Man fools kid

Topic: Man fools kid (Read 5359 times) previous topic - next topic

Reply #45 – February 28, 2012, 08:55:14 PM

Quote from: Chrome;382389

Calm down there Thunder Chicken. You are 100% correct, however, I don't think it was his intentions to stereotype anyone. Most of the talk on this thread has been education as to why this stuff is happening, not perpetuating of ignorance. Just trying to keep peace. There hasn't been a lot of it on here lately. Unfortunately, I have been in the middle of most of the negativity around here. Kind of makes me wounder if it's me.

Sorry, bud, but 25 years of hearing how mechanics are all douchebags and crooks kinda makes one sensitive on the subject. I pride myself in my skills, my tools, and my honesty and it has been my experience that 99.9% of mechanics do too. In fact I've only ever met one that was truly dishonest, in fact I worked for him for a very short while, and I let him know at every opportunity what I thought of him and made every effort to prevent his dishonesty by beating him to the customer and telling him the truth before my former boss could make something up. And he still calls me frequently trying to get me to come back to work for him, even though he knows I hate him.

And if his thread was not meant to stereotype anyone he probably shouldn't have called it "sorry @$$ mechanics", because it's kinda hard to see that as anything else

Man fools kid

Reply #46 – February 28, 2012, 09:08:58 PM

Quote from: lakenheath24;382407

Seriously? You would equate (pick your ism) to me being a bit taken aback that one particular, locally owned/operated professional automotive repair shop stuck a q-tip in an engine and charged said customer $70 for a bottle of injector cleaner? I understand why you would take offense if it was a slap at your entire profession, but this was a beef against ONE shop, I believe that was obvious, if not, oh well...Now you know. I dont care what the cirspoogestances were, THAT was just plain unsat.

Ok, so your friend knows nothing about cars, yet you trust him to be correct/accurate in what he described to you? Did you not consider that the qtip was shoved into the oil fill hole and drawn out full of sludge, and an entire engine cleaning was sold to him instead of a bottle of injector cleaner? Or that maybe even if it was injector dirt, that it wasn't an injector cleaning service and not just a bottle of cleaner? Does your friend know the difference? that brake job, was the price quoted for a full.?brake job (lifetime warranty pads, high quality rotors, caliper slider service, etc) or was it just for a pair of white box autozone rotors?

Your thread title said "sorry @$$ mechanics". That's plural, showing a generalization. And it did not say "sorry ass repair shop", showing you were blaming mechanics, not the shop. But that's ok. Sooner or later you'll come across something that's over your head, and you'll be relying on those sorry @$$ mechanics to get your sorry @$$ back on the road. Here's a hint for when that happens - don't let them know you resent them, else you'll be... Um... Sorry @$$...

Man fools kid

Reply #47 – February 28, 2012, 09:40:42 PM

I did. I let a local shop fix the AC on my wife's 01 PT cruiser. Forked out 900 bones to r2 the compressor. It got so hot the plug melted out. Anyway, it lasted 2 weeks til the freon leaked out...this after they did a 3 hour leakdown...allegedly. I took it back and they wanted another 900 to r2 the leaking condensor. Did I mention that in the OP? Nope, cuz I was talking about ONE incident. BTW, they refused to honor the warranty and went out of business within a year.
As far as the friend goes, he put the qtip in the spark plug hole. And r2 the power steering fluid? c'mon, that's comical.
But, I understand your irritation. Everybody generalizes. When I was in the Air Force and one of our bombs was off target, it was The Air Force did it, not one pilot that pickled the bomb wrong, or one guy on the ground painting the wrong target with his laser. Same thing now, some yahoos at the factory get drunk at lunch and all of Lockheed gets a black eye. I am even willing to bet you don't necessarily like hockey or say "eh".
Tell ya what, I am going to the fridge, popping open a Moosehead and have a beer with ya. I was talking about 1 shop, 1 incident. Sorry for the erroneous plurality.

Man fools kid

Reply #48 – February 28, 2012, 09:51:10 PM

One can understand this man's frustration. His wife has a PT Cruiser! lol

Man fools kid

Reply #49 – February 28, 2012, 09:55:23 PM

Quote from: Chrome;382420

One can understand this man's frustration. His wife has a PT Loser! lol

fixed :D

Man fools kid

Reply #50 – February 28, 2012, 10:17:40 PM

HAD! I actually hauled a bathtub in it once. You should have seen the looks on the guys at Lowe's when I pulled up. Slid right in though. I started to attempt the timing belt and said screw that. I was glad to pay someone to do that.

Man fools kid

Reply #51 – February 28, 2012, 10:25:32 PM

Fixed title to make it less offensive, hopefully.

Man fools kid

Reply #52 – February 28, 2012, 10:54:22 PM

Carm,

I looked back and unless he edited it (and it does look familiar) he did say "...the local garage has been preying on him...", and I mean I don't know, it's not my forum to make decisions on thread titles, but is that not a little too much focus on a small detail? LOL. The statement above shows he understood that not necessarily a whole profession is corrupt nor are the ones actually carrying out tasks, globally or locally in this case, but just the result of his neighbor going to this business for service resulted in him getting ripped off.

I don't mean to paint you as easily offended or flying off the handle (though you did say yourself that dealing with people assuming YOU are a dirtbag over many years has left you more likely to get angered by someone ranting about repair shops), but I'd just politely suggest you keep in mind the other perspective.

As recently, formerly an engineering student and now an engineer (well an assisting "technician" as my HR description goes) I don't take offense to things like the thread "Auto engineers, what do they know?" I have seen both when I was in college, and unfortunately at my job now, some examples of the engineer that people hate, and it's understandable where the frustration comes from.

It's no less reason to not be honest yourself if that is who indeed you are. No less reason to not take pride in yourself and believe that what you're doing is right and WORTH doing. People who see the results will praise you. One (or more in this case) bad apple spoils the whole bunch more often than it should, but when it comes to people feeling stolen from, the frequency jumps up. Ignorant as some conversations may be, when I overhear them or are involved in them I keep in mind what the "victim" or the casual observer, well, observes and bear that in mind before I sling an insult or lecture them. Do I HATE and LOATHE blatant stupidity? Yes. The same for ignorance? Not necessarily.

The bottom line is you know zero about something you own as far as a specific failure and repair goes. You trust a repair service to address that issue correctly, safely, and at a fair market value. That trust is betrayed, how do you feel?

Man fools kid

Reply #53 – February 29, 2012, 02:15:33 AM

I like cheeseburgers.

Do you like 'em, too?

I like a shot of Crown of an evening, sometimes.

Some mechanics are douchebags. Half-ass things. I worked with one...upped and quit. 6 months later they went under.

Never again will I work on the general public's vehicles to feed me or my family. I'd literally resort to selling drugs before I cave in to the picky customer who thinks he knows more about what's wrong, how to fix it, or why it's squealing/rattling/smoking, etc...if YOU know so god-ed much, why ya got your shiznit in my yard to work on?

Anymore, i even hate working on my own stuff. But at least I know I won't die, blow up, or catch on fire before I get to the interstate (which is only 1.5 miles away).

Man fools kid

Reply #54 – February 29, 2012, 02:32:31 AM

Quote from: ThunderbirdSport302;382445

I like cheeseburgers.

Do you like 'em, too?

yessir.. but no just any cheese burgers.. white castle burgers! nom nom nom nom nom.. and NOT the nasty garbage you buy in the freezer section of your local grocery store.. i mean the real deal, BUUUUUUUUUUUDDY

reading these posts, i can't help but just shake my head and turn the page..

Man fools kid

Reply #55 – February 29, 2012, 07:38:44 AM

Quote from: ThunderbirdSport302;382445

at least I know I won't die, blow up, or catch on fire before I get to the interstate (which is only 1.5 miles away).

That ain't too much testing period! LOL

Man fools kid

Reply #56 – February 29, 2012, 07:46:40 PM

Uh-oh. I got to work today and just as I get past the gate....smoke. I ease into the parking lot and oil is pouring out from somewhere. I just had a local shop change the oil. I actually HOPE they left the plug loose. Otherwise....eek.
I miss White Castle burgers...I dont miss the aftermath!