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.