I work as an admin at a body shop. It should be noted that I am a woman, and I tend to sound super young on the phone. A guy called in wanting an estimate:

Caller: “I want an estimate to replace the sideview mirror on my truck. I got sideswiped and it took the mirror off.”

Me: “Okay, sir, I can certainly schedule you for an appointment.”

Caller: “Can’t you just do it over the phone?

Me: “We do prefer that you come in, just in case there’s damage that isn’t obvious.”

Caller: “Look, sweetie, I just want an estimate for how much it will cost to replace the mirror on a Silverado F150.

Me: “Which one?”

Caller: “What?

Me: “A Silverado or an F150?”

Caller: “I thought they were the same thing.”

Me: *Overly polite and more than a little condescending at this point.* “No sir, a Silverado is a Chevy and an F150 is a Ford.”

Caller: “Well then I have a Silverado Ford!”

Me: “No… sweetie. You don’t.”

I am sitting in the waiting room of a small local garage and tire shop, waiting for my vehicle. My experience with these people is that they’re very honest.

A woman comes in, apparently having brought in her family van for some kind of work. It’s late April, and the state deadline for the removal of studs is several weeks past.

Employee: “Do you want your studded tires swapped?”

Note that studs only improved traction on packed ice and snow, and frankly, that’s not likely in our area in April (or even March).

Customer: “No, no, I don’t want them switched. Safety first!”

The employee makes some vague noises and doesn’t argue.

Employee: “Do you also want the problem with your brakes fixed?”

They discuss this quickly in a way that makes it clear this is an issue already known to both parties and is on the paperwork for her vehicle.

Customer: “No, that costs too much.”

So much for safety first!

I’ve dropped off my car to get an oil change, and a little later, I get a call from the shop that they’ve stripped the drain plug and it will take more time. No problem. I’m slightly annoyed, but I’m not going to lash out at the service tech.

Picking up the car is more interesting. I walk in and wait; nobody is around. The tech comes in from outside with a middle-aged lady who drove up in an SUV. She is stressed.

Lady: “I was driving in the rain, and my car was sliding all over the place! I need new tires!”

Tech: “Okay, ma’am, I can look up the tires you have now, but they no longer make them.”

Lady: “But I saw them online, so you should have them!”

Tech: “Okay. They stopped making that tire. I can call around and try to order them if anyone still has them left, or I can see if there is a new model like them.”

They repeat the argument for a while, and then…

Lady: “These tires have been bad since I first got them. What are the best tires for my car?”

Okay, now this going to get interesting.

Tech: “Ma’am, there is no single best tire. I can offer suggestions, but all tires have their benefits and problems. It depends.”

Lady: *Interrupting* “I asked what is the best tire! What don’t you understand?!”

Tech: “Ma’am, I am trying to explain that the tires are different for every vehicle.”

Lady: “No, listen! Why won’t you just tell me what the best tire is?!”

Rinse and repeat until she shouts:

Lady: “I give up! You are useless!”

As she storms out, another tech comes out to see what the commotion is.

Tech: “I just don’t know, man.”

Tech #2: “I will grab the next customer. You sit.” *To me* “Hey, I can take y’all at the next counter. Do you know what it was all about?”

I fill him in and the first tech comes back.

Tech: “Was I crazy? I wasn’t going to lie to her, but I just don’t know what she wants.”

Me: “I was just surprised you didn’t sell her the most expensive all-weather tires just to get her out the door.”

Tech: “I couldn’t just make it up — what is best for what purpose. She wouldn’t tell me what she needed!”

I’m so glad I didn’t stress and give him grief about my plug. Some customers are just nuts.

My dad runs his own business, an auto shop. I used to help out when I was in high school during the long summers and I remember how he used to handle the difficult customers.

A customer has driven into the shop without an appointment and started barking orders:

Customer: “I need [long list of things] done for my car.”

Dad: “Okay, well we’ll need to schedule you in. The next available slot is tomorrow—”

Customer: “—tomorrow? Uh… no? I need this done right now.”

Dad: “There are other customers and their jobs ahead of you.”

Customer: *Looking around.* “I’m the only customer here.”

Dad: “Yes but their cars are here and I’m working on them now.”

Customer: “What, like that little Volvo? What work are you doing on that piece of scrap, reading it its last rites?”

Dad: “I think we’re done here.”

Customer: “I am the only customer in here right now and the customer is always right!”

Dad: “The customer is always right but I decide who the customer is. You ain’t it. Leave now.”

Customer: “You’re the only shop on this side of town!”

Dad: “Should have thought of that before you mouthed off at my kid’s first car. Leave now, I won’t ask a third time.”

And that customer was how I found out that the little Volvo I’d been helping my dad fix up was my seventeenth birthday present!

We had a customer come in for a muffler issue. We diagnosed it and explained that to fix it, we would need to replace it as we weren’t a muffler repair shop. The customer said he didn’t want to replace it, so we charged him for the diagnosis, and he went up the road to the local muffler repair shop. We are on good terms with the shop and send work their way for cases like this. They do quality work and have worked on some of our employees’ vehicles, as well.

About a month later, the customer came in and served us with papers. We were being sued in Small Claims for $25,000 (the maximum amount) for “price gouging”. The customer felt we were very deceptive with our quote because he went up the road to get it repaired for cheaper, rather than replaced. Again, we were the ones who directed him to do so when he didn’t want to replace the muffler.

We sent a letter back to him and the province explaining all of this, and saying that to have this matter ended, we would refund the customer the diagnosis fee of $45.99 so he was no better or worse off than when he came in.

Two weeks later, we got a letter back saying that wasn’t good enough and he wanted the $25,000.

This ended up going to mediation. My boss hired a lawyer just to be sure, but even the lawyer said he was wasting his money as this was one of the most cut-and-dry cases he had seen that year. There was no explanation of why he wanted $25,000. The vehicle was still roadworthy, and even if it wasn’t, we were not the ones who had completed the work.

The mediation appointment was at 10:00, and at 10:10, my boss got a text from the lawyer saying, “Done.” Not only did the customer not get the $25,000, but he didn’t get the $45.99 either as he declined that offer.

My boss happened to be on the phone with the owner of the muffler shop later on in the year and asked if he knew who the customer was. The owner said he knew the guy very well because he yelled at and then pushed his employee, who just happened to be his wife. The customer had his muffler repaired, but supposedly, the weld didn’t hold (“supposedly” because the owner never got a chance to verify the claims before the interaction above). The owner and wife were now due in court to testify against the customer’s assault charge.