Urgent: I Do Not Think That Means What You Think It Means

I work at a car dealership. It’s the Friday before a long weekend. We have a busy day booked already, but we anticipate that we’ll get some calls and drop-ins from people who want to go out of town for the holiday and neglected to ensure their car is ready until the very last second. We are correct, but one in particular really takes the cake. He calls and talks to two different people, telling them both that he wants to go to Yosemite and urgently needs to get his service done. They both tell him if he doesn’t want to make an appointment for a future date he can bring in the car and leave it with us and we’ll work it in between or after when customers who had appointments need their cars — our normal answer, holiday weekend or not. We know he’s an extra-special sort of guy because he tells both of them the same thing: we should do his car first because he’s more important than the people who scheduled appointments, and he feels it is urgent because he wants to be on the road as soon as possible. He insists that we have to do this for him.

Both of them tell him the same thing: no, but in a more polite way. They say they don’t have the authority to make that call. So, naturally, he wants to talk to a manager. He hangs up before being connected the first time — perhaps because he is So Important — but the second time does successfully speak to the head of the service department. The manager tells the customer exactly what the other two employees told him: bring it to us and we’ll work it in, but the needs of the customers who scheduled appointments come first because that’s why we recommend scheduling appointments. If he wants it done as soon as possible, the earlier he brings his car the better. He finally relents and says he will bring his car immediately, but we are not to lose sight of how urgent his needs are.

He does end up bringing his car in… almost five hours after he talked to the manager.

Gee, I’m sure sorry we didn’t hold off on working on any other cars until his arrived and was done like his original demand. Obviously, it was very urgent.