ages 22, 14 and 13, Boerma worked in Steve’s Repair and Auto Parts, 200 West Main in Mecosta, before coming to Muffler Man. He had his first child at 15 with his soon-to-be wife.

“We lived paycheck to paycheck.” Boerma said. “But we made it work.”

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E-mail the author: Tony Wittkowski