For a few summers I worked in an ATV/motorcycle/PWC repair shop. The ATV repairs really picked up closer to fall, but the truly crazy time of year was PWC (jet ski) repairs during the summer. People would come and drop off their vehicle on a Monday with serious problems (parked last fall, no maintenence since, etc.), and expect the shop to have the craft ready by the next day. There are a limited number of days in the summer to run one of those, obviously, and people wanted to maximize those days. It was insane.
Along those lines, one of the old timers told me about the policy of another shop he used to work at. During the summers when this PWC repair business craziness was going on, this shop would offer people the chance to jump to the first of the repair line. The cost was double all of the prices of the parts and labor, I think. The would also order all the parts Next Day Air. I kind of shook my head when he told me this, but my friend said you’d be shocked how many suckers, I mean, customers, jumped on the opportunity. I couldn’t believe it.
Second story, kind of along the same lines, there was a young man who had one of the Kawasaki Prairie automatic ATVs. Really nice machine. Well, he brought it in one Monday morning complaining of it not starting. After the mechanic got into the machine, he found the engine and air intake were both chock-full of mud. Apparently this young man had been mudding a little too deep. Anyway, they basically had to rebuild the engine, and I recall the bill was at least a few thousand dollars.
About a month later, the same young man brings back in the same ATV with the same problem.
Moral of the story: sometimes you can’t help people with no sense, but you can take their money.