Legendary work ethic nets big recognition for Lincoln man

Paul Spaner went above and beyond to keep working throughout the pandemic

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – COVID might have sent a lot of people home to quarantine, but Paul Spanel stayed at work, sort of.

While a lot of folks might be content to sit back and enjoy the time off after a COVID exposure, that just wasn’t an option for Paul.

Going back to October 2020, Paul remembers how, “I had just become body shop manager here at Husker Auto Group. We had a lot of changes, a lot of new directions we were headed in.”

He points out that when it comes to COVID, timing is never really optimal, but he needed to lead through this transition. Luckily, he tested negative and was symptom-free.

Still, “no questions asked, we were doing quarantines at that point.”

Paul, though, had a creative solution: “I’d kind of come up with this idea of bringing my camper to work and putting it in the parking lot so we could kind of keep things going.”

With full support, that’s just what he did. Paul set up his campsite, connected his computer to all the necessary shop software, and got to work.

“I had a big bay window in there,” he said. “As questions arose, they could pull a car up outside the camper, talk on the phone, point, and I could answer any questions.”

It worked so well that when Paul had another COVID exposure the next year, he did the same thing. His dedication didn’t go unnoticed.

Paul was able to attend a national meeting of other body shop managers within his ownership group, the first meeting held since he started.

Paul said he was the only one who brought a camper to work. That wasn’t exactly unexpected, but something else certainly was.

“For 2020, to my surprise, (they gave) me the Heart and Soul Award for that year,” Paul said.

It’s definitely great recognition for a job well done. And while Paul doesn’t hope to camp outside work again, he’s prepared just in case he does have to do this for a third time.

“I know the food, the snacks, and everything I need to pass my days,” he laughs.