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A couple summers ago our District managers decided that we weren't going to take appointments any more for car audio installations. Everything was going to be first-come, first served. Customers who wanted appointments were told we didn't do that, they just had to come in as early as possible and we'd get to them during the day. Unfortunately, they let the managers make exceptions if they wanted to.
So I came in one day and opened the bay at 10am. There was a lady in a car waiting for me, and she was a very nice customer. She'd bought a new radio the night before and she was all excited about getting it put into her car. She'd been waiting there for half an hour so that she could be certain she was first in line.
I was getting her work order written up when the SC arrived at about 10:05. He screeched up in his '94 Grand Prix, came in and announced that he had an appointment at 10, and that I'd better be fast because he had to be in Court at 11. I looked in the book and sure enough a manager had penciled him in. I was screwed; I had no option but to tell the nice customer that I had to take SC's car first. She was too nice to yell but she definitely wasn't happy, and I couldn't blame her a bit. I managed to convince her that I'd finish SC's car as soon as possible, and get to hers right afterward, and that she'd be able to keep her appointments that day.
Even worse, the job SC was scheduled for was to have an alarm REMOVED from his car. It had been installed maybe three months before. Once alarms are in, we aren't supposed to remove them free. They're not made to move on into the next car. But he'd convinced management that the alarm hadn't been working right. He didn't want it replaced; he was getting his money back. He didn't say it, but he was selling the car and just didn't want to lose the money he'd spent on the alarm.
SC was a real jerk. I told him I needed his key to pull the car in. Nope, he says, "nobody drives that car but me". We're talking about a 10-year old Grand Prix here. This was nobody's collector's item. I explained that nobody drives cars into the bay but me. That's not always true, but I wasn't going to bend the rules for this guy. So he scowls and pulls his ignition key off the chain and hands it to me. He keeps the rest of his keys. Then he tells me he's going to be sitting in the passenger seat while I'm working on the car. I tell him no way. Even if my idiot supervisor let him do that while he was putting the alarm in, I don't work that way. He needs to stay out of the work area until the job is finished. He's not happy but he doesn't have time to argue, much.
So I get to work. I'm pissed, he's pissed. After about 10 minutes he stamps into the bay and tells me he's going into the store, he'll be back in 20 minutes. He notices there's a hole where the LED light that came with the alarm used to be. Is that hole going to stay there? Of course it's going to stay there. They drilled a hole to install the LED, the LED is coming out, there's gonna be a hole. The only thing I could replace it with would be a bigger hole. So he goes off into the store, even crankier.
I finish the car, pull it out into the lot, lock it; pull in Nice Customer's car and start on it. He eventually comes back. Doesn't look to me like he's left a lot of time to get to court. I finish the paperwork, have him sign off, give him his ignition key. He goes to his car. He comes back. All hell breaks loose.
Turns out when SC came in to tell me he was going into the store, before he bitched about his LED hole, he'd tossed the rest of his keys on the floor of his car. I didn't notice. The ignition key and the door key are separate on this vehicle. He is now locked out of his car.
You locked me out of my ******* car. If you make me late for court, there's gonna be serious trouble. I'll need your name to give to the judge. You mean you don't have any lockout tools in your ******* tool box? What the hell are you going to do about this?
I call a manager. I'm so pissed I need to step away. The manager arranges for a tow truck to come and unlock his car. We'll be paying for it, of course.
I go back to working on the NC's car, and SC sits in the waiting area (basically separated from the bay by stanchions and chains). It takes 50 minutes for the tow truck to arrive, while SC sits there and occasionally says stupid things like, "the only good thing is, at least it wasn't me that f****d up". I count to ten over and over again. Tow truck arrives, SC gets to stand out in the lot and tell the tow truck driver what an idiot I am while his car's getting unlocked. He finally leaves. Tow truck driver comes in, gets paid, tells me what an idiot SC is.
I did manage to finish NC's car quickly enough that she wasn't too unhappy when she left. And I can always dream that SC got tossed in jail when he missed his court appointment, but I never heard any more about it.
So I came in one day and opened the bay at 10am. There was a lady in a car waiting for me, and she was a very nice customer. She'd bought a new radio the night before and she was all excited about getting it put into her car. She'd been waiting there for half an hour so that she could be certain she was first in line.
I was getting her work order written up when the SC arrived at about 10:05. He screeched up in his '94 Grand Prix, came in and announced that he had an appointment at 10, and that I'd better be fast because he had to be in Court at 11. I looked in the book and sure enough a manager had penciled him in. I was screwed; I had no option but to tell the nice customer that I had to take SC's car first. She was too nice to yell but she definitely wasn't happy, and I couldn't blame her a bit. I managed to convince her that I'd finish SC's car as soon as possible, and get to hers right afterward, and that she'd be able to keep her appointments that day.
Even worse, the job SC was scheduled for was to have an alarm REMOVED from his car. It had been installed maybe three months before. Once alarms are in, we aren't supposed to remove them free. They're not made to move on into the next car. But he'd convinced management that the alarm hadn't been working right. He didn't want it replaced; he was getting his money back. He didn't say it, but he was selling the car and just didn't want to lose the money he'd spent on the alarm.
SC was a real jerk. I told him I needed his key to pull the car in. Nope, he says, "nobody drives that car but me". We're talking about a 10-year old Grand Prix here. This was nobody's collector's item. I explained that nobody drives cars into the bay but me. That's not always true, but I wasn't going to bend the rules for this guy. So he scowls and pulls his ignition key off the chain and hands it to me. He keeps the rest of his keys. Then he tells me he's going to be sitting in the passenger seat while I'm working on the car. I tell him no way. Even if my idiot supervisor let him do that while he was putting the alarm in, I don't work that way. He needs to stay out of the work area until the job is finished. He's not happy but he doesn't have time to argue, much.
So I get to work. I'm pissed, he's pissed. After about 10 minutes he stamps into the bay and tells me he's going into the store, he'll be back in 20 minutes. He notices there's a hole where the LED light that came with the alarm used to be. Is that hole going to stay there? Of course it's going to stay there. They drilled a hole to install the LED, the LED is coming out, there's gonna be a hole. The only thing I could replace it with would be a bigger hole. So he goes off into the store, even crankier.
I finish the car, pull it out into the lot, lock it; pull in Nice Customer's car and start on it. He eventually comes back. Doesn't look to me like he's left a lot of time to get to court. I finish the paperwork, have him sign off, give him his ignition key. He goes to his car. He comes back. All hell breaks loose.
Turns out when SC came in to tell me he was going into the store, before he bitched about his LED hole, he'd tossed the rest of his keys on the floor of his car. I didn't notice. The ignition key and the door key are separate on this vehicle. He is now locked out of his car.
You locked me out of my ******* car. If you make me late for court, there's gonna be serious trouble. I'll need your name to give to the judge. You mean you don't have any lockout tools in your ******* tool box? What the hell are you going to do about this?
I call a manager. I'm so pissed I need to step away. The manager arranges for a tow truck to come and unlock his car. We'll be paying for it, of course.
I go back to working on the NC's car, and SC sits in the waiting area (basically separated from the bay by stanchions and chains). It takes 50 minutes for the tow truck to arrive, while SC sits there and occasionally says stupid things like, "the only good thing is, at least it wasn't me that f****d up". I count to ten over and over again. Tow truck arrives, SC gets to stand out in the lot and tell the tow truck driver what an idiot I am while his car's getting unlocked. He finally leaves. Tow truck driver comes in, gets paid, tells me what an idiot SC is.
I did manage to finish NC's car quickly enough that she wasn't too unhappy when she left. And I can always dream that SC got tossed in jail when he missed his court appointment, but I never heard any more about it.
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