Mondays at the tire shop

[Brandoni]

You may not, but I would. That way I could call in and use lines like some of my employees:

1.I fell asleep playing video games and my neck hurts so I can't work

2.I know I'm supposed to be at work in 5 minutes but I'm in Florida

3.I'm pacing myself

4.I got stuck in mud out in the woods last night and am too tired to come in

5.My mom didn't wash my clothes (19 year old man)

Really??!! That's to funny . . . .

I restate . . . You have way to much patience . .

 

[wmtire]

Any chance he was lucky enough to hit the culvert on the way up the road?

Not that lucky...but it sure would have been great (said the devil on my shoulder)

 

[wmtire]

I guess I really do have a bad attitude today. I came real close to calling a customer a moron and had to jarble the word to keep it from coming all the way out of my mouth. I'll have to type it up later. It was all over a motorcycle tire he mounted himself.

 

[rracer5]

Bobby, looks like you had quite the eventful week (so far). And that reminded me that I was happy that you didn't drive through Monroe this past weekend (or if you did, you were a good boy) as I didn't see you on the latest episodes of On Patrol Live.

Of course, the bunny suit may have changed that outcome.

 

[wmtire]

I guess I really do have a bad attitude today. I came real close to calling a customer a moron and had to jarble the word to keep it from coming all the way out of my mouth. I'll have to type it up later. It was all over a motorcycle tire he mounted himself.

OK, to finally get around to this one. A male and female pull up in a pickup truck. The guy grabs a motorcycle tire/rim out of the back of his truck still with the chain sprocket attached. I tell him I don't do motorcycle tires. He tells me he just needs it aired up as he already mounted it himself.

I then go into my spiel how I will not just air a tire up without dismounting it first to see how bad the beads are possibly damaged, so I don't blow my head off........and add again I don't do motorcycle tires and cannot do his with the sprocket on it. He then keeps arguing he just needs a little help airing it up.

I tell him the reason he can't get it to air up, is he probably ruined the beads mounting it himself. He now starts adding that tire cost over $300 and he just needs some help airing it up. I tell him a place where I send that kind of stuff and added they have more specialized equipment for motorcycle tires.

Now the female decides to interject and say they just need it aired up. I tell her the same thing as I told him. He takes lead again and says he just needs me to help him air it up. That's when I tell him "I'm not airing up a tire some mor..........afyirshuj (just jibberish as I was trying to catch myself and shut my piehole) mountered. I didn't even say "mounted" correctly

They both looked at me like I was having a stroke, and it probably sounded like I did. For a sec even I thought I might have.

I finally regrouped enough to say "Sorry but I can't do this, end of story."

They were both mumbling/grumbling as they got back in the truck to leave. I'm still mumbling/grumbling two days later.

I wonder if they did get it to air up or hurt somebody foolish enough to attempt it.

 

[Mookie58]

Sometimes I feel bad for chuckling at your nasty experiences with your "customers". But only sometimes.

 

[wmtire]

Sometimes I feel bad for chuckling at your nasty experiences with your "customers". But only sometimes.

You can laugh at me or with me, it's all good as long as you're laughing.

 

[wmtire]

This one may only be humorous to me, or others in a trade that similar happens.

Guy brings in a tire off some kind of lawn cart he pulls around behind his lawnmower a few days ago to get me to put a tube in it. He didn't like my price and left. He just brought it back and dropped it off. Tells me he should have just paid me the first time as he has ruined two inner tubes trying to do it himself. He sure does have the lip bent on that wheel in several places now.

He learned the hard (and more expensive) way that those smaller tires can be much more difficult to deal with than the larger automobile tires.

 

[waybeck2018]

I may steal that idea and park my F250 diesel there when I go to Lowes again. They have six charging stations in front of their parking lot.

 

[Mr. Dan]

I may steal that idea and park my F250 diesel there when I go to Lowes again. They have six charging stations in front of their parking lot.

Sorry, steal which idea?

 

[RobbieH]

I may steal that idea and park my F250 diesel there when I go to Lowes again. They have six charging stations in front of their parking lot.

Why would you do that? What do you win doing that?

 

[Mookie58]

You can laugh at me or with me, it's all good as long as you're laughing.

I'm never laughing at you, just at the comedy of the situation. A therapist once told me "talk about the behavior, not the person, don't make it personal". I still got divorced.

 

[RobbieH]

I'm never laughing at you, just at the comedy of the situation. A therapist once told me "talk about the behavior, not the person, don't make it personal". I still got divorced.

That's hilarious because it's true. I'm divorced (and remarried) too.

My doctor told me to laugh at everything, even when some thing bad happens to me, like crashing a car. I'll tell you this, I've done it ever since and if it doesn't make me feel better, at least it makes people look at me like I've lost my mind.

 

[TitanMike]

Why would you do that? What do you win doing that?

In some parts of the country the prize can be one or more of the following:

Slashed tires
Broken windows
Stomped in hood and roof
Fuel tank filled with "contaminants"
A citation from local law enforcement
An impound tow

Might also cause some to wonder if owner is mature enough to have a driver's license.

 

[wmtire]

"Normal" air is free, but compressed air costs $5.

I just used a variation of this in my explanation to a guy trying to argue why I was charging him to air his tire up. It took the fight right out of him. This may now be my SOP explanation. Thanks

I had played with the idea of just getting a bicycle air pump, and pointing/telling customers there was the free air, knock yourself out......but that would perhaps make me come off being a smart alec...and/or they would probably steal my bicycle pump.

 

[Mr. Dan]

...and/or they would probably steal my bicycle pump.

… like the knucklehead did with your high dollar air up device!

 

[LanceR]

I just did something I'm not proud of......but it did feel good at the moment.

Had another one of those money losing time-wasters, who just wanted me to find the hole in their tire so they could plug it, but not pay me for my time/labor to find the very small hole...they couldn't find on their own.

After I found the puncture, they suddenly realized they didn't have any money on them, and just wanted me to put the wheel back on their vehicle and would come back later.

I had other customers waiting and didn't have time to argue this point as he was holding up my bay.

So I put the wheel back on the vehicle for no charge. However this little devil sitting on my shoulder forced that arm to remove the chalk marks where the puncture was, and mark a false spot on the tire. I wondered why the angel on my other shoulder didn't stop this, but even he seemed to be upset with this guy.

Not my finest hour. Bad Bunny

Good for you.

I've been guilty of being a bit of a butthead when someone decides to take a dump on me, too. Like WM, I've been coached by a little devil on occasion. And at least 30 years after the fact one episode still stands out in my memory.

This was in an Upstate NY town in which the mayor and city council had told the police department to be very vigilant regarding folks who blocked things like crosswalks, fire hydrants, curbside mail drop-boxes etc or who abused handicapped spaces. And so the cops were merciless

I drove 4x4 dually Dodge utility truck with a 10' long box and one sloppy, slippery, slushy Friday night when it was snowing heavily I stopped at a downtown bar with a few buddies after work and parked on a slope about a half car length above a fire hydrant and crosswalk.

I wasn't in the bar very long and popped out to find that some knucklehead had backed up to less than an inch from my front bumper. And he was still a foot or two into the no-parking zone in front of the hydrant. You could see tracks in the snow where the driver gotten out more than once to see how close they were to my bumper. As there was another vehicle very close to the rear bumper I wasn't going to get that beast of a truck out.

Or was I?

I popped the Dodge into 4x4 and gently pushed the car several feet down the slope. As greasy as the road was I probably could have pushed it by hand. Sure enough that left it blocking both the fire hydrant and the crosswalk. I backed up and headed home wondering if the police, whose station was just a block away, would get to the car before the owner did.

I haven't had that little devil talking in my ear for many years. Maybe he moved south too and he's hanging out at WM's place now and then?



Lance

 

[sailorsam20500]

people look at me like I've lost my mind.

I've given up trying to find mine...

 

[Nick Danger]

A therapist once told me "talk about the behavior, not the person, don't make it personal". I still got divorced.

Not sure; but, we might of had the same therapist.

 

[wmtire]

Not sure; but, we might of had the same therapist.

You just reminded me of something humorous near the beginning of mine. At the very first hearing officer conference where we get to sit out in the hall while the attorneys and HOC officer decide all the preliminary stuff....then each attorney keeps coming out to talk to their client if they agree or disagree...........my soon to be ex was sitting across the hallway from me about 5 yards down.

I walked over to where she was sitting and asked her if she had looked at an email I sent her on a list of arbitrators we could use, which we had both agreed to in our divorce papers, Using an arbitrator would be much less expensive and possibly keep it out of the courts. It's pretty boiler plate divorce language stuff.

She looked at me with a scowl and said "Bobby, you had 18 years to make it work, nothing you do is going to make it work now."

I just started laughing and said "An arbitrator isn't a marriage counselor" then added "You don't know what an arbitrator is, do you?"

She really got all huffy and told me to get my "behind (not actual word) back to where I was sitting"

I kept laughing and relaying this has me laughing again. Maybe ya are too.