I did a bit of teaching before I realised that it just wasn’t for me. I loved educating and some of the kids were great. The others drove me up the wall and out of teaching altogether. There is nothing like working long hours for low pay — even spending your own money — to try to help someone, only to have it repeatedly thrown back in your face.

A few years later, I’m shopping for a new car, and who do I see but a former student, [Employee], one of the rudest, most arrogant, horrible souls I’ve ever met. He was completely capable of the work but just liked to be a smarta*** and hated to see others get on. He caused constant interruptions, had zero work ethic, and was a bully and a cheater. 

[Employee] looks at me and clearly recognises me but he doesn’t seem to be sure from where. It looks like he is the only employee available. Great.

Me: “I’m looking for a small run around, something fuel-efficient, so low CO2 emissions and low tax. It’s for a company car.”

Employee: “Okay, well, err…. We do have… Hang on. Yes, a good deal on [Model #1] at the moment. Price starts from—”

Me: “Let me stop you there. You are not listening. I want a small, efficient, low-tax car. [Model] is a large car, completely unsuitable for what I asked.”

Employee: “Yes, but the deals on at the moment—”

Me: “I don’t care about the deals. I’ve seen the prices. I need a small, fuel-efficient car. That means low CO2. [Model #1] will cost me more in tax than I would save with a smaller car.”

Employee: “Oh, I, err, have to ask my manager.”

He disappears for some time. He clearly has not changed since his school days. He never could listen to people then.

Employee: “Okay, so I talked to my manager, and we do have a second offer on [Model #1]; it is a lease contract.”

Me: “I just told you I don’t want [Model #1]. [Model #2], [Model #3], and [Model #4] are all far more suitable. Why are you pushing something that I told you I have no interest in? I already said it’s a business car, so it would be business finance.”

Employee: “Well, [Model #1] does have the best deals at the moment.”

Me: “Boring!”

Employee: “What?”

Me: *Louder* “Boring, not listening!”

Employee: “Come on, mate. I’m just trying to do my job!”

The irony is lost on him completely.

Manager: “Is there a problem here?”

Me: “Yeah, can I get another salesperson? This one is incapable of listening.”

Manager: “Oh, sure. Why don’t you step into my office and I will see if I can help?”

I don’t know if [Employee] ever figured out who I was, but it did feel good to give him some of his own medicine. The manager sorted out a great little car for me in no time at all. It’s not so hard when you actually listen, I guess!

I’m a cashier at a dealership. I’m brought a customer who will be making a down payment on a car. She hands me a check. When we get checks, we run the check through a system right then and there that tells us if the check is good or not. The entire time I’m running the check, the customer is nothing but polite. Her check is approved, I print out the approval form, and I make her a receipt.

Me: “Okay, I just need a signature here saying your check was approved.”

The customer signs. I start handing her her things. One of the service advisors brings up a customer to pay for their service ticket.

Me: “Okay. Here is your copy of the check approval, here is your receipt, here is your driver’s license back, and we processed the check electronically, so you may have that back.”

The customer switches from polite to furious in seconds.

Customer: “Hmph. You should’ve told me.”

Me: “Pardon?”

Customer: “You should’ve told me I was going to get my check back before you ran it! Now I’ve wasted a check! I would’ve used my debit card if I had known!”

Some snarky comments start running through my head, but I don’t dare say them out loud, so I end up letting out a nervous chuckle.

Customer: “You think this is funny? I just wasted a check! You need to tell people they’re going to get checks back!”

Me: “I’m sorry?”

Customer: “Hmph!” *Grabs her things*

Me: “Have a good day.”

The customer dashes off. I look around. The service advisor, the other customer, and the loaner agent — whose station is right next to mine and has heard everything — all look horrified.

Me: “That came out of absolute nowhere, right?”

Loaner Agent: “Yeah.”

Service Advisor: “What was her problem?”

Me: “I don’t know. Has she never gotten a check back before?”

Service Advisor: “I don’t know.” *Gesturing to [Customer #2]* “He owes $20 for the state inspection.”

Customer #2: “I’m paying in cash. You can do whatever you want with it.”

We saw the first customer head off in the direction of the sales manager’s office, but no one ever came to talk to me about it, so she either didn’t talk to them or they calmed her down somehow.

I’m a cashier at a dealership. I am also the receptionist, but cashiering is my main job. Every Friday morning, the sales team has a meeting for about an hour. Most people understand when I tell them this and have no problem with calling back later. Not this lady. For the entirety of this call, she is mumbling and there is a bit of static, which only makes the mumbling worse.

Me: “Thank you for calling [Dealership]; how can I direct your call?”

Customer: *Mumbles*

Me: “I’m sorry, I couldn’t understand you. Who were you trying to reach?”

Customer: *Mumbles* “…man.”

Me: “Are you trying to reach a salesman?”

Customer: “Yes.”

Me: “They are all in a meeting right now. They will be done at about ten-thirty. If you call back then, one of them will be able to assist you.”

Customer: “Oh. I was just texting…” *mumbles for a while* “…sent me a picture. Connect me to him.”

Me: “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. You’re breaking up a bit. But all of the salesmen are in a meeting right now.”

I’m guessing she moves to a spot with less static because she comes in slightly clearer.

Customer: “I’m trying to reach a salesman. Your website has a [used car] and I want information on it.”

Me: “Okay. As I said, all of sales is in a meeting right now. They will be done at about ten-thirty. If you call back after that time, they will be able to assist you.”

Customer: “Why can’t you tell me? It’s not that hard. Just get on your computer and look it up.”

Me: “I can’t. I don’t have that access.”

Customer: “You don’t have that access, or are you just too lazy to do your job?”

Me: “No, I don’t have that access.”

Customer: “So, what is your job?”

Me: “I’m the cashier and receptionist.”

Customer: “And what do you do as a receptionist?”

Me: “I answer the phones and connect you to whoever you need to speak to.”

Customer: “So, why can’t you get on your computer and look up the information on a car? It’s not that hard. Do your job and get me that information on the car.”

Me: “I don’t have access to the inventory list. I am not in sales. Sales will be out of their meeting at ten-thirty.”

Customer: *Starts mumbling again* “Who else is there?”

Me: “Right now? Only parts and service. Everyone else is in a meeting. I can connect you with the voicemail of a sales manager and he can call you back once he’s out of the meeting.”

Customer: “I just don’t understand what is so d*** hard about you getting on your computer and looking up car information.”

Me: “Because I do not have that access. You will have to call back after ten-thirty so a salesman can help you.”

The customer hung up. She did not call back.

My wife and I have been looking for a particular model of car for a while, and suddenly, a local dealership has three of them! They’re all used but made within the last couple of years, with mileage varying from 14,000 to 60,000. We go through the nonsense of testing them all and choosing one. The one we decide to buy has 40,000 miles on it and is three years old. The only problem is that the initial asking price is at or above how much it’d cost if I bought a brand new one, made this year as a custom order, from the factory. Time for negotiations.

Salesman: “So, what’ll it take to get you in this car?”

Me: “I want it, but the price is way too high. I could buy a new one online for that much.”

Salesman: “Oh, but that’s because it’s the [Model] S edition, not the [Model] X edition. The [Model] S is… [blah, blah, blah, blah].”

Me: *Pauses* “No, that’s not what I meant. This [Model] S from [three years ago] with 40,000 miles on it costs as much as a [Model] S from this year with zero miles on it. I’ll buy it if you can sell it for a fair price. Somewhere around [75% of their asking price] is much closer to the [Industry Standard Website] suggested price.”

Salesman: “Oh, you can’t trust [Industry Standard Website].”

Me: “Again, though, I could just leave and buy a brand new one for your asking price.”

Salesman: “The price is non-negotiable.”

Me: “C’mon, you know that price is nonsense for a used car. Why can’t you negotiate?” 

Salesman: “I don’t set the prices.”

The salesman suddenly makes an excuse to leave and sends in his colleague.

Colleague: “Hi there. I hear you want [vehicle]. We can get you monthly cost of—”

Me: “I don’t care about the monthly. I care about the overall cost. Are you able to negotiate the price?”

Colleague: “The prices are firm but let me get [Other Employee] in here to see about financing options—”

Me: “Are we seriously gonna do the salesman hokey pokey, where you and a couple of others jump in and out of the room to try to exhaust and confuse me into agreeing to a bad deal? I’m not here to play children’s games. I want you to sell me a vehicle that I’m ready and willing to buy, right now. How is that so hard to sell under this circumstance that you need to get three separate men and—” *checks my phone* “—two hours to negotiate? Does it take this many men to change a lightbulb around here, too?”

The colleague stutters for a second before regaining his composure.

Colleague: “Well, uh… Let me get [Salesman] back so you can talk about finances with him.”

Me: “No, thanks. I’ll just buy a brand new one online, customized how I want it to, for that same amount. Bye!”

I left the office, followed closely by [Colleague]. [Salesman] looked mad at [Colleague] but didn’t say anything about it in my presence. [Salesman] called me once a day for the next three days but I brushed him off each time. On the fourth day, he sent me an email with prices a few thousand dollars less than the non-negotiable price, begging me to come back and make a deal with them. I simply replied asking how he had the authority to change the prices now after he was so sure he couldn’t change prices before. He didn’t reply.

The dealership I work at offers free rental cars when customers are getting their cars serviced and it will be a while before their cars are ready. We always ask if they got everything out of the car when they drop it off, but sometimes little things — mostly parking passes and EZ passes — get left behind. It’s nothing a phone call can’t fix.

One day, a guy drops a rental car off and picks his car up. A coworker goes out to do a quick sweep of the car and comes back with a car seat and some swim goggles.

Coworker: “How do you leave a car seat behind?”

Me: “He did not! I have no idea.”

Coworker: “Yeah.”

My coworker calls the guy and he comes by about half an hour later to pick them up.

Customer: “Thank you. I don’t know how I left the seat behind. The goggles aren’t mine, but I’ll take them anyway.”

After he leaves, we give the car over to our cleaning department to have it vacuumed and disinfected. The next day, one of the cleaners brings me the keys along with a pouch that has a bank logo on it. I glance inside and see a bunch of papers. The customer’s name is on the papers, so I give him a quick call.

Me: “Hi, Mr. [Customer]?”

Customer: “Yes?”

Me: “It’s [My Name] from [Dealership].”

Customer: “Let me guess, you found a [Bank] bag.”

Me: “Yes. The cleaner said it was under a seat.”

Customer: “I’ll be over in about half an hour.”

Thankfully, the guy didn’t have to come back a third time to pick up something else.