Radiating Pure Entitlement

I’m a mechanic. A lady calls in.

Customer: “I need a new radiator. I have it in my car and I’m on the way to get it replaced. The shop I trust diagnosed it, but you’re closer and I really need to get it done. I’m in a rush!”

Me: “Okay, ma’am. Just bring that in and we’ll have a look for you.”

Customer: “I’M IN A RUSH! I NEED YOU GUYS TO GET THIS DONE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! I HAVE SO MANY IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO! HOW MUCH IS THE LABOR GOING TO COST ME?”

My boss, the quick-thinking guy that he is, pulls up her information and tells her that the radiator installation is going to be around $250 in labor.

Customer: “Okay! I’ll be there in around twenty minutes!”

Usually, we are a pretty busy shop, but today we are deader than a nun’s Friday night, so the two head techs flip a coin to see who is going to get paid. We’re all going to pitch in anyway because we want to get this lady in and out.

She pulls in and my manager and head tech go out to greet her. She tosses the keys at them.

Customer: “Get it done, ASAP!”

The head tech pulls the car in. In an awesome display of teamwork and skill, we take a still-steaming radiator and replace it with the brand-new one the customer has within an hour. The head tech pulls the car around and we go in with smiling faces to talk to the customer and thank her for our business and generally be proud of ourselves.

Alas, this is not to be.

The lady is angry. Super angry. She starts screaming at our manager about how we cheated her, we screwed her over, and we’re gonna get sued by her lawyer husband, etc, etc.

Manager: “We did our best and had three techs working on your car to get it out as fast as possible.”

He shows her the old radiator and reminds her that she watched us pull the old radiator out and put the new one in.

Customer: “I’m not paying any money! You’re going to cheat me because you did the job too fast!”

My manager, who is normally a very kind and understanding guy, has experienced quite enough of this lady’s attitude:

Manager: “Ma’am, you have two choices. One, we could call the cops and tell them that you’re refusing to pay for services rendered. Or two…”

He now has a devilish smile on his face:

Manager: “…we could replace the new radiator with the old one free of charge.”

She decides to take the second option! We’re sitting just outside the waiting area listening to her wail like a banshee. Our manager comes back out and says:

Manager: “Hey, you guys want lunch? You know that Chinese place you guys like so much, but it takes forever for them to get you your food? Why don’t you guys go there and eat in? My treat.”

He handed us a wad of money and told us to go.

After we left (this is according to the manager, but I believe him due to the customer’s evil glare when we came back), he went back in and informed her that all the techs went on their mandatory lunch break and wouldn’t be back for an hour.

After we came back, funny enough, it took us two hours to put that old, leaky radiator back in.