I might have plugged it back in and sent it on its way with a No Charge. It just depends upon the mood, the customer, and so on. Sometimes those little PR things can more than pay for themselves later on.
On the other hand, 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there, test drive this, listen to that adds up and that pays nobody’s bills.
My personal opinion is there should be a half hour minimum charge on anything that comes through the door.
My primary care doctor will spend 5 minutes with me in the exam room. For this he bills 156 dollars.
And some doctors have been the biggest complainers over a fee being charged.
A good mechanic could spend most of his day checking under the hoods of drop ins looking for easy answers and quick free fixes and go broke as he lost his regular customers...
You’re clearly doing this wrong. You should have a mechanic’s assistant work on the doctor’s cars. Not a full-fledged mechanic. And if his insurance company doesn’t negotiate with you before he brings his car in, you should charge him triple.
The heart surgeon is picking up his vintage Mercedes from the car mechanic and when handed the bill, he starts fuming—- “$3600 for a simple valve job!? $2400 for labor, $1200 for parts, this is outrageous!”
The mechanic comes back to say— “Doc wait, what do you charge for on average heart surgery?”
The doc starts to sputter “Well the cost of the operating room is about $11,000 and the anesthesiologist gets $4000, and my fee is about $8000.
Mechanic— “So what the heck you complaining about, huh?”
Doc says, “The difference is when I work, the engine is running!”
