LOL Actually she was a nice person, just a little ‘scattered’ And it still amazes me that anyone would do that—it must have taken years for all four lights to burn out.
The Ford garage worked at many years ago had a customer bring in a pickup for a “tune up”. It was still the “plugs and points” era. I popped the hood to find the overripe remains of a decomposing cat MOSTLY on top of the V-8’s intake manifold. I declined to do the work, and the shop manager agreed. He called the customer who said the family had been missing their beloved cat for a couple of weeks. The customer didn’t want the job of removing the dead cat either, and asked the manager to find someone who would do it. The manager asked everyone in the shop. He had no takers until he got to the under-car lubrication specialist. (Spelled grease monkey) He volunteered to do it for $10 in cash. The customer agreed. The grease monkey took it off it pieces, partly with channel lock pliers. Then he steam cleaned it. The smell was mostly gone. THEN I did the tune up. The ticket showed my work, its price, and “Removal of one dead cat”, $10.
that is both funny and sad at the same time
Some people respond to good service, and this fellow, probably insecure, was treated well by your service station and trusted you. So he came back for more!
In my area some repair shops have such a good reputation they never need to advertise. My mechanic owns his own shop which he operates with his son and 3 more mechanics. They charge $100 per hour shop rate, but are always busy. On the second floor of this large shop they restore classic cars, and build dragsters.
I just thought of another one:
I had a customer come in with a Corvette complaining of a highway speed vibration, wanting me to test drive and diagnose the problem. I asked him at what speed he gets said vibration and he said, “about 120-130 mph.” I told him “sorry, can’t help you.” There’s no way I’m driving that fast on the streets to try to find a problem!
I told him “sorry, can’t help you.” There’s no way I’m driving that fast on the streets to try to find a problem!
Very wise choice.
I guess I’ve just had too many of these…
I had a college student bring her car in for a brake inspection one time. They were simply long neglected, both wheel cylinders blown, fronts worn, rotors badly pitted, etc. The estimate was around $400 or so. Her father comes in and starts yelling that we’re trying to rip a girl off, it’s too much money, and he’s going elsewhere. He gets in her car, backs out of the parking space in a rage, can’t stop the car, and hits the building. He just sat there for a minute, eased the car back into the parking space, and comes back in white as a sheet. He says, “wow, those brakes are really bad!” and approves the work. I guess some people just need proof sometimes…
I just remembered another one.
A buddy of mine was working at a parts store and a customer came in wanting something for a Pontiac Goost (Goosest as in bird?) After much dialog my buddy took the customer outside and found out the car was a Pontiac 6000 ST. The 6000 was the Pontiac version of the Chevy Celebrity and the ST was the trim level.
I recall a story like that from years back. The way I heard it told was that a customer came in looking for parts for a Pontiac 6000 LE and pronounced it as Pontiac Ghoulie.
Not quite as bizarre, and at least partially the fault of the manufacturer:
When Mitsubishi started marketing cars on their own in the US (rather than just Mitsubishis rebranded as Chrysler products), their sedan (RWD) was the Cordia.
The upscale model was the Cordia L.
Yup, you guessed it. Many dealerships reported that people were coming in and asking to see the new Mitsubishi Cordial.