Strange smells

[Mister Burns]

I'm an automotive technician and quite often we get customers in with strange complaints or just disgusting cars. My personal favourite SC was a lady who brought her SAAB in for servicing (I work in a SAAB dealership) and complained that about 1 1/2 years prior she had hit a groundhog. We had replaced a couple of broken splash guards under the car but now she noticed that whenever it rained or was humid outside, her car smelt like wet dog so she wanted me to check if there were any remains left from the groundhog.

It just so happened to be a humid day so when I walked out to the car and got in I was able to confirm that it did indeed smell like wet dog. As I drove the car into the shop, I took a look around the interior of the car and noticed that the seats were covered in dog hair. I went up to the customer and explained that I thought that the reason the car smelt like wet dog on wet or humid days was due to the fact it was full of dog hair which when wet would smell just like wet dog.

The customer decided that this couldn't be the cause and made me put the car in the air, remove the parts we had replaced earlier and look for remians of the groundhog she had hit well over a year ago. Needless to say I didn't find anything and again told her i believe it was due to the dog hair and maybe she'd like to get the interior cleaned (which we can do) and then see how the car was. She still refused to believe me and left mad.

Now, I wasn't going to charger her any time to tell her why her car smelt like wet dog but when she told me to remove the splash guards and check for remains then she was going to pay and she did.


Another favourite of mine luckily didn't happen to me but the tech working next to me.

A customer brought her car in for an annual service and part of that involves a road test.
He was driving the car down the road and he could smell something. What bugged him was that he recognised the smell but couldn't put his finger on it. Then as he got a couple of steets away his butt started feeling wet and he suddenly realised that the smell he recognised was when his infant son's diaper was full of pee and needed to be changed.

He came flying back into the shop, hops out of the car before it had completely come to a stop and ran up stairs to the change rooms to get changed.

Once it had settled down he told all of us what happened. I don't know if he was more offended by sitting in a car where the driver's seat was soaked in pee or the fact that none of the other technicians (myself included) were almost rolling on the floor laughing instead of being sympathetic.

Some customers are just disgusting.

[Rubystars]

Your icon is very crude. Think that some people read these forums from work and anything sexual could get them into trouble.

[Mister Burns]

Ah, that's the avatar I use for all the forums I use. I'll try to find something more appropriate.


Not tonight though, it's nearly 2am here but I'll find something.

[Rubystars]

Thank you very much.

[One-Fang]

As to the first, oh no, that smell couldn't possibly be coming from widdle baby fwuffykins! At least she paid. If it was going to be a free service I'd have refused unless the car interior was totally lacking in signs of dog.

[gundam40]

EWWWWWWWW... the driver peed... IN THE CAR?!

And the avatar, I didn't even realize it was a sheep he is spanking. I thought it is a ball of yarn or something :P

[blas]

I guess I'm the only person who nearly peed my own seat laughing at that avatar.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Your icon is very crude. Think that some people read these forums from work and anything sexual could get them into trouble.

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see it that way.

I got lots of coworkers I'd like to hit like that, by which I mean beating them senseless whenever they make my job more aggravating than it has to be.:devil:

[mrtauntaun]

I read this forum at work exclusively, and I find that avatar hilarious.

[JustAGirl]

I guess I'm the only person who nearly peed my own seat laughing at that avatar.

you aren't the only one.

i thought it was hilarious :)

and i read this forum at work and home.

[LostMyMind]

Very funny avatar, however I can't see anyone getting in trouble for "stuff animal spanking". Just imaging a supervisor trying to write that up. Reminds me of a Drew Carey episode where he got called into court for a cartoon of a french fry and a worm.

The board does have options to hide avators and "images" in your control panel. If you're at work and are concern about images that might get you in trouble. Have it off while you're at work.

[Barefootgirl]

Have it off while you're at work.

Fnar, fnar. Does "have it off" mean the same stateside as it does here? Having it off means..well... what those stuffed animals are doing to each other !

[LostMyMind]

No, it don't :lol: At least not that I'm aware of. Don't you love english, 3 words and 50 different meanings.

[JustAGirl]

At least noone said its fanny is being spanked!

(an overseas friend informed me of the meaning of 'fanny' LMAO)

[PuckishOne]

I guess I'm the only person who nearly peed my own seat laughing at that avatar.
Nope, blas, you're not. :D

Edit: Even though it seems many of us enjoy Mr Burns' avatar, we can still be respectful of those who might not - we're all about getting along here, right? If Mr Burns is willing to change the avi with no problems, then that should be that. Just my $0.02. :)

[LostMyMind]

In all seriousness, if you're at work and you believe co-workers/boss will have a extreme reaction to some of the images displayed in avatars. It would be best to visit your CP (link at top) and change your options while at work to not display avatars and images. Better safe than sorry.

[protege]

Getting back on topic, I think that wet dog has to be one of the more nasty smells I've encountered in a car, right up there with stale milk. In fact, I encountered both of those in the same month! Right before my "inherited" Ford Tempo was destroyed in an accident, someone had left a milk container somewhere in the car. With the windows up. In the middle of summer. Nasty was an understatement. Let's put it this way--as soon as you opened the door, the stench simply overpowered you :eek: No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't go away. The only thing that seemed to work was parking the car at the mall (yay for covered parking) with the windows down, in the middle of a rainstorm. I have no idea how that worked, but it did.

Where'd the dog smell come in? One of the cars I rented after the accident was a Nissan Sentra that smelled of wet dog. The car had supposedly been cleaned by the rental agency, but you could still smell it.

[chainedbarista]

i'm not offended, but then again, i have a sick sense of humor to begin with...funny odors; sure it wasn't the driver???

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I used to work at a dry cleaners, and sometimes people would bring in nasty clothes to us. The worst was when a man dropped off a bag with a set of clothes in it. he left before we opened the bag---and when we did, we discovered that the pants were full of crap!

My manager banned that person from the store after that.

[Lehk]

Your icon is very crude. Think that some people read these forums from work and anything sexual could get them into trouble.

you go to a site named "customers suck" from work and you are concerned that a naughty avatar could get you in trouble? i would definitely suggest that sites designed specifically to complain about work be visited exclusively from home

unless you ARE the IT guy then you can just make sure your traffic doesn't get logged


i'm not saying your point is invalid, just you seem to be overlooking the elephant in the room

[Acolyte]

I guess I'm the only person who nearly peed my own seat laughing at that avatar.

Nah, I think it's awesome, too.

[AFpheonix]

I can only access insurance and board of pharmacy websites from work, so the avatar's a moot point for me. I was amused by it, though :)

I think the worst smell I've ever encountered in one of my cars was the time a can of No-Chew (stuff you paint on the fence to keep the horses from chewing on it out of boredom) tipped over onto the passenger side carpet of my elderly subaru, rest in peace. Oh my god...I had to drive with the window down for a very long time. Febreze wouldn't even touch the stuff. I used a bissel carpet cleaner on it, nuthin'.
My now-husband wouldn't even ride in that car with me. He said it smelled like a dirty toilet :rolleyes: I got used to it after awhile, at least. It helped to counter the burning-oil smell that thing had, too :D

[Ree]

Even though it seems many of us enjoy Mr Burns' avatar, we can still be respectful of those who might not - we're all about getting along here, right? If Mr Burns is willing to change the avi with no problems, then that should be that. Just my $0.02. :)

I couldn't agree more. Thank you puck.

There is really no need for anyone to be as mocking as they have been in response to Rubystar's complaint. :respect:

The OP was being very polite and accommodating, in my opinion, so there was really no need for all of these sarcastic replies in his defense.

[Mister Burns]

Ok, Finally got another Avatar. Not sure if it meets peoples approval though. There are no teddy bears doing sheep in it at least.