How did you manage to keep smiling all those years?
Attachments
I can tell a lot about my wife's mood by looking at her hands. For example if she's holding a gun, I can assume she's angry.
So YOU are the man responsible for those things!
I was chasing an illegal immigrant to the Exit gate of the Portsmouth ferryport. I had to jettison my Radio to catch him, so much did it weigh and so prone was it to jump out of your back pocket.
Then, with no radio, I was unable to report and summon assistance. 🙄
The 6AM early birds on Security got the new lightweight radios. I always arrived at 7AM for my duty and got the old Motorola Brick. Give you credit though, they still worked after 30 years.
But the old Motorola brick made for a pretty useful weapon if need be. Not a bad hammer either. I used to throw my 220 at the rats in the courtyard in the middle of the plant. Killed two rats with that thing, but only broke the radio once, the magnet came off the speaker. When thrown hard and landing on asphalt or concrete the battery usually flies off, so I lost a couple of them as well. Those lightweight things break too easy. So did the MX300's and MT500's that were "better" than the HT220.
When your profession includes dealing with people, you keep in mind one thing.... Income/Money.
You smile , they pay.
But on rare occasions, I've had to throw people out of the shop.
People that could not contain their behavior.
I simply do not tolerate unreasonable or idiotic people.
Once, a guy brought in a Mitsubishi 'higher end model' VCR.
All was good - the drop off, the repair estimate cost, etc.
It had a broken tape loading arm.
When the VCR was ready about a week later, he was called, and he told me his wife was coming to pick it up, all fine.
Two hours later, he, himself came in for the VCR.
I put it on the counter, showed him that it worked fine.... all good so far.
We always demonstrate a unit for the customer at pickup time.
Then, he tells me he demanded the bad part, as justification that we really serviced it.
I told him that broken tape loading arm was tossed in the trash as we always do.
He got loud and argumentitive, insisting me to give him that part.
He yelled something about working at his auto repair shop and always giving the customer the broken parts.
I told him that we didn't have that policy, but had he asked prior to repairs, I would have bagged the broken part.
And the trash had already been picked up.
Still he insisted!
So....
I grabbed a power screwdriver, took the cover off the VCR on the counter, and reached in and snapped off the newly installed tape loading arm and said "here, here's your broken part!"
Now get the hell outa my shop!
End of story.
Did I make you smile, galu?
It's a two way path whether to save the broken part that was swapped out for a functioning one but the customer have to ask for it in advance, in car maintenance and repair bizz it's some times so shady one need to put the demand of return of the broken part upfront before anything is done to be sure the shop really didn't just fleece the customer, even very reputable brand shops over here have overcharged customer for nothing, further on demand the shop do not touch anything else, and if in for some general inspection and service never let them start working on it without ones consent and agreement on what may need to be done and how much it may cost.
Thankfully I have been able to repair virtually everything needed on all my cars, bit over two years back I sat on the parking lot welding some rust holes, not an ordinary sight lol, and yes for safety I had two buckets of water and a well soaked piece of fabric ready just in case.
Thankfully I have been able to repair virtually everything needed on all my cars, bit over two years back I sat on the parking lot welding some rust holes, not an ordinary sight lol, and yes for safety I had two buckets of water and a well soaked piece of fabric ready just in case.
Indeed, that would be the case, and a reasonable request.
But like I said, I was not notified about it.
He have our policies that we follow, and those were clearly shown at the customer counter.
Some people are just nut cases.
Yes I read that, fully agree here. I was going to mention some example of having been overcharged for car maintenance or repair, say the customer may have been charged for the whole generator although the shop just changed the regulator, which on some generators actually is a swap-able spare part, just one of many other similar cases where the part is serviceable, unfortunately things are becoming less serviceable and going into the Planned_obsolescence spiraling black hole path.
edit: oh, and soon people will not have the right to own anything, more a form of contractual "you have the right to use it until your social credit score has gone too low".
edit: oh, and soon people will not have the right to own anything, more a form of contractual "you have the right to use it until your social credit score has gone too low".
Last edited:
I had à plumber change a sink faucet that was claimed defective.
This was at a place I rent while I was away too far to go and do the work myself.
The said trouble was too little flow. Over the phone, I told my plumber to check on that, since it looked fishy to me, because I had installed a new sink faucet recently of a best reputable brand, Grohe to name it.
He confirmed the too low flow, could not fix but change the faucet and told me: It is not a Grohe, it would be written on it.
I told him to let the Grohe in keep of the tenant, for me, going later to take the time to hopefully repair it.
Faucet changed for a lower reputation brand.
Eight months later, the tenant was leaving and he had kept the part for me as we had said. But, I noticed a sneaky leak at the new faucet ( the tenant gave me BS to explain the leak ).
Tenant left, I saw the previous faucet was indeed a Grohe, well written on its handle, I reinstalled it and everything worked perfectly.
Because this had been no cost to me and little labor, I made no fuss and fully gave back the safety deposit.
Back to the plumber: DOUBLE FRAUD or I am not aware of what he uses to smoke.
This was at a place I rent while I was away too far to go and do the work myself.
The said trouble was too little flow. Over the phone, I told my plumber to check on that, since it looked fishy to me, because I had installed a new sink faucet recently of a best reputable brand, Grohe to name it.
He confirmed the too low flow, could not fix but change the faucet and told me: It is not a Grohe, it would be written on it.
I told him to let the Grohe in keep of the tenant, for me, going later to take the time to hopefully repair it.
Faucet changed for a lower reputation brand.
Eight months later, the tenant was leaving and he had kept the part for me as we had said. But, I noticed a sneaky leak at the new faucet ( the tenant gave me BS to explain the leak ).
Tenant left, I saw the previous faucet was indeed a Grohe, well written on its handle, I reinstalled it and everything worked perfectly.
Because this had been no cost to me and little labor, I made no fuss and fully gave back the safety deposit.
Back to the plumber: DOUBLE FRAUD or I am not aware of what he uses to smoke.
I liked the way you remained calm and neutral up to the point where you finally snapped!
Well Galu, I believe in being reasonable, reserved, allowing some benefit of doubt, and usually being up front with things, and honest, however, I am human.
I'm also not one to mince words.
You may enjoy this next story.... a bit long, but surely you won't die reading it.
It's not always a nice pleasent sunny day working 8 to 10 hours, 6 days a week, in a repair shop.
As many on here surely can understand.
Another nasty incident happened a few years back, with an old woman (86 years old) who clearly was a dominating type of witch.
I can understand as some people age, and have health issues, that they're somewhat less than pleasent to be around.
She and her husband, brought in a small tabletop portable record player, a GE model made around 1968.
She told me that her son used it at the mental health facility where he lived, it helped him contain and manage his illness with music.
I took it in, and explained our policies, and could detect some irritation from the old woman.
Nevertheless, she told me in sharp terms that she wanted it repaired, as fast as possible.
Being as nice as possible, I said that I'd do my best.
She left... and her husband all this time didn't utter a word, he seemed meek.
Well, the record player needed a new cartridge/needle, and the turntable motor squeaked.
Normal for such a unit, and a relatively easy repair.
However, the cartridge was not one that I had in stock, and needed to be ordered from Gary Stork at Voice-of-Music in Michigan. - one of my parts suppliers.
Gary's always been great to deal with, however it would take several days to a week to get that cartridge.
When I phoned the old woman and gave her the news, and the cost of my repairs, she became very nasty, claiming that I was "taking advantage" of her because she was old, however she gave me the go-ahead for the job.
Now mind you, I only charged her $50 for the repairs.
$25 for the cartridge including shipping, and $25 for checking and re-lubricating the record changer mechanism.
Not a lot of course, in 2010 pricing, I'm sure you can agree.
Here's where it gets nasty...
When called a week later, she came in that day with the quiet husband who standed off politely in the distance.
Her attitude was clearly sharp, yet I kept my cool, knowing that she was old and ill.
And she seemed to be living in the past, with the past costs of things.
She expected me to charge her under $10 for the repairs.
Indeed, that cartridge would have originally cost $4.95, but this was 2010, and I have to pay the going rate of such hard to find vintage items.
She complained as she laid down a row of dollar bills on the counter, and demanded that I demonstrate the player, which I did, with a record that she brought in.
Now at the same time, a gentleman came in with one of those mini stereo tabletop radio/CD players.
He patiently waited as I handled the old witch's transaction.
When I was done with her, she delayed her exit, fidgeting around, as I turned to the gentleman and his problem.
Next thing you know, she started tugging at the man's arm for attention.
I knew what she was trying to do - and THAT'S when I finally lost my temper!
She started to yell that I was a crook/thief and "took advantage" of her.
I told her in strong terms, including cursing/foul language, that if she didn't leave my shop, I would call the police. - I had the shop's phone in my hand.
She had no right to physically pull on and attempt to include an innocent customer into her obviously annoying ways.
It's all recorded on the counter video camera - with audio, I've saved it and amuse myself and others by watching it years ago.
What's also funny is that the gentleman, a few days later, when called to discuss his CD player repairs, said to me in a joking way... "Could I bring my old grandmother along to pick up my equipment?"
He was obviously amused by that counter incident, and was on my side.
Last edited:
Oh, I see the old Evel Knievel spirit lives on.
Just beware Evel broke 1700 of the 850 bones a Human has. 😉
