THE FIXER HAS SAVED YOU $1,343,898
thing else, he would have to charge for parts and labor like everyone else. She agreed. While she waited, she and her two friends proceeded to talk bad about our shop, not caring who heard them. Then she got on her cell phone and in a loud voice back-talked her own mother and then bragged to her friends about how she treated her mother.
As it turned out, something else was wrong that had nothing to do with the previous repairs. She reluctantly agreed to get it fixed, and my husband stayed after hours to complete the repair. While they waited, the trio badmouthed our shop. When the customer paid her bill, my husband asked if she had taken her car for the emissions test. She said she hadn’t, and my husband reminded her to do it as soon as possible.
Guess what? Exactly 32 days later, here she comes again. The check-engine light had come on once again. The diagnostic tests showed two catalytic converter codes, which were not related to the other repairs and quite expensive to fix.
My husband asked again if she had taken the car for the test, and she admitted that she had not. Now it was a month later and the car wouldn’t pass without these additional repairs. The customer refused to take responsibility for her own car and pointed the finger at us. It was ALL OUR FAULT that her car wouldn’t pass the test!
She was “high maintenance” and possessed unrealistic expectations. She was the type of customer who lights up a room when she leaves.
From Judy: I worked for 26 years in the restaurant business. I hated the first-thingin-the-morning customers who wanted coffee but their unbrushed teeth/smoker breath made it just about impossible for me to smile (or breathe, for that matter). Truly gross.
In second place were the drunk customers. They were unpredictable and usually had violent tendencies.
There was a memorable customer who always made me smile: A little old man who sat in the same booth at the same time and ate the same food in the same way, every day. You knew that was the highlight of his day.