Meeting people as a mechanic.

[LaserSVT]

About 3 years ago I sold a Lincoln LS to this really rude black lady. When she bought it I told her the heater valve was stuck so the car wont have heat and its about $500 to fix. This was in August so she didn't care. Sure enough she comes back in December complaining there is no heat and I better fix it or else. Or else what I asked? I went in the office, grabbed the bill of sale and showed her where I had her sign and initial that the heater did not work. This bitch crossed her arms spun around 180* and proceeded to cuss me out with her back to me. I told her to hop back in her car, smoke the other half of the blunt in the ash tray and calm the fuck down. She shut up right away. I told her if she bought the part I would install it for free. That apparently wasn't good enough. Hell, it was a $2000 car with no dents or leather rips and cold AC. WTF did she expect? NM, I know the answer. Everyone thinks when you buy a used car it should be just like a new one.

Ive had customers ask me to find them very specific used cars before and were adamant about weird things. They actually believed me when I said I will call the used car factory and where would they like their door dings at.

[Forever_frost]

You'd have lost it on my brother's truck. I refused to sit in it because it had half eaten cans of food in the back, candy melted, 1/4 full bottles of Dr. Pepper, cigarette butts and ashes and his in dash DVD player was smeared with grease from cars and tacos.

It was crap.

[Cooter]

I don rubber gloves before I even get in a vehicle for a road test.

I'm not mr. OCD clean guy or anything, but it skeeves me the fuck out to put my hands on a funk cheese coated steering wheel, shift lever, door handle, etc.

I usually have some amount of bullshit clutter on the passenger floor board or dash board, but the percentage of diesel truck owners who apparently walk around with funky hands is WAY too high...

[Tremor14]

I don rubber gloves before I even get in a vehicle for a road test.

I'm not mr. OCD clean guy or anything, but it skeeves me the fuck out to put my hands on a funk cheese coated steering wheel, shift lever, door handle, etc.

I usually have some amount of bullshit clutter on the passenger floor board or dash board, but the percentage of diesel truck owners who apparently walk around with funky hands is WAY too high...

::shudder:: same with AUDI OWNERS

[Tremor14]

I have a story to share.

I took a job at Samsung in Austin one time. I was there roughly 6 months. One night (during the NFL playoffs for sure) I had spent the night at a buddies house in south austin, before making my way back to Hutto where I had a room. Come to think of it this was right around Thanksgiving. At some point i stopped between Ben white and getting on 35 north, for gas. When i came back out to My bronco it wouldn't start. This was one of my first fords, and definitely my first older ford. So after jiggling everything i could and exhausting all known options, some older mexican guy comes by and asks if i have any tools. I'm a toilet installer, so hell yeah i do. He grabs a pair of channel locks asks me to pop the hood, and fired that bitch right off from the solenoid.

Well i get it back to Hutto without issue, and I am gonna change clothes and head back to DFW for the night. As i am doing the research to figure out the fix before i jump on the road for a 300 mile drive, i remember we have a member who has a shop in waco.

Now other than the frizoli's braum's and valero right off 35 i dont know shit about waco. So i look this place up, call this guy and tell him my issue. Instead of listening to the simplicity of the problem he goes on for the next 30 minutes about everything that it "could be". i get that, i understand. What i was trying to get this mechanic to understand is that i know the issue, i am stuck in a guestroom in a house in hutto texas, in a truck that i am having to start with a pair of channel locks. he explained that he could get me the part at cost, i explained that it didnt matter cause it was $23 at autozone and i already had one.

Well I had the truck rollin with a full tank of gas as i passed through Belton, into waco, and i said you know what, I'm gonna keep on truckin. When i made it back to dallas that saturday afternoon i spent the afternoon with my wife and newborn, and i called this certain mechanic back the next day to let him know i was sorry i flaked but i didnt feel like pulling off and driving around waco looking for his shop on a saturday afternoon when i needed to get home.

I ended up packing some tools in a small tool box and heading back to Austin that sunday night. A week or two later i think I may have been bored and figured I would at least try to drop in and say hi, show my face and shake the mans hand. Well this time he had a shit ass attitude and was really just very off putting. I decided fuck that, why would I even bother driving around a city i have no business being in to work on a truck that isn't even worth paying someone else to work on.

That was the last time i've even attempted to reach out to a mechanic for anything other than the BMW, simply cause i am not equipped to disassemble it.

[Broncojohnny]

What a great story, my favorite part is how the guy spent 30 minutes with you on the phone trying to help you out, yet miraculously somehow he is still an asshole.

[Tremor14]

If you've read his posts on here you'd know he has a lot to talk about. if you ever tried to call me, you'd know i likely wont answer, and will text you back 20 minutes later asking what you needed.

[Broncojohnny]

If you've read his posts on here you'd know he has a lot to talk about. if you ever tried to call me, you'd know i likely wont answer, and will text you back 20 minutes later asking what you needed.

And of course that makes him some kind of asshole. Makes total sense.

[Tremor14]

and if he's an asshole, you are the reason i wash brand new clothes before i wear them.

[JC316]

I have a story to share.

What I gather from this story is a customer that knows absolutely nothing about mechanics tries to tell a professional mechanic what the problem is. Then this guy wants to buy a cheap part from the local autoparts store and have the pro install it.

He then commits to have this repair done on a weekend, and then blows the mechanic off without so much as a text, because the customer is an inconsiderate asshole that apparently can't google a fucking address, and then has the balls to get upset when the mechanic is upset about this.


I'll put up with a lot of shit from a customer, but don't fucking tell me that you're going to show up, have me stick around on a weekend, and then not have the common courtesy to tell me that you can't make it.

[Tremor14]

you may be right, i never really took the consideration of what it takes to make it as a shade tree mechanic, and that is why i offered up the $75 diagnostic via pay pal right now if you want it. you did spend time on the phone with me.. i was definitely back in dallas the last time we talked though.

it wasnt a lack of confidence or knowledge. (im the one that fixed it), it was more of i am staying at a house, in a room that i found off craigslist with some old white lady with 8 year old twins. I'm not trying to rip my car apart in front of your mailbox lady."

[Tremor14]

but JC you wouldnt even acknowledge you were you when i saw you at whatever pick n pull off st. augustine. get real.

[JC316]

but JC you wouldnt even acknowledge you were you when i saw you at whatever pick n pull off st. augustine. get real.

Wait, what? I think you have me confused with someone else. The only Pick N pulls that I go to are 2nd avenue, Walton Walker, and 310. I will talk with anyone from this board, I've even made a few friends off from here.

[mstng86]

What was the issue?

The starter solenoid? Just my guess on an old ford "under the hood" starting issue.

And you should have called him when you made up your mind to not stop in Waco. I am sure that's why he was irritated the second time you actually wanted to show up.

[Forever_frost]

I thought starting a Ford from under the hood was a factory thing. Every carb'ed Ford I've ever owned wound up with me under the hood with a long handle flathead screwdriver arcing the starter solenoid to crank it while feathering the throttle.