Is that what you wanted to hear? That spark plug fell onto the road. If he wanted it back, he would have retrieved it while replacing the spark plugs. I can’t reach the lower crossmember from the behind the engine with or without the vacuum booster hose disconnected, can you?
I don’t know the exact details. The shop manager just said he was looking for the spark plug one last time after he test drove it. What exactly he did, or where he reached, I don’t know.
But I’m pretty sure the manager’s being honest with me when he said he saw him test drive it around the block. How the hose came loose after that, I don’t know.
85 octane gasoline is sold at higher elevations, like Colorado. There is less air density at higher elevations, lower octane gasoline is acceptable.
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I agree with the classification of the “mechanic” being a slob and he is careless too.
The OP says the "mechanic dropped the sparkplug on the floor and could not find it… just how much junk and trash must there have been on the floor that he could not find it…
Recently we had a posting of a missing bolt from a hood. Imagine if this mechanic dropped the bolt, I am sure that like the spark plug, he would never have found it. So, would he even bother to replace it or would he look around the floor until he found any bolt that might fit…
But back on the missing spark plug, did it really hit the floor, or is it stuck somewhere on the engine or in the engine compartment or in even in a fan housing that might someday come loose and fall out and hit a moving part and cause serious damage…
Two quick stories, I was helping a friend change the plugs and pints on his Dodge Dart with a Slant Six. While unscrewing the points, he dropped a screw. He swore it fell on the ground (a gravel driveway). We found another screw and finished putting it all together, He hit the key, and we heard a strange “crack” and the engine just turned over and not a pop or backfire. I knew right away, the screw fell inside the distributor and it locked up the weights. Luckily, the distributor drive gear is made of plastic and when we pulled distributor, only a ruminant of the gear remained on the distributor shaft. Turned the distributor over and the screw fell out…
Another friend dropped a screw driver while working on his engine and thought nothing more of it until he was driving down the road and he heard a loud noise and he quickly pulled over as stream started pouring out from under his hood. Apparently the screwdriver fell inside the fan housing and the fan blade hit the screwdriver and it played “mumbly peg” with the radiator…
I was mistaken in my original understanding of what happened. I posted in a more recent comment that I asked the shop manager about it, and apparently it fell into the engine compartment, behind the engine, and he thought he heard it hit the pan at the bottom, but he couldn’t find it. Wasn’t sure if it was still there or had fallen out onto the shop floor and rolled somewhere.
Your stories have got me worried. I guess all I can do is hope for the best. 
Well just a story but at some point deal with a regular mechanic. I bought a 67 Buick wagon for $250 to use while building a house. It ran terrible but that’s to be expected for the price. So I had a moonlighter at work pull the heads etc. bottom end looked brand new so did the top end for $350. About a week later wouldn’t start so towed it to the dx station with a real mechanic. Found the gear for the cam laying in the bottom. Never tightened. Of course the guy claims he did nothing wrong but pretty obvious. Another $80, new tires and I had a good car. So you can get work done cheap but may need to have a pro finish it. Your choice.
It is difficult to lose the spark plugs from the front bank of cylinders, they are in plain view.
The spark plugs in the rear bank are replaced “by feel”, that is why he dropped the old spark plugs: two are bent and one lost.
The brake booster vacuum hose is an obstruction and gets disconnected to reach the rear spark plugs.
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And please stop being cheap and use a professional mechanic.
This was a regular mechanic. I understand that I mentioned that the previous spark plugs were put in by a guy who worked out of his garage, so there might be some confusion there. But he’s not the one who did the current work.
The current work was done by a shop which has about a dozen locations across the country and bill at $170/hr. They have three mechanics on staff.
$170/hr ain’t cheap! 
As noted above, this was supposedly a professional mechanic.
It sure is cheap. The prevailing rate in my area (southern New Jersey) is currently $205 per hour.
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Well, here in Dallas/Fort Worth, where the cost of living is much cheaper than in the tri-state area, $170/hr is top dollar.
Further to this, according to this article from last May, here are some DFW rates. (Rates have gone up a bit since then.)
$168 for an independent Euro specialist in Dallas
$140 for a transmission shop in Fort Worth
$129 for an independent shop in Plano that services domestic and Asian vehicles
$120 for an independent shop in Corpus Christi
I dont know how a shop can operate at those rates.
Cost of living is cheaper here. Property costs less. Salaries are lower. You live in one of the more expensive areas of the country.
But, as noted, rates have gone up since last year, along with everything else. So those rates would be a little higher now.