What part of "We close @5" don't people undestand?

[Chris142]

This happens atleast once a week but today was a classic. Lady calls @ 10A says her AC is broke. My boss told her to get down asap and we will take a look at it.

Lunch comes and goes, no lady or car so we took in other jobs.

Figure shes not coming.

4:30 she rolls in expecting me to drop what I'm doing and fix her busted AC.

I told her that I can't look at it now. I'm finishing up on other cars that did show up when they said they would.

I asked her what the story is. Seems that the AC has been broken for months.

Now today she has decided to go to Vegas and wants the AC fixed for the trip.

She is driving a VW Jetta. Any AC repairs to that car will take hours. A simple recharge and leak test is going to take 2hrs. Any leaking lines or whatever are a nightmare to fix on this car.

My boss wont pay overtime and I've been working in the 100 degree heat all day and I'm ready to go home and relax. Not stay till 9pm so some lady thats known about her busted AC since May can drive to vegas with AC.

She started getting rude and pushy and tried to tell me that my boss told her to come in whenever and we would fix it then. I overheard the original call and he told her to get it in soon to give us time to fix it.

Whats with these people?

 

[40Deluxe]

The same as every body in todays world,every one is use to getting what they want right now,thanks to high speed internet,drive thru service for everything and instant gratifacation.

 

[pbm]

It's called IGNORANCE and it's quite common today.

 

[Kuato]

It's the "I'm special and your ONLY customer". Spoiled. I guess since it was too inconvenient for her to have her AC fixed for a couple months, she's going to have the inconvenience of driving to Vegas without it.

 

[Mr Nice]

If she got an attitude you should of told her to take it to the VW dealership and pay triple for the same job.

I once worked for a company that paid an automatic 4 hours of OT even if it took me 15 minutes to repair the broken equipment.... so I always volunteered for any and all OT.

 

[dave123]

The Boss needs to step in and not put you in this position their has to be a time you stand up and say no we will look at it first thing in the morning.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: dave123
The Boss needs to step in and not put you in this position their has to be a time you stand up and say no we will look at it first thing in the morning.


Unless bossman wants to authorize OT for it...

 

[sciphi]

Or say, " If you want it looked at right now, it'll cost you double our labor rate, and you still won't have your car ready by tomorrow morning."

Gaah, people. Oh well, I'm not any better than her...

 

[d00df00d]

I'm sure the "me me me" syndrome is part of it, but I would guess she also had no concept of how long the repair would take.

 

[Gary Allan]

She's like many. They have limited life experience that's too far outside of their existence bubble. She can't be too worldly in the ways things work.

..but counsel the boss to add, "if you can get here within" to his phone message. What he said and what she heard were two different things.

 

[StevieC]

I would have said that you would look at it and ask her to pop the hood. Then disconnect the wire to her coil pack when she wasn't looking. Then ask her to come and show you what it's doing and have her start the car. Then when it doesn't start tell her that she will have to come back tomorrow because you don't have time to troubleshoot this new problem and make her take a cab/bus home...

 

[mrsilv04]

I would have told her if she wanted a car with air conditioning... to RENT one, because of her own poor time management, the air conditioning in her car isn't going to get fixed in time.

 

[Quest]

IMHO this is more like arrogance than IGNORANCE.

Unfortunately, general NA consumers have been spoiled/conditioned to believe that customers are always right, and would extend that notion to the point of being abusive.

In this case, if I'm your boss, I would either tell her to go take a hike (save the hassle of her coming back to complain due to her urge for self-gratifications), or just flat-out telling her to wait.

No point bending backwards just to accommodate another.

Q.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool


Unless bossman wants to authorize OT for it...
While I could use the extra cash I'm down right pooped by 5pm. We do not have AC in the shop so it's the same temp as the wind thats blowing in the door.

The last thing I want to do is stay at work till 9p or whatever w/o dinner and after a day of dealing with the heat.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: pbm
It's called IGNORANCE and it's quite common today.


Not sure why that is claimed... other than that it seems all the rage. "he gave me a hard time. he be so ignant about me showing up" LOL.

It isnt ignorance, it is the combination of an excessive expectation of customer service with an inflated self-worth. To some extent, the marketplace as a whole is so saturated with stuff, that one can have high expectations that will get addressed to the nth degree. It is part of the reason why working retail is so lousy.

As consumers, we expect the utmost in service and "me" being put first, at least in perception. If we dont feel that way the business will go elsewhere. Frankly, as consumers, we don't care if the peon laborer has to work another two hours or stay late. That is why we are willing to buy sweatshop clothes and "rollback" merchandise. So long as it suits us optimally, anyone else can go scratch.

The lady was probably stupid in that her listening comprehension was so poor she didnt understand when to get the car in. She was also probably so full of herself that she couldnt be bothered...

Now, to be devil's advocate, perhaps she is stuck in some ridiculous retail job where she could not get out. That may just be what it was. If the AC had just gone out, I might have possibly felt bad for her. However, given that this has been an issue for her for so long, I just hope she gets used to driving with the windows down...

 

[QuOk]

But it's a dry heat in Vegas lol.

 

[John_K]

I also call it the "Walmart syndrome", in that Walmart is open 24/7 so people think everything is. Hours seem to elude many people.

Where I work, we say we are closed and it's always "but I just want...." Don't care what you just want, WE'RE CLOSED!

John

 

[tonycarguy]

Sorry this is your boss's fault. I don't blame the customer 100%, although she does get some blame for getting pushy. Your boss should have been more clear on the phone. Instead of saying "please come on soon" he should have explained that AC repair is an all-day thing and she needs to bring it in before 10am. He needs to be SPECIFIC with a time not just say "bring it soon".

 

[hr1940]

The boss should have told to the customer when to come in and informed her that if she came later the car would not be finished until the next day. When she came in that late he should have told her that he would make her an appointment for the next morning. He is paid to take care of problems like that and not expect you to have to put up with verbal abuse. I had to pick up my daughter when she had her car repaired and I was chatting with the shop manager and he told me that since I have 74,000 miles on my Mazda 626 that I needed the timing belt replaced. I have to call 2 days in advance so they can order the part and I have to have it at the shop at 8:00 AM on the day of the repair. That is the way your boss should have handled it.

 

[dishdude]

Come on guys, get down here soon at 10AM doesn't mean 4:30PM!