Amanda Zumhof of the Runde PreDriven Service Department

Amanda Zumhof & Lori Schoenburger

Amanda Zumhof came in to work at Runde’s with a big smile on her face and a bright welcoming attitude. 4 weeks later and she’s smiling even bigger and her bright attitude shines stronger!

We took the new recruit to the side to get a little intel about who she is and what she likes to do. If I had to describe Amanda in one (extremely made-up but sounds almost real) word it would be “Germoentech” GERmanMOtherENgagedTECHnician.

How long have you been at the job?
About four weeks, started my first week at the Chevy dealership to learn the computer system then came here.

Zumhof… What nationality is that?
German. I was born and raised in Dubuque, though.

Any kids?
Just one,  Mason, he’s 14 months old.

Married?
I’m engaged to Chad Gansen. We plan on getting married in June 2012.

Congratulations! Any big plans for the wedding?
*sighs* I don’t want to plan it. I’ve done so much but it’s far from being all planned.

Going to be a big wedding?
Probably, we have four sets of parents. Divorced on both sides and then re-married. I’m guessing around 400 people will be at the wedding.

That’s a lot of people to feed…
*laughs* Yeah, It’s going to be fun.

Is your fiancée from Dubuque as well?
Yep, he works at Gansen Pumping. We met randomly one night when I was hanging out with some friends, then we started hanging out more and now we’ve been together for about three and a half years.

——Jamaica! —–cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by 04deveni

Any  plans for the honeymoon?
We are still in contemplation of where we want to go. We just know we want to go in the winter to get away from the bad weather here. Last night I was on Facebook and my friend had some pictures of her honeymoon in Jamaica and thought that looked pretty good.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I just stay at home usually… I go out every now and again. My kid has me running around right when I get back from work. He woke up at 11:30 last night and decided it was time to play.

How do you like being a mom?
I love it, it’s fun.  It’s a non-stop gig, but I like it.

What kind of restaurants do you like from around the area?
I just tried that Texas Roadhouse, I actually had it in Davenport as well, and it’s really good and fun. They do line dancing and all that stuff. Mason was bobbing his head while he was eating to the music, it was cool. Their buns with the cinnamon butter are awesome.

You just had a birthday I hear, what did you end up doing to celebrate?
Not much, actually. Chad had to be out-of-town so I sat at home with my kid and watched Jersey Shore… I’m pretty sure I dropped like 10 IQ Points just watching that for a half hour. Mason was out by 11:00pm, it was pretty stress free.

What kind of hobbies are is Amanda Zumhof into?
Crafts and scrap-booking and stuff like that. I don’t have much time to do that stuff anymore though.

If you were to win the lottery, what would you do with the money?
Oh I don’t know… I don’t spend a lot of money usually. I’d probably find something nice for the kids. I probably wouldn’t get a huge house or anything like that though.

Have you ever seen those pajama pants on T.V.? What do you think of them?
Yeah… they look like they’d be comfortable.  But I doubt I’d ever get them.

What’s your favorite T.V. Show?
Sons of Anarchy. Love it. Jax is my favorite character, although I’m kind of depressed that he got his haircut.

Not so hot anymore?
He’s still cute; I just like his hair longer. I don’t usually like longer hair on people, but long hair just fitted him better.

What’s your favorite movie?
I thought Hall Pass was pretty funny that I saw recently. But like pretty much any Adam Sandler movies.

Classic goofy Sandler ala Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison or the more serious Sandler like Click! or Punch Drunk Love?
No, those serious ones are kind of stupid, I like his comedies more.  I like funny movies like that…   I want to see Brides Maids and thought the Hangover was awesome!

What kind of food do you like?
Anything. Mexican, Chinese, whatever.  I really like Hu-Hot.

Are you into any sports?
I used to play soccer, but I don’t play much anymore.

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by katerha 

You have a bit of history with service work, right?
Yeah, I was at 4 other service places before I went to North Scott in Davenport to start my schooling, then I moved back to Dubuque and continued the schooling at NICC.

Do you plan on being a technician?
I’ve done the work and I like it but I like what I’m doing now as a service writer. Part of the reason I stepped away from technician work is to have a family and make sure that I have time for my kids.

What made Amanda Zumhof want to get into mechanical work?
I don’t know… when I was 16 my dad got me a Lumina. The back tire locked up and had a nail in it. My dad took it to his friend who tried to fix it and it ended up costing $200 something so I decided to learn how to do it myself. So at 16 I was ripping apart cars and putting in brake pads in the driveway.

My dad never let me cut the grass or anything because it wasn’t “the girl thing to do” but I was able to fix the lawnmower… so to this day I still don’t know how to cut the grass. Maybe it’s a bit of a rebellious thing to show that I can do this mechanical stuff that is considered a “man’s thing”.

And now you’re working with our PreDriven dealership’s service manager Lori as a service writer… how do you like it so far?
I love it. Lori and I get along great; we might even get into trouble together.

What made you come to Runde’s?
I talked to Lori through my other jobs because she would order parts through those companies. From there I got to know her better and found out they had an opening. The rest is history.

Thanks for doing this interview Ms. Amanda Zumhof! We all welcome you to the Runde’s family and hope you continue to enjoy your work here!