You Might Like to Know

There you are, getting comfortable dealing with your customer service person who doesn’t understand the meeting of either of the words in their title.  Or maybe your filling out a form for your doctor for the 11th time . . . yes my name is still Bob . . . yes my birthday is still . . . .  or you are at your local retailer and you ask “what’s the difference between that $197 model and that $49.97 model” and they say “jeez, I don’t know, let me get my laptop but it’s like, like, more than $100”.

You have lowered your standards to the point where you can just roll your eyes and move on.  You are able to suppress your anger and astonishment until you are in the shower or just about to fall asleep.

An then it happens.  This is a true story. 

You spy some brown spots in your driveway and you are pretty sure they came from your daughters car.  Not good, but not being Mr. Goodwrench, you really don’t know what’s going on.  You must take it to a mechanic.  On a whim you decide to do it right now.  You drive right to the garage and ask them if they fix leaky brown spot makers.  They say “I don’t know, let us take a look at it”  WHAT?  Truth and cooperation in one easy sentence?  I’m staggered but I pretend it’s the medication.  Then the lady tears off a piece of paper and says “name?”  “Phone number?”  “what year is the car” – then, get this, she says “thanks, we will call you”  Are you kidding me?  No, tag number, drivers license, mothers maiden name, sign here, initial there, turn and cough?  Yeah, too good to be true, they are just saving it up for one big sucker punch, right?

42 min after I had the audacity to ask them if they fixed the leaky brown spot makers, they called me.  We looked at the caller ID, we knew it was them, we were afraid.  Neither my wife or I would pick up the phone, then the pressure became to great and I caved and picked it up.  Hello?  I said trying to fain naïveté.  “ this is Kevin at the garage, is this Bob?”  There was no turning back.  “Yes”   “Bob, you rear differential pinion gasket is leaking, the other two axel gaskets look fine, to fix this gasket you need some specialized tools which we don’t have but I can recommend a place if you like.  Another option is just keep driving it and make sure the fluid doesn’t get too low, any lube shop can top it off for you.  by the way, did you know you have a nail in your right rear tire?”                     “no”              “Well I will top off the fluid for you and you can pick it up in about 5 min, the charge will be $12”                                  “ok”

When I got there, the car was still on the lift and he showed me what a (leaky) rear differential pinion gasket looked like, told me, he would probably just keep driving it and checking it once in a while to make sure it didn’t get worse.  he told me where I could get it repaired.  He showed me the nail in the tire which he had marked with a circle and arrow with some kind of yellow marker and asked if I wanted him to fix it.  I said no – they will fix it where we bought the tires.  He took it down off the lift, rolled the windows down, put the air conditioner on high (it was hot) and drove it to the front of the garage where we were standing.  Then he walked behind the cash register and said “that will be $12”

I know what you are thinking  “nuhh uhh”      True story.    Next time I am trying to explain to the drive through attendant “no, no, that’s a small fry and at LARGE drink . . .”  how am i going to hold it together knowing that something better is possible?   Some people!

# posted by theChristys @ 9:55 PM