wludavid
08-26-2005, 09:12 AM
I was so full of rage yesterday.
I was down near Fredericksburg for work so I decided to stop in and have my e30 inspected thinking it would be less busy than an inspection station up near my house in Arlington. I pull into someplace in beautiful downtown Thornburg and asked if they're doing inspection. Mechanic 1 says, "sure do" then turns around and mumbles something in 'neckese. I say, "do you want me to pull it in" and mechanic 1 turns back around and says, "I said we get right round to it." Um okay.
So I'm standing there in the shade by the service bays waiting and my first clue was that it took two of them to unmount and mount a tire. So I watch them bumble around for a few minutes, then flirt with the girl who comes in to pick up her car. After 10 minutes of this, mechanic 2 finally walks over to the car and I hand him the keys. Mechanic 2 was a hefty individual and it amused me to watch him wedge himself into my seat because (a) I'm half his size and (b) I sit close anyway. So he gets in and starts the car and I see him furrowing his cromagnon brow at the check light that flashes due to the car's insistence that I refill my windshield washer. I show him how to turn it off and what caused, but I can tell he thinks there's something seriously wrong with the car. Then he looks at the brake lining light and says, "dude, this won't pass with the brake light on." So I tell him it's fine because the general brake failure light is off. He says he has to ask Clarence, apparently that's the name of mechanic 1. Clarence doesn't even look at the car, and just takes the word of mechanic 2 that the brake light is on. Again, I tell him that the general brake fault light is off so it's fine. And again, without even looking at the dash he says it won't pass.
At this point I'm filling with rage because I waited for a good ten minutes just to be told by a couple of idiots that the car won't pass. It's not worth arguing anymore so I take my keys back and say, "all right I'm out of here - you guys don't know shit about this job; I've read the law on this and you apparently haven't," and make sure the other people at the shop hear it. As I drive off I hear mechanic 2 say, "you right Clarence you right." Whatever, I was done with them.
I go back to my local service station that I thought was busy and there's no one there at all. In and out in 15 minutes, no problem. Not even so much as a mention of the check light or the brake lining light from the second guy. And he spent a good 5 minutes checking and rechecking for a leak in the exhaust so I know he wasn't just going through the motions.
:mad
cliff's notes: redneck mechanic wastes my time and doesn't know how to do Virginia safety inspections.
I was down near Fredericksburg for work so I decided to stop in and have my e30 inspected thinking it would be less busy than an inspection station up near my house in Arlington. I pull into someplace in beautiful downtown Thornburg and asked if they're doing inspection. Mechanic 1 says, "sure do" then turns around and mumbles something in 'neckese. I say, "do you want me to pull it in" and mechanic 1 turns back around and says, "I said we get right round to it." Um okay.
So I'm standing there in the shade by the service bays waiting and my first clue was that it took two of them to unmount and mount a tire. So I watch them bumble around for a few minutes, then flirt with the girl who comes in to pick up her car. After 10 minutes of this, mechanic 2 finally walks over to the car and I hand him the keys. Mechanic 2 was a hefty individual and it amused me to watch him wedge himself into my seat because (a) I'm half his size and (b) I sit close anyway. So he gets in and starts the car and I see him furrowing his cromagnon brow at the check light that flashes due to the car's insistence that I refill my windshield washer. I show him how to turn it off and what caused, but I can tell he thinks there's something seriously wrong with the car. Then he looks at the brake lining light and says, "dude, this won't pass with the brake light on." So I tell him it's fine because the general brake failure light is off. He says he has to ask Clarence, apparently that's the name of mechanic 1. Clarence doesn't even look at the car, and just takes the word of mechanic 2 that the brake light is on. Again, I tell him that the general brake fault light is off so it's fine. And again, without even looking at the dash he says it won't pass.
At this point I'm filling with rage because I waited for a good ten minutes just to be told by a couple of idiots that the car won't pass. It's not worth arguing anymore so I take my keys back and say, "all right I'm out of here - you guys don't know shit about this job; I've read the law on this and you apparently haven't," and make sure the other people at the shop hear it. As I drive off I hear mechanic 2 say, "you right Clarence you right." Whatever, I was done with them.
I go back to my local service station that I thought was busy and there's no one there at all. In and out in 15 minutes, no problem. Not even so much as a mention of the check light or the brake lining light from the second guy. And he spent a good 5 minutes checking and rechecking for a leak in the exhaust so I know he wasn't just going through the motions.
:mad
cliff's notes: redneck mechanic wastes my time and doesn't know how to do Virginia safety inspections.