Mechanic.
So more on the car saga. I called the mechanics today to see if my car was ready. He said, "we ran out of some parts and had to order them, but it should be done later on today."
"When later on today?" I ask, because my roommate is going into town, and I need to get a ride in with her.
"By two o'clock, definitely" he says, after consulting Keith, the peon doing the actual labour.
So two o'clock comes around and I walk over there. I walk in, and Mark, the owner, who I had talked to earlier, says, "hey, did you get my message?"
"uh, no, what message?"
"Oh, nothing. Your car is ready."
"Cool."
So he takes my keys off the board and goes about taking the tag off of them, and he says, "So I noticed the Ani CD in your console... my wife used to be a big fan."
"Yeah, I love her"
"We went and saw her in concert a few years ago with [folk chick whose name I didn't recognize]"
"Oh, I'd love to see her in concert"
"Yeah, she put on a great show..."
"That's what I've heard."
"Well, really it's hit or miss with some of her stuff though."
"yeah, I've got a friend who says her stuff isn't angry enough any more"
"well, yeah, since she got married she's calmed down a lot... and you can't expect her to be angry her whole life. I'd feel sorry for her if she was."
"yeah, well, anyway, about my car..."
"Oh, yeah, well, when I quoted you an estimate, I forgot to include a few extra parts" he takes out tool box, to show me (which I thought was cool), "see, we used a few of these and a few of these, and a couple of these, oh, and this is the line that we used, feel how tough it is"
"yeah, that should hold up"
"Well, anyway, since when I quoted you I forgot to add in those parts, I gave you a ten percent discount on parts and labour to try to make up for it." He gets out bill and shows me the discounts.
"Oh, yeah that's cool. I can afford that."
So, then I paid for the work, and I'm like, "oh yeah, my car's blocked in on the lot..."
"I'll go get the keys for that other car, one sec. meet you out there"
So I go outside, and he comes out and asks for my keys again, "we can't find the keys to that other car right now, but I can fit it between, no problem... and that way if something happens, its my fault not yours *laugh*"
"*shrug* yeah, ok." and I'm thinking that I could totally do it, but if he wanted to, hell, he can go ahead.
And he moves my car, and comes up ot me and shakes my hand and tells me if I ever need any other work done, just call and he'd be happy to help me out, etc etc. Pleasure doin' business with you, etc.
It was pretty cool, all in all. I think I like my mechanic... the one who listens to Ani and treats me like an intelligent being. Good choice all around.
And now Strider's fixed! No leaking! Woot.
"When later on today?" I ask, because my roommate is going into town, and I need to get a ride in with her.
"By two o'clock, definitely" he says, after consulting Keith, the peon doing the actual labour.
So two o'clock comes around and I walk over there. I walk in, and Mark, the owner, who I had talked to earlier, says, "hey, did you get my message?"
"uh, no, what message?"
"Oh, nothing. Your car is ready."
"Cool."
So he takes my keys off the board and goes about taking the tag off of them, and he says, "So I noticed the Ani CD in your console... my wife used to be a big fan."
"Yeah, I love her"
"We went and saw her in concert a few years ago with [folk chick whose name I didn't recognize]"
"Oh, I'd love to see her in concert"
"Yeah, she put on a great show..."
"That's what I've heard."
"Well, really it's hit or miss with some of her stuff though."
"yeah, I've got a friend who says her stuff isn't angry enough any more"
"well, yeah, since she got married she's calmed down a lot... and you can't expect her to be angry her whole life. I'd feel sorry for her if she was."
"yeah, well, anyway, about my car..."
"Oh, yeah, well, when I quoted you an estimate, I forgot to include a few extra parts" he takes out tool box, to show me (which I thought was cool), "see, we used a few of these and a few of these, and a couple of these, oh, and this is the line that we used, feel how tough it is"
"yeah, that should hold up"
"Well, anyway, since when I quoted you I forgot to add in those parts, I gave you a ten percent discount on parts and labour to try to make up for it." He gets out bill and shows me the discounts.
"Oh, yeah that's cool. I can afford that."
So, then I paid for the work, and I'm like, "oh yeah, my car's blocked in on the lot..."
"I'll go get the keys for that other car, one sec. meet you out there"
So I go outside, and he comes out and asks for my keys again, "we can't find the keys to that other car right now, but I can fit it between, no problem... and that way if something happens, its my fault not yours *laugh*"
"*shrug* yeah, ok." and I'm thinking that I could totally do it, but if he wanted to, hell, he can go ahead.
And he moves my car, and comes up ot me and shakes my hand and tells me if I ever need any other work done, just call and he'd be happy to help me out, etc etc. Pleasure doin' business with you, etc.
It was pretty cool, all in all. I think I like my mechanic... the one who listens to Ani and treats me like an intelligent being. Good choice all around.
And now Strider's fixed! No leaking! Woot.