'It is a mad dash for last minute appointments': Auto shop employee gets back at impolite customer by making him wait hours

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 12, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

This person has to do that dreaded annual task: getting his car inspected. If you have a good car, it only takes a few minutes out of your day to get it passed. But if you have a clunker or you've been hearing some suspicious noises as you drive, you may be in for an annoying time. 

Some people wait last-minute to get their car inspected or do other annual tasks because let's face it, we all have a million things going on in our lives. It seems like some people are better at planning ahead than others, but that's no help for the people at the auto shops who have to deal with stressed-out customers. U/Tay3600 finds themself in that situation at the end of each and every month. 

As the original poster writes, these customers seem to have this mentality of "My failure to plan is now YOUR problem." The cashier writes that they try to help as best they can, but only for those customers who are actually nice to them. No need to go above and beyond for a customer who won't even show basic politeness! 

Next, this customer had a bad interaction with a cashier, so she called to speak to the manager… not realizing the manager was that same cashier! 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10388465664
    via Andreea Popa on Unsplash
  • 02
    My failure to plan is now YOUR problem My failure to plan is now YOUR problem So I work in customer service in the automotive industry. As part of the services we offer guests we perform a state mandated car inspection so people can register their car with
    via u/Tay3600
  • 03
    you the state. It's a simple process that can take about 15min if you book an appointment with us. But every month we get flooded with people who forgot to do the inspection on the last week of each month. It is a mad dash for last minute appointments to fit people in before they're late. Now, we don't make money off this type of service, in fact it's a State
    via u/Tay3600
  • 04
    set fee and we realistically lose money doing these inspection on labor cost. I preface this to state that doing these state inspections DOES NOT benefit my shop, but we do it because it helps our customers. Front door opens to a male Karen coming in on a Friday afternoon mid-day. This distinguished gentleman, we'll call him Tim, walks in
    via u/Tay3600
  • 05
    at around 1pm in the afternoon and slaps his keys on the counter top informing my front counter teammate that he needs an inspection now. Now understand that even though all of our appointments were booked up days ago we will still bend over backwards to help someone out. We totally get that things don't always go according to plan
    via u/Tay3600
  • 06
    in life, so we do what we can to help. That is....as long as you're a nice person. When you start trying to dictate how we're going to help you that does. not fly at my store. Tim decided that today he was going to do exactly that. After we advised him he can either wait almost two hours to try to work him into a slot as we process our already scheduled
    via u/Tay3600
  • 07
    appointments, or book an appointment for him next week. Tim let us know that booking an appointment the following week after the deadline was not an option for him. But he's got time right now so he's going to generously give us two hours of his time and we need to figure out how to get him in. Cue Malicious Compliance: I stepped in to take over the
    via u/Tay3600
  • 08
    conversation for my front counter staff who have been dealing with him up till now. "Okay sir! We're happy to help! I'll get your keys out to the technician, you just have a seat and make yourself comfortable!" Immediately I walked the keys out to my technician with explicit instructions. After explaining to my tech that Tim is acting like a dirty
    via u/Tay3600
  • 09
    trash can full of . I gave the express instructions that we will not even touch his vehicle until 2hrs have passed. Mind you as Tim sits in the lobby stewing, I have the pleasure of servicing several other customers who set their appointments days ahead of time. 15 min here, 20 min there, and even a 7 minute inspection for an all electric car.
    via u/Tay3600
  • 10
    Things are flowing so so smoothly for all of the appointments who did things the right way and it's showing on Tim's face. After the first hour Tim finally has the courage to speak up. "I really appreciate ya'll trying to work me in, but do you know how long it's going to be?" No Tim you don't get to be nice now and try to expedite your vehicle. You don't get to be nasty to my
    via u/Tay3600
  • 11
    staff and still get your way. "Sorry Tim, we're still trying to get it fit in, like I said about two hours before we can see the truck." Mind you the lobby's totally empty and all customers have already been serviced early. It's perfect. Fast forward another hour and his multiple attempts to make small talk to amend his horrible manners/treatment to one of my staffers. And
    via u/Tay3600
  • 12
    his car's finally being brought into the shop bays. Then moments later my technician walks into the lobby with a giddy smile, "Boss, his truck needs wipers to pass inspection, they're torn and fail the vehicle". Passing on this wonderful news to Tim, he agrees to have the tech install some because he of course did not bring any of his own. At this point I feel
    via u/Tay3600
  • 13
    quite satisfied that Tim's learned his lesson with a little additional help from the universe in him needing to also replace wiper blades. But apparently the universe was not quite done teaching Tim a lesson. HIS CAR STILL FAILED THE INSPECTION!!! The last part of the test is run by a computer that reads the internal control modules of the car. It's a totally
    via u/Tay3600
  • 14
    automated process that can't be tampered or effected by the inspector. The only thing that can interfere is if the car's had the battery replaced and those control modules have been reset! But that's exactly what Tim did. Hours before coming to see me he replaced the battery and cleared those exact modules.
    via u/Tay3600
  • 15
    So at the end of the day Tim was his own worst enemy and failed his own car. Having to book an appointment for the following week. But with a little help from the universe, he hopefully learned a very valuable lesson, that service workers are not your slaves. And to always tip your waiters.
    via u/Tay3600
  • 16
    TLDR: Dirty trash can full of needs their car inspected. Waited to the last possible moment, and was forced to wait over 2hrs to get seen. Then his car still failed inspection from his own doing. Your failure to plan does not constitute an emergency on my part.
    via u/Tay3600
  • 17
    Ecollectic42. "Your failure to plan does not constitute an emergency on my part." Love it. Just wish my bosses realized that very basic tenet of human decency. Appreciate the story, good on you!
    via u/Ecollectic42
  • 18
    megafly I can guarantee that "Tim" has a check engine light and thought he cleared it by unplugging the computer/battery
    via u/megafly
  • 19
    Chance_University_9 2 I guess he didn't know about the old stand by of here's $100 for you and another $100 for the tech. For lunch of course. Also to not be a
    via u/Chance_University_9

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customer service malicious compliance customers malicious-compliance-reddit cars entitled malicious compliance reddit vehicles entitled people automobile
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