I'm not sure if this should be called Files of a Towing Company or Frustrations of a Towing Company ???
1. You have no money, short own tools, short of knowledge on how to do your repair, short on time and no job. You have no hope of income tomorrow, but you need help today, so you’re prepared to promise the world and then some for services if we will only help you today. We help, you no pay, YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
2. You need a jump. No money, no friends, it’s very late. You call us, we help, discover major jury rig wiring problems, but now were committed. I like go to sleep and cannot do that until your fixed or leave. Hmmm again I say, YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
3. You need a repair for a vehicle, but cannot pay for it.
3.1. You promise to pay for the repairs later
3.2. we trust you and repair your vehicle
3.3. unforeseen circumstances develop in your life and you cannot pay your bill is promised
3.4. after you don’t show up as you promised, we go a look for you. We find you and ask you to pay her bills
3.5. you tell us we will have to sue you because you don’t have any money
3.6. okay, so you and women small claims court, because you don’t show up. We get a default judgment. Now we have to pursue collection. We decided that is not worth our time because you don’t have any money or possessions to attach. So again YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
4. You need to borrow a tool. To complete the repairs for yourself. We loan you the tool, you don’t return it.
4.1. Or you return it broken,
4.2. or, you sue us because when the tool broke, it hurt your vehicle or your hand.
4.3. You take us to court.
4.4. We take a day off of work to defend our position. The judge says we should have known better because you cannot loan tools, to someone without incurring the liability. You should know that, especially since your license repair dealer.
4.5. Judgment in favor of the plaintiff. YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
5. You need to borrow a can of gas because you ran out at the top of the road. Please loan me a can of gas.
5.1. We loan you a gas can
5.2. you asked if we can now only loan you five dollars for gas because you left her wallet in the car.
5.3. You promised to return it when you return the gas can. Your wife with you verify’s your promise with a smile
5.4. It’s the last time we ever see you, your wife, our guests can or our $5. YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
6. You need a tire. It’s the first day back to work in a very long time and you had a flat tire. Your plea, please sell me a tire.
6.1. A tire cost $20
6.2. you say, do you have anything more cheap because I only have $5 and I still need to get gas.
6.3. I promise, if you give me a tire today, I’ll gladly return to you tonight on my way home and pay you the balance.
6.4. It gets dark and you don’t return, but today or ever. YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
7. You broke down and need to park your car somewhere safe where it won’t get broken into.
7.1. You ask us to allow you to park on our property where you promised to pick it up the next day, when it is light.
7.2. You show up at about 10:00AM in the morning and ask where that dent in the door came from?
7.3. You choose to sue us for the damage because you claim that the damage on the door wasn’t there when you dropped off your car the night before and you further claim that we should of taken precautions.
7.4. During the court case, issues are raised and we defend our position. End result, judgment in favor of us, the defendant. But we had to take a day off of work to prove our case. You had nothing else to do the challenge the system and hope to get a free repair. End result, we did not get to finish our scheduled contracted work and we have customers that are now disappointed with our performance. I guess - YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
8. You need a car. You can’t afford much but promise to make payments.
8.1. We know that you don’t have credit, a job and no real hope of living up to your promises, but you insist that you’re honest and will pay as you have promised.
8.2. We choose to trust you and give you a vehicle for a minimal value and have you sign a legal binding note to make payments. At the time, you were very grateful and promised the world.
8.3. Within a few weeks, things in your life surface and difficulties become abundant.
8.4. Time to pay comes around and although you’re driving the car from here to there, you do not make payments as promised. Insurmountable problems from rent due, to no food, to no money, to just got robbed, to lost your job, to holidays coming up and need to provide for your sick parents, hospital bills are due because of your asthmatic and diabetic kid, anything but pay us. YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
9. You need a place to stay for you and your children because you have just broken up with your husband.
9.1. You promise to leave in the morning. You pray that we will have a sympathetic heart and allow you to stay just for the one evening.
9.2. We decide that your case is sincere and that you probably are genuinely in need of comfort. We allow you to stay on our property in our home for the evening.
9.3. The one evening becomes a week which then becomes a month and then your friends begin to come over to visit and you still don’t leave.
9.4. We now have a problem with you staying on the property and I have to find a way to get you off the property peacefully.
9.5. I have to take my valuable time to maneuver events so that it will now become impossible for you to stay on our property.
9.6. After many weeks of frustration and stress, we finally get you off our property without any major loss to the company, but you and your friends got many weeks of free rent at our expense. Again, because we trusted you and extended ourselves to help you. YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
10. You need a job. You insist that you are a qualified mechanic. You'll work for a reasonable rate and that you declare firmly that you can work on any type of vehicle. Your wife with you verifies that you can do any work assigned.
10.1. You are informed by us that we don't need any more mechanics.
10.2. You and your wife plea that we are their last hope. They've tried all other channels and need to eat. Their children are hungry and there's no other possible hope. They beg, "Please, help us!"
10.3. I persist that we simply don't have any openings, that we are comfortably staffed. After an uncomfortable pause, with a compassionate heart, I ask if you have any references?
10.4. You say you don't have any local references since you are new in town, but will work only for food for their family until he proves himself to The Company. "Please," he begs. "Be humane, just give us a chance."
10.5. "OK, I will allow you to show up the next day to let you demo some cars for the shredder. I agree to pay you $40 per day as a trial." (average pay at the time was about $7-$10 p.h.)
10.6. "You will be more grateful than you can imagine!"
10.7. You show up for work on the assigned time. All is very busy that day and all seems to be going well. We close for the day and you leave. We begin putting all the tools away and notice that we cannot find certain tools. In fact, after we look around, we find we cannot find a lot of certain tools.
10.8. We discover that many tools are missing and that they may have been stolen.
10.9. You don't show up for work the next day, or the next day, or ever again. Hmmmm again I say, YOU WIN, WE LOSE.
Conclusion of the matter: Embittered, More cautious, More scrupulous, vindictive, spiteful for/to Ho'opilikia . . . nah! Just keeping score so that I can carefully pick and choose the good ones so that someday I can comfortably say: We don't lose any more!
I think I'm just going to retire and No Look Back! THE END!
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Follies, Experiences - Volume VIII
FILES OF A TOWING COMPANY And An Automotive Repair Dealer
Follies, Experiences - Volume VIII
We've decided to take a closer look at where we're headed, and why we seem to get them all? Does anyone else get the customer wanna be's like us? Anyways, somehow we still don't think they'll go away. I think they're ours forever. It's our blessing!!
201. It was about 1:30 and we told the customer to come back in a couple of hours since that's how long it would take to repair her vehicle. She said, "OK, I'll come back at 2:00." The mechanic told her again, "No, come back in two hours," She said, "Yeah, at 2:00." "No, he repeats, in two hours, that means no earlier than 3:30." She looks kind of puzzled and says, "I know!"
202. I got a call on my cell phone from a wanna be customer who asked if I was at my shop. I told him "No, I was in Mililani." He said, "Oh, good, I need you to pick up some parts for my car." After what seemed to me to be a long pause and with my mind racing to solve some sort of a puzzle, I said, "Huh?" He said, "I just need you to pick up some parts for me at that parts supply shop in Wahiawa!" After a second semi-long pause I said, "Who is this?" He said, "Oh, you don't know me, but I'll make it good for you!"
203. On Sunday, our shop is closed. We were at the shop, but were working on our own cars. A wanna be customer approaches and asks the mechanic, "can you tell me what's wrong with my truck?" The mechanic, now looking up says, "Probably, I don't know, I'd have to look at it in order to find out!" He then says, "well, its got fuel injection, is that the problem?" "I don't know! You're gonna have to bring it in on Monday and I'll look at it then." "Can't you look at it now?" The mechanic then says, "No, we're closed today. Just bring it in Monday and I'll look at it!" This type of conversation made a few more verbal volleys and a couple more pleas, with the same type of comments coming from both parties, the wanna be then says, "OK, I couldn't get it here till Monday anyways!"
204. Got a call to tow a vehicle. The call went something like this, "So when you gonna tow the car?" . . . as if I had already had this conversation with him before, but I didn't have a clue what he was talking about, so I said, "What car?" He says, "the one in front of my house!" Now wondering if I was missing something I ask, "You have a car you want to have towed?" And then responding like I should have been there a week ago he says, "Yeah, it's in front of my house, when you gonna come!" I told him, "Let me get this straight, you have a car and you want it towed from your property . . . right?" "Yeah, but it's not ready yet! I just need to know when you're gonna come!" Somehow, I would have thought there would have been a better way to enter into and then close this conversation, but considering its content, I decided to just let things flow into the verbal garbage disposal where it was already heading.
205. Early in 1999 the family decided to take a one month vacation to the mainland. Each day, I called the shop to check on how things were going. According to the lead mechanic, it was a rat race, but things seemed to be OK. I had all the work for the month already contracted and set up. No one really needed to do anything other than work on the already scheduled jobs and then maybe a few side jobs to fill out the calendar. After our vacation, we returned home. I went over the books and discovered that despite the income generated, the Company had lost over $2,000 between jobs completed vs. wages paid. So OK, I went back to work and within 3 weeks had earned enough to pay for the losses of the previous month and finish the next month with a small but profitable balance. This is now 8 months later. We decided to take another months vacation to the mainland. The lead mechanic was told that if he didn’t take in any work, but just worked on assigned projects around the property, we won’t lose any money and if nothing else, long term company projects will be completed. I’ve now been gone 6 days. During the course of that 6 days (only 4 of which were working days), the primary security dog has died (appeared to have been poisoned), the secondary dog has disappeared, and the lead mechanic has not showed up except for parts of a few of the days. Although our entire business is supported by the latest in communications systems, cell phones on both ends my end and the Companies end, pagers, computers on both ends, land lines with up to three phone numbers as well as a fax machine, up until the 4th day, I have not been able to contact anyone. Then on the 5th day, I finally made contact only to discover all the above. Hmmmm. I returned from the mainland and found a few more items to add to the list. I jumped into the tow truck to go on a tow and noticed that the rear view mirror had fallen off, the gas compressor had been stolen, (no one knew anything about it), a gear lever for the hydraulics was missing, both battery chargers were missing, the truck obviously hadn't been washed since I left, the radio had been de-programmed (although, when asked, said that there had not been any problems with the battery) the company cell phone was broken and there were 10 recently towed cars/trucks parked on our neighbors property, the soda machine was empty, and the clock on the office wall was not working just for openers. I went over the books and found Work Orders for only 7 jobs totaling $431.96 and material receipts totaling $510.37. I see empty boxes for ball joints, heads and evidence of lots of work, but no work orders to match the evidence found. There was $99.55 worth of cash receipts in hand and misc. rental receipts totaling $2,397.96 which does not include cash from a vehicle which sold for $850. The total loss this month was only 2,152. Oh yeah, they were instructed that every time they purchased gas, to use the bonus card for credits. Not only did they not use it even once, they lost the card all together. Although receipt books were purchased and instructed for usage for each income received, I found evidence of only one receipt having been issued. I just went to use the family car and found that it had been used as a workbench for some water pumps (for which there had been no work orders), with grease and tools still in the back hatch area . . . Oh, and this car radio had also been de-programmed.
206. It's 5:45 in the morning. I just got a call from the common customer wanna be. He wants a tire, it has to be in good running condition, on the right rim so that it could be mounted without problems, and it has to be free. When he showed up to pick it up, he decided that he would pay for it . . . not with money, but with two radiators. I asked what vehicle they were out of, and he told me, then he said "they're really good radiators, they just leak." Sometimes I wonder why I even try.
207. Another customer wanna be calls up. "I need to know if you have a complete wheel for a Plymouth voyager." I ask her what size it is. She says, I don't know, I just need the whole thing. Hmmm I said, "if you can find out for me the size, I probably have it." She says, "Can't I just get the whole thing?" "If you tell me the size of the tire, you can."
208. I had an unusual call (or maybe a usual call - depending on how you look at it),
209. I went in to purchase a part from a supply store and he asked my address. I told him it was P O Box 108. He then asked if that was street, road, highway or what? I paused for a minute and told him, you know, I've never been asked that before. It's kind of a stupid question, but it is also a very interesting question. I then asked him if he went to Waialua High School?
210. I was in a conversation with my son and one of his workers. He said that since he was in finish carpentry that they need to make their cuts is 32nd's not in 16th's. The worker proudly stated that he would have no problem with that and says, "I can cut 'em in 15 seconds and then still take another 15 seconds to get it to you." We all just sort of stared at each other and then realized what he'd just said. We asked him if he went to Waialua High School too!
211. I had a visit from a girl who said she wanted to have a tow. She then asked what it would cost to fix her clutch. I told her it would run at least $500. She gasped and asked why it would cost so much. I told her it costs $350 to pull the tranny and at least $150 for the parts. She immediately commented that she didn't have a tranny but that it was a 5-speed. I informed her that a 5-speed was a tranny, a standard tranny. With a look that resembled a large question mark / exclamation point combination look, she turned and walked away without saying a word. I think she was gonna go find someone who knew what they were talking about. Obviously I didn't.
212. I got a frantic call the other day from this girl who said she just put water in her radiator because it seemed low. She started her car but now it's smoking and coughing and won't run. What should she do? I took a ride to her place where I discovered that what she thought was the radiator where she should have put the water was not where the water ended up. She filled her motor through the oil inlet on the valve cover. She filled it to the brim. Hmmmm, I think this was the reason she didn't get too far on her trip.
213. Mac said he borrowed a car from one of his workmates to get some supplies from his office. He drove to the office, which was on a sort of a hill by this nice lake area. He puts the car in park, puts on the emergency brakes and goes into the office to get his supplies. He returns to the car, but come to find out was not there. The car had rolled back down into the lake. His friend forgot to inform him that the emergency brake and the parking gear in the transmission were not working. Hmmmm, of all the things to forget to tell someone.
214. I have this customer who hired us to build a custom 1966 Chevy 3500 - 1 Ton truck. He had a $7,000 custom paint job, which included some minor body work. The truck had been brought back to it's original condition, and then some. The paint alone cost approx. $1,500 per gallon. He paid us over $5,000 to purchase and install a 350 c.i.d. 4 bolt main motor. We fixed any structural problems and any minor bushing problems. Along with the cost of the truck, I would guess that he had over $17,000 in the truck over the 1 ½ years. Then his financial situation changed. He needed to put the truck in storage so I charged him to store the truck over here. Then things went from bad to worse. He tried to sell the truck for $15,000. No bites. He turned down an offer of $10,000. Time went by and now he really needed to sell the truck. The offer of $10,000 had expired and the new offer was only $6,000. He turned down that offer and tried to sell it to anyone for $8,000. No bites. He goes back to the $6,000 offer but now that had expired. He decides to take the truck to the auction. He puts a $5,900 minimum bid on the truck. He asks the girl at the auction how much is the auction fee. The girl says $80. She forgot to mention that there was also a 10% auction fee. The truck's high bid was only $5,100. He had another offer outside the auction for $5,600. But that person had already backed down from his bids before and wasn't considered trustworthy. The auction made a second offer of $5,600 less his fees, my customer was happy. He then goes to pick up his check and discovers that there was also deducted the additional 10% which he didn't know about. He begins to cry again. Then when he took his check, in frustration, it turns out that his bank put a 10 day hold on it. It just seemed to go down hill for him on each and every move he made. I don't recall having this many negatives on one transaction as this customer of mine did. Hmmmm, it must be hard.
215. My final posting for this phase of my towing life is when I get ready to retire, all the rats begin harvesting all my tools and refusing to pay their rents even though things were running smoothly the month before. Amazing how people suddenly turn on you when they know you're planning to move on and that you no longer have a financial stake in their operations or at least have voluntarily waived your financial interests in their operations. Not even a phone call to thank you for all the years you supported them. And no, this is not locals. This is mainland people who have moved here often at your invitation.
Follies, Experiences - Volume VIII
We've decided to take a closer look at where we're headed, and why we seem to get them all? Does anyone else get the customer wanna be's like us? Anyways, somehow we still don't think they'll go away. I think they're ours forever. It's our blessing!!
201. It was about 1:30 and we told the customer to come back in a couple of hours since that's how long it would take to repair her vehicle. She said, "OK, I'll come back at 2:00." The mechanic told her again, "No, come back in two hours," She said, "Yeah, at 2:00." "No, he repeats, in two hours, that means no earlier than 3:30." She looks kind of puzzled and says, "I know!"
202. I got a call on my cell phone from a wanna be customer who asked if I was at my shop. I told him "No, I was in Mililani." He said, "Oh, good, I need you to pick up some parts for my car." After what seemed to me to be a long pause and with my mind racing to solve some sort of a puzzle, I said, "Huh?" He said, "I just need you to pick up some parts for me at that parts supply shop in Wahiawa!" After a second semi-long pause I said, "Who is this?" He said, "Oh, you don't know me, but I'll make it good for you!"
203. On Sunday, our shop is closed. We were at the shop, but were working on our own cars. A wanna be customer approaches and asks the mechanic, "can you tell me what's wrong with my truck?" The mechanic, now looking up says, "Probably, I don't know, I'd have to look at it in order to find out!" He then says, "well, its got fuel injection, is that the problem?" "I don't know! You're gonna have to bring it in on Monday and I'll look at it then." "Can't you look at it now?" The mechanic then says, "No, we're closed today. Just bring it in Monday and I'll look at it!" This type of conversation made a few more verbal volleys and a couple more pleas, with the same type of comments coming from both parties, the wanna be then says, "OK, I couldn't get it here till Monday anyways!"
204. Got a call to tow a vehicle. The call went something like this, "So when you gonna tow the car?" . . . as if I had already had this conversation with him before, but I didn't have a clue what he was talking about, so I said, "What car?" He says, "the one in front of my house!" Now wondering if I was missing something I ask, "You have a car you want to have towed?" And then responding like I should have been there a week ago he says, "Yeah, it's in front of my house, when you gonna come!" I told him, "Let me get this straight, you have a car and you want it towed from your property . . . right?" "Yeah, but it's not ready yet! I just need to know when you're gonna come!" Somehow, I would have thought there would have been a better way to enter into and then close this conversation, but considering its content, I decided to just let things flow into the verbal garbage disposal where it was already heading.
205. Early in 1999 the family decided to take a one month vacation to the mainland. Each day, I called the shop to check on how things were going. According to the lead mechanic, it was a rat race, but things seemed to be OK. I had all the work for the month already contracted and set up. No one really needed to do anything other than work on the already scheduled jobs and then maybe a few side jobs to fill out the calendar. After our vacation, we returned home. I went over the books and discovered that despite the income generated, the Company had lost over $2,000 between jobs completed vs. wages paid. So OK, I went back to work and within 3 weeks had earned enough to pay for the losses of the previous month and finish the next month with a small but profitable balance. This is now 8 months later. We decided to take another months vacation to the mainland. The lead mechanic was told that if he didn’t take in any work, but just worked on assigned projects around the property, we won’t lose any money and if nothing else, long term company projects will be completed. I’ve now been gone 6 days. During the course of that 6 days (only 4 of which were working days), the primary security dog has died (appeared to have been poisoned), the secondary dog has disappeared, and the lead mechanic has not showed up except for parts of a few of the days. Although our entire business is supported by the latest in communications systems, cell phones on both ends my end and the Companies end, pagers, computers on both ends, land lines with up to three phone numbers as well as a fax machine, up until the 4th day, I have not been able to contact anyone. Then on the 5th day, I finally made contact only to discover all the above. Hmmmm. I returned from the mainland and found a few more items to add to the list. I jumped into the tow truck to go on a tow and noticed that the rear view mirror had fallen off, the gas compressor had been stolen, (no one knew anything about it), a gear lever for the hydraulics was missing, both battery chargers were missing, the truck obviously hadn't been washed since I left, the radio had been de-programmed (although, when asked, said that there had not been any problems with the battery) the company cell phone was broken and there were 10 recently towed cars/trucks parked on our neighbors property, the soda machine was empty, and the clock on the office wall was not working just for openers. I went over the books and found Work Orders for only 7 jobs totaling $431.96 and material receipts totaling $510.37. I see empty boxes for ball joints, heads and evidence of lots of work, but no work orders to match the evidence found. There was $99.55 worth of cash receipts in hand and misc. rental receipts totaling $2,397.96 which does not include cash from a vehicle which sold for $850. The total loss this month was only 2,152. Oh yeah, they were instructed that every time they purchased gas, to use the bonus card for credits. Not only did they not use it even once, they lost the card all together. Although receipt books were purchased and instructed for usage for each income received, I found evidence of only one receipt having been issued. I just went to use the family car and found that it had been used as a workbench for some water pumps (for which there had been no work orders), with grease and tools still in the back hatch area . . . Oh, and this car radio had also been de-programmed.
206. It's 5:45 in the morning. I just got a call from the common customer wanna be. He wants a tire, it has to be in good running condition, on the right rim so that it could be mounted without problems, and it has to be free. When he showed up to pick it up, he decided that he would pay for it . . . not with money, but with two radiators. I asked what vehicle they were out of, and he told me, then he said "they're really good radiators, they just leak." Sometimes I wonder why I even try.
207. Another customer wanna be calls up. "I need to know if you have a complete wheel for a Plymouth voyager." I ask her what size it is. She says, I don't know, I just need the whole thing. Hmmm I said, "if you can find out for me the size, I probably have it." She says, "Can't I just get the whole thing?" "If you tell me the size of the tire, you can."
208. I had an unusual call (or maybe a usual call - depending on how you look at it),
209. I went in to purchase a part from a supply store and he asked my address. I told him it was P O Box 108. He then asked if that was street, road, highway or what? I paused for a minute and told him, you know, I've never been asked that before. It's kind of a stupid question, but it is also a very interesting question. I then asked him if he went to Waialua High School?
210. I was in a conversation with my son and one of his workers. He said that since he was in finish carpentry that they need to make their cuts is 32nd's not in 16th's. The worker proudly stated that he would have no problem with that and says, "I can cut 'em in 15 seconds and then still take another 15 seconds to get it to you." We all just sort of stared at each other and then realized what he'd just said. We asked him if he went to Waialua High School too!
211. I had a visit from a girl who said she wanted to have a tow. She then asked what it would cost to fix her clutch. I told her it would run at least $500. She gasped and asked why it would cost so much. I told her it costs $350 to pull the tranny and at least $150 for the parts. She immediately commented that she didn't have a tranny but that it was a 5-speed. I informed her that a 5-speed was a tranny, a standard tranny. With a look that resembled a large question mark / exclamation point combination look, she turned and walked away without saying a word. I think she was gonna go find someone who knew what they were talking about. Obviously I didn't.
212. I got a frantic call the other day from this girl who said she just put water in her radiator because it seemed low. She started her car but now it's smoking and coughing and won't run. What should she do? I took a ride to her place where I discovered that what she thought was the radiator where she should have put the water was not where the water ended up. She filled her motor through the oil inlet on the valve cover. She filled it to the brim. Hmmmm, I think this was the reason she didn't get too far on her trip.
213. Mac said he borrowed a car from one of his workmates to get some supplies from his office. He drove to the office, which was on a sort of a hill by this nice lake area. He puts the car in park, puts on the emergency brakes and goes into the office to get his supplies. He returns to the car, but come to find out was not there. The car had rolled back down into the lake. His friend forgot to inform him that the emergency brake and the parking gear in the transmission were not working. Hmmmm, of all the things to forget to tell someone.
214. I have this customer who hired us to build a custom 1966 Chevy 3500 - 1 Ton truck. He had a $7,000 custom paint job, which included some minor body work. The truck had been brought back to it's original condition, and then some. The paint alone cost approx. $1,500 per gallon. He paid us over $5,000 to purchase and install a 350 c.i.d. 4 bolt main motor. We fixed any structural problems and any minor bushing problems. Along with the cost of the truck, I would guess that he had over $17,000 in the truck over the 1 ½ years. Then his financial situation changed. He needed to put the truck in storage so I charged him to store the truck over here. Then things went from bad to worse. He tried to sell the truck for $15,000. No bites. He turned down an offer of $10,000. Time went by and now he really needed to sell the truck. The offer of $10,000 had expired and the new offer was only $6,000. He turned down that offer and tried to sell it to anyone for $8,000. No bites. He goes back to the $6,000 offer but now that had expired. He decides to take the truck to the auction. He puts a $5,900 minimum bid on the truck. He asks the girl at the auction how much is the auction fee. The girl says $80. She forgot to mention that there was also a 10% auction fee. The truck's high bid was only $5,100. He had another offer outside the auction for $5,600. But that person had already backed down from his bids before and wasn't considered trustworthy. The auction made a second offer of $5,600 less his fees, my customer was happy. He then goes to pick up his check and discovers that there was also deducted the additional 10% which he didn't know about. He begins to cry again. Then when he took his check, in frustration, it turns out that his bank put a 10 day hold on it. It just seemed to go down hill for him on each and every move he made. I don't recall having this many negatives on one transaction as this customer of mine did. Hmmmm, it must be hard.
215. My final posting for this phase of my towing life is when I get ready to retire, all the rats begin harvesting all my tools and refusing to pay their rents even though things were running smoothly the month before. Amazing how people suddenly turn on you when they know you're planning to move on and that you no longer have a financial stake in their operations or at least have voluntarily waived your financial interests in their operations. Not even a phone call to thank you for all the years you supported them. And no, this is not locals. This is mainland people who have moved here often at your invitation.
Experiences – Volume VII (1997)
FILES OF A TOWING COMPANY Experiences – Volume VII (1997) It appears that the following verses will be dedicated to the customer rather than the employees. Either way, I seem to be blessed with dealing with those that somehow always find a way to inject a little humor in my life. The posts from here on in now become a little longer since they are not simply short experiences or conversations with workers, they have become short clips that need to establish a setting in order to understand the sequence of events which as a whole story creates the humor.
165. A lady broke down in front of our shop this morning at about 7:30 AM. She did not come to our shop to seek aid. About an hour passed, and I overheard telling someone that she was waiting for her mechanic to come by. The other person asked if she had called him yet. Her comment was, “no, because he usually gets his guests here, so I’ll just wait!” Right now is 11:30 AM and she is still there. She still never came over and asked for our assistance. She’s not even reading a book or something. She is just sitting and waiting.
166. I was asked to pick up to engines that customer wanted to dump. He indicated that the engines were at the corner of his house. I went to the address you gave me and I couldn’t find the engines. He called and asked when I was going to come? I told him I came but I didn’t see the engines. He insisted that there were at the corner of his house and I couldn’t miss them. How could I have been so stupid, of course, the house has four corners. I only looked at the two most obvious corners, the ones in front of the house.
167. I got a call in the phone, “I have slipping in my transmission, how much you gonna cost to fix it?” My initial question was what type of vehicle, the year, type of transmission and what makes you think the transmission is slipping? He says, “it’s a 1980 something, blue, Chevy type with an old transmission and I know it’s slipping because it doesn’t go as fast as it used to. So how much is it gonna cost?” Hmmm, I tell him why don’t you bring your car in and I’ll take a look at it. It turns out it needed a minor carburetor adjustment and the automatic choke was stuck.
168. The person needs to have her car towed to our shop from town. She says her computer failed. After we get the shop and diagnose the problem is it failed fuel pump, she asked if we could also change her damaged bumper, check the lights in the breaks. We did and we gave her a quote & an invoice for $500. She said that’s not bad. Maybe we could give it a tune-up too. I asked if she had enough money for a tune-up because they could get expensive. She said the money would be no problem. The total bill now came to $677. When she came to pick up her van, she asked if she could pay only $200. She offered that she would be glad to pay the rest in a few months. I told her we couldn’t do that. I told her that there were over $400 in parts that needed to pay immediately. She then asked if she could pay the $400 and then the balance within a month. Seeing no other immediate alternative, I agreed to take her check. The customer leaves. Within hours, she called to mention that she forgot she didn’t have the 400 in the bank but would get some soon. She then asked me not to try and cash the check. Hmmm, I wonder what she means by soon?
169. This is the story of a repair job requiring the changing of a wheel bearing. I order a wheel bearing from the supply store. So for this job seems fairly simple. Here’s what happened.
1) Ordering the bearing store#1 at 4:30 PM. I was told that the bearing was not inventory, but would be in on the 10:30 AM run.
2) I show up at 11:00 AM to pick up the bearing. Store #1 forgot to order the bearing. The clerk at store #1 asked me if I really wanted it?
3) I canceled the order and order the bearing from store #2 and show up to pick it up.
4) I returned to the shop and began to install the bearing, but then noticed that the bearing did not come with the much needed race (this is the part that is pressed onto the actual spline allowing the bearing to turn).
5) I returned to store #2 and pick up another bearing set, this time with a race included and returned to my shop
6) I began to install the new bearing with its race and noticed that it’s the wrong bearing for the wrong application
7) I called the store #2 and explain the problem. After a check of the stock number he finds that he gave us the wrong bearing set for our application.
8) I returned to store #2 and pick up the right bearing with all the right parts
9) I returned to the shop and install the bearing and race, and then notice of degrees seal was not included in the parts purchased
10) the vehicle is still in the shop waiting for the next day to order the grease seal and hopefully get the car back to the customer. The vehicle is now in our shop for parts of 3 days, for a 45 minute $80 repair and is still unfinished. Hopefully this seal will be in inventory and that it will be the right seal.
170. A mechanic shows up to our shop with his customer. He wants to purchase a used part from a parts vehicle on our lot. We show him where the part is and let him do his work. He removes the part that tells our worker that he wanted to install it on his customer’s vehicle to see if it was in fact the right part and that the part worked. After the installation, his customer dries off. Apparently the part worked. Our worker then told a mechanic that the part would cost him $10. The mechanic said that I would have to get that from his customer because he didn’t want to get involved in warranting a used part.
171. A potential customer dries up and says he wants a 185. Our worker gives him the “185 look?” And the potential customer repeats again that he needs a 185. Our worker calmly gives him the “185 look?” again, but this time with a shrug of his shoulders. The potential customer talks to Glenn (who is one of our workers) as if he was a complete idiot, then boldly says, “you know, a tire!” Glenn then asked him, “what are the remaining numbers?” The potential customer said, it really didn’t matter, but that he thinks there was a 70 in the number someplace. Glenn then said that would certainly help but still there are other numbers even more important like a 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16. The potential customer said that he thought it might be a 14. Our worker said that we didn’t have any tires that small of a size less than 195- 70- 14. The potential customer look at some tires laying next to him on the ground and said, with the glow of brilliance in his eyes “here’s one”. Glenn said reluctantly, that’s a 13”. The potential customer now beginning to feel a little humbled by the events says, “oh, that won’t fit will it?” Glenn, feeling like he’d just wasted about 10 minutes of valuable time says, “if your tire is a 14” then no, it won’t.” The potential customer then leaves without becoming a customer and now Glenn can get back to work.
172. A lady drives up in a school bus, gets out and approaches one of our workers. She proudly says, I drive a school bus. Our worker, waiting for further comment after what seemed like a long pause said, “O . . . K,” while waiting for her to say something else. He then said “you need something?” She said that she needed a 1983, radiator. He asked her if she had any more clues about the radiator to help narrow down the search. While he was trying to pry information out of her about the radiator, someone else walked up and asked if we had a starter? Noting the similarities about how stupid and uninformed his question was, with a pause and hesitation in his voice, our worker asked in disbelief, “are you two guys together?” As it turned out, they were not together. It’s just so hard to believe that two people lacking sufficient information to coordinate their respective breathing and speaking at the same time could be trying to become potential customers of ours at the same time.
173. It should be noted that entries #171 and #172 happened within minutes of each other.
174. I got a call at about 5:00 AM. It was the lady at the service station a couple of doors away. She had someone come into her station asking for roadside assistance, but didn’t have any money. She confirmed to her potential customer that they were not in the business of working for free. So she called me and wondered if I wanted to take the call? What a way to get back at your competition, give them all your unwanted customers.
175. A person applying for a position with our company suggested that he would be able to work for us for a mere $20 per hour, but it would have to be a guaranteed 40 hour workweek. He continued, “I know I’m worthy than $30 an hour, but I’ll work for $20 an hour for now. I also have incredible experience as a. I have all the tools needed, (and trying to be a bit humorous, he added) and all the ego to go with it. I would also like to mention that I would need a much cleaner place to work. There would have to be much more organization and a work schedule that would be needed to please me. I would also like to ask how much your is making?” My lead mechanic and I continued listening, “I think I would also want to be the foreman in charge of all the mechanics including your existing lead mechanic. Oh, and by the way, does the new 1989 Pontiac have floating rotors?” Apparently, he had a job with his previous employer, the required knowledge above what he possessed. Although there are no such thing as floating rotors and our company had the information for him, we chose reluctantly not to educate this ego charge self-proclaimed mechanic on the benefits of on-the-job experience. My lead mechanic asked him, “are you working now?” He replied, “no, no one has any money and no one can afford to pay me what worth! If I had a job, why do you think I would be applying with your company?”
176. A person showed up at the shop and said that the used alternator. We sold her was no good. She was very disappointed with the alternator and now said she no longer likes the car either. (BTW: we sold her the car approximately 2 years & 23,500 miles ago). I checked the battery terminals and read only 4+ volts, there was also a short drawing current from the system. I looked at the wiring of the alternator and noticed wires hanging all around it, as if someone had tried to hook up the stereo system to the alternator terminals. I asked what happened to the wiring? She said she didn’t know, someone must have changed it. I nodded in agreement. I checked the output of the alternator and found it charging at 15.1 amps. The alternator was operating according to factory specifications. I showed her the reading and explained that the problem probably has something to do with this wiring issue. She then said “I knew the alternator was good. I just love this car!”
177. A person just showed up to put air in her tire at the gas station. She barked about 10 feet away so the hose didn’t reach. She pulled harder, but it still didn’t reach. She paused for a moment. She looked at her tire, look at the air compressor, then stood there looking puzzled. After a few minutes, she got in her car and drove off.
178. A person comes on to our property using crutches, wearing what appears to be a rainbow colored wig. In addition to his cleverly described outfit, he has nailed a 4 x 6 wooden block onto one of his shoes for some personal reason. Of course, now one of his legs stands about 3 ½” longer than the other one. In any event, he asked one of our mechanics for an inner tube. The mechanic says that “we don’t have one.” He says, “well, what about an inner tube that I can patch?” The mechanic says “no, we still don’t have one!” He begins walking onto our property where we keep our tires and the mechanic says, “please don’t go back there, that area is restricted.” He then says, “you mean to tell me with all these tires you don’t have one inner tube?” The mechanic says, “no, we don’t” he replies, “well, and how do you keep air in all these tires?” The mechanic responded. “That’s why they call them tubeless” without saying another word, he just puts his head down, and with some grumbles of some sort muttered something a little value then he limps off down the road to his next unsuspecting audience, and I never saw that person again.
179. I told a vehicle to our shop with an apparent bad alternator on a Friday early morning tow. I got a call from the owner the next day to say what it would cost to fix? I told him $225. He agreed and told me when I could get it done? I told him I could get done on Monday. He agreed. Within minutes, he called back and asked if I could just charges battery so that he could drive it over the weekend. I told him that there shouldn’t be any problem as long as I gave it a full charge, he did minimal driving, did not uses turn signals, or his headlights. He said he would be over within the hour. A few hours went by, and he was a no show. Later Saturday evening, his brother came by to tow the car away. I was a little puzzled at first, but since I knew the brother, I let him take it. Later that same day, I got a call from the owner asking if I was still able to schedule to fix his car. I informed him that his brother just toted off. He says, “I wondered what he was doing there, I thought you were going to fix it at our house.” I reminded him that we were a shop and that we did all our work over here. Almost, while interrupting me, he makes the comment that he doesn’t really need his car fixed that bad and that whenever it was convenient would be okay with him. I hung up the phone and went on with my business. Within an hour. He calls back and says how badly he needs his car and wants to know if I would pay for half the price of the alternator and then he would pay for the other half. I couldn’t help but wonder what you just said, so I asked him, “you mean you want me to loan you money to fix your car?” He said that he thought that was a good idea. I said, “since you don’t really need your car that badly, why don’t you just wait until you get enough money to fix it, and then bring the car and the money and will fix it for you.” He agreed that that was also a good idea, but that he favored his idea better. We settled on my idea and created a contract. This is now Sunday. He just called to asked if I could charge his battery for the agreed price of $5? He also agreed that he would bring by his own battery to put in his car.
180. It is now Sunday evening. #179 . Never did bring in his battery. He did just called to see if his car was being scheduled for work tomorrow. I told him to bring it in first thing in the morning. It’s now Monday 8:30 a.m. and so far no show. Hmmm, it is now 10:00 AM and I just got a call that the customer had taken his battery to another garage to have a charged and paid $17 instead of the $5 I told him I would charge. He then asked if I could bring this charged battery from the other garage and install it in his vehicle so that he could help avoid the $35 tow charge? Oh yes, he also offered a down payment of $130 toward the job. Then, credits him back the $35 until he can get the job done next month sometime. He said he would have to wait on getting the job done right now because he would have to transfer the money from one of his other businesses. It is now next week Tuesday, and still there is no show. I guess he didn’t have time to transfer the needed funds.
181. A previous customer calls to change a tire on her Honda, which we had worked on some months ago. Without taking a break in the conversation, believing that we were on that same subject, she asked if we can get the windshield, tail lens and change the battery. I told her no problem. I then asked her to confirm what type of Honda she had. “Oh no,” she said. “Not the Honda, the Nissan pickup.” “Hmmm, what Nissan pickup?” She said, “The red one. You know which one, but I don’t think you worked on that one yet.” Hmmm, I wonder how these people think I’m going to know what you’re talking about?
182. A past customer came in to ask the price of an alternator. We told him the usual $35 for any use alternator and it comes with a 30 day warranty. He asked me if he could get a better deal? I told him of our policy on use parts. He said, “but I just got that radiator from you, doesn’t that count for anything? The mechanic jumped in and said, “yeah, but that radiator was free, we didn’t even charge you for it!” He said, “yeah, but I returned it!” With a slightly puzzled look, the mechanic said, “So? Somehow, this translates that I am supposed to give you a discount on the next item you purchase? Somehow I don’t see how that math works out in our favor.” The past customer thought about it for a minute, looks slightly detached from reality, shrugs his shoulders and walks off. I’m not quite sure if we made contact are not.
183. I had a call about 3:00 PM from potential customer. He said, “didn’t I just talked to about an hour ago?” I said, “no, not me” he said, “I was sure I talked to you” “no, not to me you didn’t” he said, “I know I talked your mechanic earlier today” I said, “Yeah, that’s how I know about your problem.” He said, “so I didn’t talk to you?” This back-and-forth went on for about 3 to 4 minutes, until he agrees to come in tomorrow to look at this problem.
184. #183 just showed up. We were under another vehicle and very greasy when he came in. We said we’d secure the transmission on this vehicle then clean up and then deal with this problem. We finished our project in about five minutes. We get out and while talking to the potential customer, we wash up (all the time assuming that we were about to work on his car). After cleaning up, he says, “okay, I’ll be back in about 20 minutes.” I said, “we just got cleaned up so that we could deal with your problem.” He said, “I know I’ll be right back!” #183 leaves. I look at Glen. We both shorter shoulders and crawl back under the car and continue putting in the transmission.
185. There has to be something genetic going on here. #183 girlfriend just showed up with her vehicle. The vehicle has a power window problem. She will be leaving the vehicle. When she prepares to leave, she says, “do you want me to leave the keys?” Hmmm, power windows problem? “Yes ma’am, it would be difficult to check your power windows without the key to turn on the power.”
186. A previous customer came to the shop and said he was looking for a good deal on a truck. He said his truck that he purchased from us 3 years ago, just blew a gasket. He parted in town where he got it towed away as an abandoned vehicle. He did not pursue the vehicle, although it had good tires, and otherwise good motor, good body and drive train. He said that we should give him this great deal on a new truck because he had previously built our rock wall, and that since we still had our wall, and he no longer had his truck, that we got the better of the deal.
187. An individual just pulled over to the gas station and began putting gas in his car. I happen to be looking over to the gas pumps when he told in because there is an odd noise coming from his tire. Sure enough, the tire was flat on the rim. I waited for a few minutes to see if he was going to come over for assistance, but no, he just look at his tire, shrugged his shoulders got in his car and drove off. I really wonder what was going through his mind?
188. Hmmm , is now about a half hour later and #187 just drove up to the air pump and tried to put air in his flat tire, which from a distance appeared to be partially shredded. After attempting to put air in his tire, and now realizing that a shredded tire won’t hold air, he gets back in his car and drives down the road again. I wonder what his plan of attack will be this time? I wonder where he went for that half hour?
189. I’m starting to get worried when someone shows up to our shop and holds out a net in his hand and boldly says, “I’m looking for a bolt!” Well, it happened again today. But in asking whether he needed a bolt or not, he looks at the net in his hand and says, “yeah, I need a bolt, just like this one . . . You see the other one fell into place where you put the oil.” I ask, “what you mean, where you put the oil?” He says, “you know, over here.” He points where it appears he had taken off the valve cover and it fell into one of the oil journals and on into the head. “He don’t think that would cause a problem do you?” I said, “Nah, I doubt it. I mean, there’s lots of nuts in engines, what’s one more?” He agreed, and then left . . . Without a net or bolt.
190. A customer “don’t wanna be” just called. You see, he’s a “don’t wanna be” because he doesn’t have any money for the repair job, so he called to ask the mechanic to come to his house and work after hours, in the dark, on his car without any pay because he doesn’t have any money. When asked what the problem was, he said his timing belt broke so he pulled off his head, and now there’s all this metal in there. After a little questioning, it was discovered that he didn’t really pull off the head, he only remove the valve cover. And all that metal? Turns out he was looking at the top of the head, and this was is an educated guess at what they had look like, “a bunch of metal!” Hmmm , it’s hard to believe that somebody pays this person to do something.
191. A “wanna be” customer just came into the shop and held and not in his hand and said he needed a bolt just like this one, he probably holds up and nut he just brought in. Now, since this happens far too often, and since this person seem like he had all his oars in the water, are mechanic began to chuckle a bit and asked, “do you know what a bolt is?” Emphatically he says, “of course, just like this one.” Are mechanic, doing everything he can to hold back is a stereo says, “a bolt is kind a long and skinny with threads on it. What your holding is a nut!” The “wanna be” customer says, “well, whatever, I just need one, you have anything?” Are mechanic ponders the moment, fines and a nut and off the “wanna be” he goes. About two hours later he returns and says the bolt didn’t fit. (it’s difficult to believe, but these are all experiences even though seem familiar, actually occurred, the stories are real)
192. Another wanna the customer just came by and said he wanted a 195x14” tire. I informed him that there was a number between the 195 and 14, in order for me to find the proper attire for him. He said, “yeah, it’s a 195x14 tire”. I said, “hmmmm you, see, in order for me to find the right tire, I need all the numbers, including the one between the 195 and the 14. He agreed, “a 195x14”. Hmmmm I thought, can you give me some more clues that will help me drag the right numbers out of you? He said it’s an Oldsmobile. Then pointing to the car. He just driven up in, I asked him, “Like this one?” He boldly blurts out, “yeah, like this one!” I walked up to the vehicle and told him that the size of this tire was 185x75x14. With the pride of wise scholars, he exclaims “yeah, 195x14” I told him that I’d point him in the right direction of used tires and he could pick up whatever tire he wanted and told him that it would cost him $20. He balked at the price and offered only $10. I told him all tires would be $20. He said he would like to see the tire first. I told him that if he didn’t want pay the $20, why would he want to see something that he was not willing to buy? Was a look of a child given a college-level math test. He scratches his head, staggered back to his car and off he goes in search of the brand-new $10 tire for free.
193. A paying customer called to ask if her vehicle was done, but no one had called her. I told her that it was finished and that I had left a message on a recording the day before. She said, “oh, I don’t know how to check for messages.” I asked her if there was a blinking light on her voice recorder? She said there was, but she just presses the erase button and it goes away. Hmmm, there’s an interesting approach to an answering machine that I had thought of.
194. A customer wanna be just came in - couldn’t start his truck. My question was, “how old are these plugs?” Oh, their new, but I don’t know how long it’s been since I change them!”
195. 7:45 PM. Someone shows up to our shop and says, “hi, I’m friends with your neighbors. I just wanted to ask you if you don’t be $20 to get to town tonight? I’ll pay you back tomorrow!” Caught off guard I said, “I don’t know who you are!” He repeated, “I’m friends with your neighbors” thinking I may have missed something in his approach, I asked, “tell me, is there something more to this story? You may have noticed, I don’t know you!” He said, “yeah, that you know your neighbors!” I commented, “yes I do, but I don’t know you.” He says, “I just need $20” I said, “have you thought of asking someone who knows you?” He just shrugged his shoulders and walked off, so did I, only I was shaking my head a bit.
196. I was called on a tow at 2:30 AM. He said he slipped off into a ditch. When I got to the scene, I mentioned to him that he failed to say that he’d also ran into a telephone pole, deployed his airbag, racked up his front end and was hanging onto the side of the hill by a thread and that any wrong move from here on, would mean certain disaster for his truck which was within inches of rolling over.
197. A customer one of the came to the shop and said that his car kept running after you turn off the key. I said, “you mean it Diesels?” Yeah, he said, it weasels!
198. Second time this morning. A customer wanna be just called up. “Do you have any tents to rent?” I responded, “we have two different types a 20 x 20 and a 20 x 30” she then asked, “okay, how big is the 20 x 30?” With a slight pause, I responded, “approximately 20 x 30” I could tell that she’s thinking, she then politely asked, “well, how big is the 20 x 20?” I replied, Oh, approximately 20 x 20!” She said she have to get back to me when she knew her measurements.
199. I called the bank check the workers work and saw that a wire stripped, so I asked him what happened to in terminal that particular wire? Standing outside the van, away from the wires without taking the extra step to stoop down to visualize what I was talking about, he asked, “which wire?” Knowing he couldn’t see any of the 3 wires since he wasn’t under the van and since they were all the same color – black, I pointed to the three wires and said, “this one. The black one!” He said, “I dunno, I forget.” In my mind, I am wondering why anybody in their right mind would run 3 wires from one source to another all the same color?
200.1. I had to go on a call and just came back. The customer was trying to jumpstart his battery from someone else’s vehicle despite the fact that he had just called me to give him a jumpstart. No problem, he just got it started it and got on the road.
200.2. I had to leave them just came back to our yard. It’s now been about two hours since I first got the call. This same customer has just returned, parked in front of our yard gate with his friend. He has apparently purchased a battery charger and is now trying to plug the battery charger into his own cigarette lighter in an attempt to jumpstart his own vehicle. For some reason this person still cannot figure out that you cannot charge a battery from your own vehicle when your battery is dead! I seem to be at a breaking point in my interesting situations from my customers, so I’m going on a vacation, I’ll be gone for about a month. I’ll see what changes there are when I return. Today is mid August 1999.
165. A lady broke down in front of our shop this morning at about 7:30 AM. She did not come to our shop to seek aid. About an hour passed, and I overheard telling someone that she was waiting for her mechanic to come by. The other person asked if she had called him yet. Her comment was, “no, because he usually gets his guests here, so I’ll just wait!” Right now is 11:30 AM and she is still there. She still never came over and asked for our assistance. She’s not even reading a book or something. She is just sitting and waiting.
166. I was asked to pick up to engines that customer wanted to dump. He indicated that the engines were at the corner of his house. I went to the address you gave me and I couldn’t find the engines. He called and asked when I was going to come? I told him I came but I didn’t see the engines. He insisted that there were at the corner of his house and I couldn’t miss them. How could I have been so stupid, of course, the house has four corners. I only looked at the two most obvious corners, the ones in front of the house.
167. I got a call in the phone, “I have slipping in my transmission, how much you gonna cost to fix it?” My initial question was what type of vehicle, the year, type of transmission and what makes you think the transmission is slipping? He says, “it’s a 1980 something, blue, Chevy type with an old transmission and I know it’s slipping because it doesn’t go as fast as it used to. So how much is it gonna cost?” Hmmm, I tell him why don’t you bring your car in and I’ll take a look at it. It turns out it needed a minor carburetor adjustment and the automatic choke was stuck.
168. The person needs to have her car towed to our shop from town. She says her computer failed. After we get the shop and diagnose the problem is it failed fuel pump, she asked if we could also change her damaged bumper, check the lights in the breaks. We did and we gave her a quote & an invoice for $500. She said that’s not bad. Maybe we could give it a tune-up too. I asked if she had enough money for a tune-up because they could get expensive. She said the money would be no problem. The total bill now came to $677. When she came to pick up her van, she asked if she could pay only $200. She offered that she would be glad to pay the rest in a few months. I told her we couldn’t do that. I told her that there were over $400 in parts that needed to pay immediately. She then asked if she could pay the $400 and then the balance within a month. Seeing no other immediate alternative, I agreed to take her check. The customer leaves. Within hours, she called to mention that she forgot she didn’t have the 400 in the bank but would get some soon. She then asked me not to try and cash the check. Hmmm, I wonder what she means by soon?
169. This is the story of a repair job requiring the changing of a wheel bearing. I order a wheel bearing from the supply store. So for this job seems fairly simple. Here’s what happened.
1) Ordering the bearing store#1 at 4:30 PM. I was told that the bearing was not inventory, but would be in on the 10:30 AM run.
2) I show up at 11:00 AM to pick up the bearing. Store #1 forgot to order the bearing. The clerk at store #1 asked me if I really wanted it?
3) I canceled the order and order the bearing from store #2 and show up to pick it up.
4) I returned to the shop and began to install the bearing, but then noticed that the bearing did not come with the much needed race (this is the part that is pressed onto the actual spline allowing the bearing to turn).
5) I returned to store #2 and pick up another bearing set, this time with a race included and returned to my shop
6) I began to install the new bearing with its race and noticed that it’s the wrong bearing for the wrong application
7) I called the store #2 and explain the problem. After a check of the stock number he finds that he gave us the wrong bearing set for our application.
8) I returned to store #2 and pick up the right bearing with all the right parts
9) I returned to the shop and install the bearing and race, and then notice of degrees seal was not included in the parts purchased
10) the vehicle is still in the shop waiting for the next day to order the grease seal and hopefully get the car back to the customer. The vehicle is now in our shop for parts of 3 days, for a 45 minute $80 repair and is still unfinished. Hopefully this seal will be in inventory and that it will be the right seal.
170. A mechanic shows up to our shop with his customer. He wants to purchase a used part from a parts vehicle on our lot. We show him where the part is and let him do his work. He removes the part that tells our worker that he wanted to install it on his customer’s vehicle to see if it was in fact the right part and that the part worked. After the installation, his customer dries off. Apparently the part worked. Our worker then told a mechanic that the part would cost him $10. The mechanic said that I would have to get that from his customer because he didn’t want to get involved in warranting a used part.
171. A potential customer dries up and says he wants a 185. Our worker gives him the “185 look?” And the potential customer repeats again that he needs a 185. Our worker calmly gives him the “185 look?” again, but this time with a shrug of his shoulders. The potential customer talks to Glenn (who is one of our workers) as if he was a complete idiot, then boldly says, “you know, a tire!” Glenn then asked him, “what are the remaining numbers?” The potential customer said, it really didn’t matter, but that he thinks there was a 70 in the number someplace. Glenn then said that would certainly help but still there are other numbers even more important like a 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16. The potential customer said that he thought it might be a 14. Our worker said that we didn’t have any tires that small of a size less than 195- 70- 14. The potential customer look at some tires laying next to him on the ground and said, with the glow of brilliance in his eyes “here’s one”. Glenn said reluctantly, that’s a 13”. The potential customer now beginning to feel a little humbled by the events says, “oh, that won’t fit will it?” Glenn, feeling like he’d just wasted about 10 minutes of valuable time says, “if your tire is a 14” then no, it won’t.” The potential customer then leaves without becoming a customer and now Glenn can get back to work.
172. A lady drives up in a school bus, gets out and approaches one of our workers. She proudly says, I drive a school bus. Our worker, waiting for further comment after what seemed like a long pause said, “O . . . K,” while waiting for her to say something else. He then said “you need something?” She said that she needed a 1983, radiator. He asked her if she had any more clues about the radiator to help narrow down the search. While he was trying to pry information out of her about the radiator, someone else walked up and asked if we had a starter? Noting the similarities about how stupid and uninformed his question was, with a pause and hesitation in his voice, our worker asked in disbelief, “are you two guys together?” As it turned out, they were not together. It’s just so hard to believe that two people lacking sufficient information to coordinate their respective breathing and speaking at the same time could be trying to become potential customers of ours at the same time.
173. It should be noted that entries #171 and #172 happened within minutes of each other.
174. I got a call at about 5:00 AM. It was the lady at the service station a couple of doors away. She had someone come into her station asking for roadside assistance, but didn’t have any money. She confirmed to her potential customer that they were not in the business of working for free. So she called me and wondered if I wanted to take the call? What a way to get back at your competition, give them all your unwanted customers.
175. A person applying for a position with our company suggested that he would be able to work for us for a mere $20 per hour, but it would have to be a guaranteed 40 hour workweek. He continued, “I know I’m worthy than $30 an hour, but I’ll work for $20 an hour for now. I also have incredible experience as a. I have all the tools needed, (and trying to be a bit humorous, he added) and all the ego to go with it. I would also like to mention that I would need a much cleaner place to work. There would have to be much more organization and a work schedule that would be needed to please me. I would also like to ask how much your is making?” My lead mechanic and I continued listening, “I think I would also want to be the foreman in charge of all the mechanics including your existing lead mechanic. Oh, and by the way, does the new 1989 Pontiac have floating rotors?” Apparently, he had a job with his previous employer, the required knowledge above what he possessed. Although there are no such thing as floating rotors and our company had the information for him, we chose reluctantly not to educate this ego charge self-proclaimed mechanic on the benefits of on-the-job experience. My lead mechanic asked him, “are you working now?” He replied, “no, no one has any money and no one can afford to pay me what worth! If I had a job, why do you think I would be applying with your company?”
176. A person showed up at the shop and said that the used alternator. We sold her was no good. She was very disappointed with the alternator and now said she no longer likes the car either. (BTW: we sold her the car approximately 2 years & 23,500 miles ago). I checked the battery terminals and read only 4+ volts, there was also a short drawing current from the system. I looked at the wiring of the alternator and noticed wires hanging all around it, as if someone had tried to hook up the stereo system to the alternator terminals. I asked what happened to the wiring? She said she didn’t know, someone must have changed it. I nodded in agreement. I checked the output of the alternator and found it charging at 15.1 amps. The alternator was operating according to factory specifications. I showed her the reading and explained that the problem probably has something to do with this wiring issue. She then said “I knew the alternator was good. I just love this car!”
177. A person just showed up to put air in her tire at the gas station. She barked about 10 feet away so the hose didn’t reach. She pulled harder, but it still didn’t reach. She paused for a moment. She looked at her tire, look at the air compressor, then stood there looking puzzled. After a few minutes, she got in her car and drove off.
178. A person comes on to our property using crutches, wearing what appears to be a rainbow colored wig. In addition to his cleverly described outfit, he has nailed a 4 x 6 wooden block onto one of his shoes for some personal reason. Of course, now one of his legs stands about 3 ½” longer than the other one. In any event, he asked one of our mechanics for an inner tube. The mechanic says that “we don’t have one.” He says, “well, what about an inner tube that I can patch?” The mechanic says “no, we still don’t have one!” He begins walking onto our property where we keep our tires and the mechanic says, “please don’t go back there, that area is restricted.” He then says, “you mean to tell me with all these tires you don’t have one inner tube?” The mechanic says, “no, we don’t” he replies, “well, and how do you keep air in all these tires?” The mechanic responded. “That’s why they call them tubeless” without saying another word, he just puts his head down, and with some grumbles of some sort muttered something a little value then he limps off down the road to his next unsuspecting audience, and I never saw that person again.
179. I told a vehicle to our shop with an apparent bad alternator on a Friday early morning tow. I got a call from the owner the next day to say what it would cost to fix? I told him $225. He agreed and told me when I could get it done? I told him I could get done on Monday. He agreed. Within minutes, he called back and asked if I could just charges battery so that he could drive it over the weekend. I told him that there shouldn’t be any problem as long as I gave it a full charge, he did minimal driving, did not uses turn signals, or his headlights. He said he would be over within the hour. A few hours went by, and he was a no show. Later Saturday evening, his brother came by to tow the car away. I was a little puzzled at first, but since I knew the brother, I let him take it. Later that same day, I got a call from the owner asking if I was still able to schedule to fix his car. I informed him that his brother just toted off. He says, “I wondered what he was doing there, I thought you were going to fix it at our house.” I reminded him that we were a shop and that we did all our work over here. Almost, while interrupting me, he makes the comment that he doesn’t really need his car fixed that bad and that whenever it was convenient would be okay with him. I hung up the phone and went on with my business. Within an hour. He calls back and says how badly he needs his car and wants to know if I would pay for half the price of the alternator and then he would pay for the other half. I couldn’t help but wonder what you just said, so I asked him, “you mean you want me to loan you money to fix your car?” He said that he thought that was a good idea. I said, “since you don’t really need your car that badly, why don’t you just wait until you get enough money to fix it, and then bring the car and the money and will fix it for you.” He agreed that that was also a good idea, but that he favored his idea better. We settled on my idea and created a contract. This is now Sunday. He just called to asked if I could charge his battery for the agreed price of $5? He also agreed that he would bring by his own battery to put in his car.
180. It is now Sunday evening. #179 . Never did bring in his battery. He did just called to see if his car was being scheduled for work tomorrow. I told him to bring it in first thing in the morning. It’s now Monday 8:30 a.m. and so far no show. Hmmm, it is now 10:00 AM and I just got a call that the customer had taken his battery to another garage to have a charged and paid $17 instead of the $5 I told him I would charge. He then asked if I could bring this charged battery from the other garage and install it in his vehicle so that he could help avoid the $35 tow charge? Oh yes, he also offered a down payment of $130 toward the job. Then, credits him back the $35 until he can get the job done next month sometime. He said he would have to wait on getting the job done right now because he would have to transfer the money from one of his other businesses. It is now next week Tuesday, and still there is no show. I guess he didn’t have time to transfer the needed funds.
181. A previous customer calls to change a tire on her Honda, which we had worked on some months ago. Without taking a break in the conversation, believing that we were on that same subject, she asked if we can get the windshield, tail lens and change the battery. I told her no problem. I then asked her to confirm what type of Honda she had. “Oh no,” she said. “Not the Honda, the Nissan pickup.” “Hmmm, what Nissan pickup?” She said, “The red one. You know which one, but I don’t think you worked on that one yet.” Hmmm, I wonder how these people think I’m going to know what you’re talking about?
182. A past customer came in to ask the price of an alternator. We told him the usual $35 for any use alternator and it comes with a 30 day warranty. He asked me if he could get a better deal? I told him of our policy on use parts. He said, “but I just got that radiator from you, doesn’t that count for anything? The mechanic jumped in and said, “yeah, but that radiator was free, we didn’t even charge you for it!” He said, “yeah, but I returned it!” With a slightly puzzled look, the mechanic said, “So? Somehow, this translates that I am supposed to give you a discount on the next item you purchase? Somehow I don’t see how that math works out in our favor.” The past customer thought about it for a minute, looks slightly detached from reality, shrugs his shoulders and walks off. I’m not quite sure if we made contact are not.
183. I had a call about 3:00 PM from potential customer. He said, “didn’t I just talked to about an hour ago?” I said, “no, not me” he said, “I was sure I talked to you” “no, not to me you didn’t” he said, “I know I talked your mechanic earlier today” I said, “Yeah, that’s how I know about your problem.” He said, “so I didn’t talk to you?” This back-and-forth went on for about 3 to 4 minutes, until he agrees to come in tomorrow to look at this problem.
184. #183 just showed up. We were under another vehicle and very greasy when he came in. We said we’d secure the transmission on this vehicle then clean up and then deal with this problem. We finished our project in about five minutes. We get out and while talking to the potential customer, we wash up (all the time assuming that we were about to work on his car). After cleaning up, he says, “okay, I’ll be back in about 20 minutes.” I said, “we just got cleaned up so that we could deal with your problem.” He said, “I know I’ll be right back!” #183 leaves. I look at Glen. We both shorter shoulders and crawl back under the car and continue putting in the transmission.
185. There has to be something genetic going on here. #183 girlfriend just showed up with her vehicle. The vehicle has a power window problem. She will be leaving the vehicle. When she prepares to leave, she says, “do you want me to leave the keys?” Hmmm, power windows problem? “Yes ma’am, it would be difficult to check your power windows without the key to turn on the power.”
186. A previous customer came to the shop and said he was looking for a good deal on a truck. He said his truck that he purchased from us 3 years ago, just blew a gasket. He parted in town where he got it towed away as an abandoned vehicle. He did not pursue the vehicle, although it had good tires, and otherwise good motor, good body and drive train. He said that we should give him this great deal on a new truck because he had previously built our rock wall, and that since we still had our wall, and he no longer had his truck, that we got the better of the deal.
187. An individual just pulled over to the gas station and began putting gas in his car. I happen to be looking over to the gas pumps when he told in because there is an odd noise coming from his tire. Sure enough, the tire was flat on the rim. I waited for a few minutes to see if he was going to come over for assistance, but no, he just look at his tire, shrugged his shoulders got in his car and drove off. I really wonder what was going through his mind?
188. Hmmm , is now about a half hour later and #187 just drove up to the air pump and tried to put air in his flat tire, which from a distance appeared to be partially shredded. After attempting to put air in his tire, and now realizing that a shredded tire won’t hold air, he gets back in his car and drives down the road again. I wonder what his plan of attack will be this time? I wonder where he went for that half hour?
189. I’m starting to get worried when someone shows up to our shop and holds out a net in his hand and boldly says, “I’m looking for a bolt!” Well, it happened again today. But in asking whether he needed a bolt or not, he looks at the net in his hand and says, “yeah, I need a bolt, just like this one . . . You see the other one fell into place where you put the oil.” I ask, “what you mean, where you put the oil?” He says, “you know, over here.” He points where it appears he had taken off the valve cover and it fell into one of the oil journals and on into the head. “He don’t think that would cause a problem do you?” I said, “Nah, I doubt it. I mean, there’s lots of nuts in engines, what’s one more?” He agreed, and then left . . . Without a net or bolt.
190. A customer “don’t wanna be” just called. You see, he’s a “don’t wanna be” because he doesn’t have any money for the repair job, so he called to ask the mechanic to come to his house and work after hours, in the dark, on his car without any pay because he doesn’t have any money. When asked what the problem was, he said his timing belt broke so he pulled off his head, and now there’s all this metal in there. After a little questioning, it was discovered that he didn’t really pull off the head, he only remove the valve cover. And all that metal? Turns out he was looking at the top of the head, and this was is an educated guess at what they had look like, “a bunch of metal!” Hmmm , it’s hard to believe that somebody pays this person to do something.
191. A “wanna be” customer just came into the shop and held and not in his hand and said he needed a bolt just like this one, he probably holds up and nut he just brought in. Now, since this happens far too often, and since this person seem like he had all his oars in the water, are mechanic began to chuckle a bit and asked, “do you know what a bolt is?” Emphatically he says, “of course, just like this one.” Are mechanic, doing everything he can to hold back is a stereo says, “a bolt is kind a long and skinny with threads on it. What your holding is a nut!” The “wanna be” customer says, “well, whatever, I just need one, you have anything?” Are mechanic ponders the moment, fines and a nut and off the “wanna be” he goes. About two hours later he returns and says the bolt didn’t fit. (it’s difficult to believe, but these are all experiences even though seem familiar, actually occurred, the stories are real)
192. Another wanna the customer just came by and said he wanted a 195x14” tire. I informed him that there was a number between the 195 and 14, in order for me to find the proper attire for him. He said, “yeah, it’s a 195x14 tire”. I said, “hmmmm you, see, in order for me to find the right tire, I need all the numbers, including the one between the 195 and the 14. He agreed, “a 195x14”. Hmmmm I thought, can you give me some more clues that will help me drag the right numbers out of you? He said it’s an Oldsmobile. Then pointing to the car. He just driven up in, I asked him, “Like this one?” He boldly blurts out, “yeah, like this one!” I walked up to the vehicle and told him that the size of this tire was 185x75x14. With the pride of wise scholars, he exclaims “yeah, 195x14” I told him that I’d point him in the right direction of used tires and he could pick up whatever tire he wanted and told him that it would cost him $20. He balked at the price and offered only $10. I told him all tires would be $20. He said he would like to see the tire first. I told him that if he didn’t want pay the $20, why would he want to see something that he was not willing to buy? Was a look of a child given a college-level math test. He scratches his head, staggered back to his car and off he goes in search of the brand-new $10 tire for free.
193. A paying customer called to ask if her vehicle was done, but no one had called her. I told her that it was finished and that I had left a message on a recording the day before. She said, “oh, I don’t know how to check for messages.” I asked her if there was a blinking light on her voice recorder? She said there was, but she just presses the erase button and it goes away. Hmmm, there’s an interesting approach to an answering machine that I had thought of.
194. A customer wanna be just came in - couldn’t start his truck. My question was, “how old are these plugs?” Oh, their new, but I don’t know how long it’s been since I change them!”
195. 7:45 PM. Someone shows up to our shop and says, “hi, I’m friends with your neighbors. I just wanted to ask you if you don’t be $20 to get to town tonight? I’ll pay you back tomorrow!” Caught off guard I said, “I don’t know who you are!” He repeated, “I’m friends with your neighbors” thinking I may have missed something in his approach, I asked, “tell me, is there something more to this story? You may have noticed, I don’t know you!” He said, “yeah, that you know your neighbors!” I commented, “yes I do, but I don’t know you.” He says, “I just need $20” I said, “have you thought of asking someone who knows you?” He just shrugged his shoulders and walked off, so did I, only I was shaking my head a bit.
196. I was called on a tow at 2:30 AM. He said he slipped off into a ditch. When I got to the scene, I mentioned to him that he failed to say that he’d also ran into a telephone pole, deployed his airbag, racked up his front end and was hanging onto the side of the hill by a thread and that any wrong move from here on, would mean certain disaster for his truck which was within inches of rolling over.
197. A customer one of the came to the shop and said that his car kept running after you turn off the key. I said, “you mean it Diesels?” Yeah, he said, it weasels!
198. Second time this morning. A customer wanna be just called up. “Do you have any tents to rent?” I responded, “we have two different types a 20 x 20 and a 20 x 30” she then asked, “okay, how big is the 20 x 30?” With a slight pause, I responded, “approximately 20 x 30” I could tell that she’s thinking, she then politely asked, “well, how big is the 20 x 20?” I replied, Oh, approximately 20 x 20!” She said she have to get back to me when she knew her measurements.
199. I called the bank check the workers work and saw that a wire stripped, so I asked him what happened to in terminal that particular wire? Standing outside the van, away from the wires without taking the extra step to stoop down to visualize what I was talking about, he asked, “which wire?” Knowing he couldn’t see any of the 3 wires since he wasn’t under the van and since they were all the same color – black, I pointed to the three wires and said, “this one. The black one!” He said, “I dunno, I forget.” In my mind, I am wondering why anybody in their right mind would run 3 wires from one source to another all the same color?
200.1. I had to go on a call and just came back. The customer was trying to jumpstart his battery from someone else’s vehicle despite the fact that he had just called me to give him a jumpstart. No problem, he just got it started it and got on the road.
200.2. I had to leave them just came back to our yard. It’s now been about two hours since I first got the call. This same customer has just returned, parked in front of our yard gate with his friend. He has apparently purchased a battery charger and is now trying to plug the battery charger into his own cigarette lighter in an attempt to jumpstart his own vehicle. For some reason this person still cannot figure out that you cannot charge a battery from your own vehicle when your battery is dead! I seem to be at a breaking point in my interesting situations from my customers, so I’m going on a vacation, I’ll be gone for about a month. I’ll see what changes there are when I return. Today is mid August 1999.
Experiences – Volume VI (1994)
FILES OF A TOWING COMPANY Experiences – Volume VI (1994) "Yeah, but I had a reason" Well, at this point in my life, I have pretty much concluded that I no longer enjoyed roofing. I wanted to try something else for a change. It is now 1994. I have returned home from Kauai from repairing all the damage caused by Hurricane Iniki. I still maintain my business license for now, but I don’t actively pursue jobs anymore. I started an automotive and towing business. There shouldn’t be too many follies in this business. Should there? Hmmm, I wonder. This section is dedicated to: The potential customer and the customer wanna B’s. Given data - I lived directly behind Tesoro gas station in Haleiwa. 154. A person is pushed his car through the gas station and onto my property. He asked if he can park his car on my property for just a little while. He said he needed to go get a gas can, because he had run out of gas! After a brief discussion with him, he thought it was illegal to pull into a gas station if you were out of gas. 155. A lady comes to the shop and says she needs a plug. She only described the plug as white. I told her if she was talking about a spark plug. She said she didn’t know. Again, saying that it was only a white plug. I told her I needed the number on the plug in order to find the right plug. She said that she’d bought the car from me but couldn’t remember what year, make or model the car was but that she knows I have the right plug for her. I told her that I just might have the plug, but I really needed that number to find it. After about 10 minutes of going back and forth and around in verbal circles with her, and frustration, she goes back to her house. She comes back about a half-hour later and said that it was the number two plug. I told her that that was a fine discovery, but that I still needed to identify which plug it was. I showed her on the plug where that number was located. I suggested that she remove one of the other plugs and to bring it to me. She asked to borrow a tool to remove the plug. I told her that we don’t loan tools out. So I asked her how did she get the first plug out? And once she gets a second plug how to she plan on putting it back in? She looked puzzled at this point, and wondered why she would have to have a tool to put it in? She said that she would just put it in. I told her that that that’s the way you take out the other plug to find the number on it so that I could get her the right plug again. She stood there looking totally puzzled. I went to my workbench and took out a plug out of my bolt box. I handed it to her and she screamed with joy. “That’s what I needed. That’s it. That’s the plug.” She turned and ran across the street and I assume that whatever joy she got in finding that plug during that moment, carried her on forever because I never saw her again in search of another plug. 156. A little background on this will help. A person purchases of vehicle from one of my workers. Instead of paying for it, he makes an arrangement to take the vehicle from our shop with a promise to pay with no money down and a payment of $150 per month for six months. After about three weeks, my worker had assumed the first payment should come in. But there was no payment. We found the vehicle left at a shop in Haleiwa. We were called to tow it because the other shop owner did not know where it came from or any contact information as to who dropped it off. We pick up the vehicle and move it back to our shop and move on with life. About a year later, the same person comes into our shop to purchase a vehicle. He reintroduces himself as a person on Social Security, handicapped, no income, no money, but needs a vehicle and he would like to see every vehicle we have. I suggest that before we show him any vehicle, he arranged for his money and budget and then perhaps we could talk. He insists that money is available, but not till the end of the month. I mentioned that that’s about two weeks away. It would be better if he secures his money and then attempted purchases vehicle. He again insists that he just spoke to his uncle and knows for certainty that he can have the money needed. He chose the vehicle in front of the property priced at $2300 and asked if he can give us a $75 postdated check till the first of the month and then make the $75 payment each month until paid off. He says there is no problem with the money, but he needs to take the vehicle today. I told him very politely, but with the firm certainty, I told him to take a hike. His comment was that he would just that take his business somewhere else. Hmmm, I wonder if there’s anybody out there that would place a value on his business? 157. I went to the supply store today to pick up a 2 ¼” preformed Gasket. The salesman said they only had a 2 ½ inch gasket. He said that they didn’t make it to a 2 ¼” gasket. I said Hmmm, could I borrow your tape measure? He handed me the 2 ½ inch gasket and a tape measure. I measured the gasket and commented this is a 2 ¼” gasket. He said yeah, but they call it the 2 ½ inch gasket! 158. A person wanted a spare tire. He had a Ford five lug tire. He went through the free tire pile. Then came back and said, “I checked every tire in the pilot nothing fits. I tried all the four hole and five hole rims and nothing fit.” My initial thought was, “didn’t you say you had a five lug rim off of a Ford?” He said, “yeah!” Our comment was, “then why are you checking to see if the four lug rims fits?” He just looked off into the distance and said, “just in case!” 159. A person drives up to our property and asked us if we had water. (he had what appeared to be a bunch of 5gal water buckets in the bed of his truck) We told him he’d have somewhere else or he could check with the gas station about 30 yards behind him. Instead of backing up his truck to the water. He parks it gets out his 5 gallon containers and proceeds to walk the 30 yards to the water and fill his containers. (he had about 25@5gallon containers) So, one by one, he fills them and then carries them back to his truck which was also blocking our business driveway. 160. A lady comes up to the shop and tells me she was mad with her mechanic because he wanted to charge her too much to change a part. So, with the seriousness of an attorney, she asked me “how much would you charge me to change a part on my car?” Hmmm, I am thinking, this should be interesting! I told her, “maybe if we work together on this one, we could narrow it down a bit. What type of car do you have and what part do you need changed?” She commented. “It was a big part because it costed $265.” I asked her if she had anything in writing from the other mechanic? She said she didn’t get anything in writing from him because she didn’t want to commit to a contract. I explained to her that her getting something in writing is called a proposal until she signs it, and only at that point would it then become a contract. I told the lady that it would be better to make an appointment and come back when she has time for me to analyze her cars problems. She just said, “maybe it won’t break then, I’ll just leave it like it is” she thanked me for my time and she left. 161. A person showed up to our shop who had purchased parts from before. He needed to borrow $20 and asked if he could borrow it from me until Friday. I figured that he was a low risk case, so I checked my pocket, but didn’t have anything smaller than $100 bill, plus a few ones. I told him if he wanted to come back later in the day when someone comes in and either purchases something or pays a bill, then I might have some change. Usually this would discourage the average borrower. Instead, he says, no problem, he pulls his car over to the side of the property and gets a magazine and begins to read. He waited there for nearly 4 hours doing whatever people do when they’re waiting for a loan. By that time I had change made the loan and he left. Hmmm, now there is a guy with time on his hand. 162. Our job was to replace a punched out door lock on the Honda Accord. The part is not available except from the dealer only/used parts, etc. We chose to purchase two door locks from a used dealer using the reasoning that we could have two locks with the same key after the job was completed. We inspected the locks and discovered that each one came with a different key. At this point, we asked a rather obvious question to the seller. “What it be possible to get two locks with the same key?” With a look of question, he asked, “why would we want two locks with the same key?” Our comment was that “it was because it was supposed to go on the same car!” He said,” so what? What difference would that make?” Hmmm, I wasn’t sure why I was even having this conversation, but I left with the one lock set with an un-matching key 163. After performing semi-major transmission work on a vehicle, the only work left remaining was to check the alternator and battery. The customer was informed that without a working alternator and/or a charged battery that he wouldn’t make it very far. The customer appeared to understand our conversation. I thought that he left to purchase his own used alternator and battery. He returns within a couple of days and asked if this car was ready to drive. We reminded him that he would need to check out his charging system. He scratched his head with a minor concern and with what appeared to be a sign of remembering that it was his duty to purchase an alternator and a battery. A couple of days went by, and again he shows up and asking the car was ready to pick up? And again, I remind him that he would need a battery or alternator in order for his card to function properly. His comment was, “you mean after all this time the car still won’t run?” Trying to show a small portion of compassion, I told him that without changing his alternator and/or battery that it would be difficult for him to leave property and get far. Two months later, the car was still parked in our lot and I have now assumed that it’s abandoned. 164. I had a friend who informed me of an experience where a person attempted to get on an elevator. She pressed the up button. He stated, “why did you press the button when you said you wanted to go down?” She said it was because she wanted the elevator to come up to her! Hmmm, interesting.
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