Tweet
The Pluperfect Transaction: finished before you started, right?
The word Pluperfect is a linguistic term meaning a word designating an action that has already taken place. It derives from the latin Plus Perfectum, literally meaning more than perfect. It is the attempted basis of many an SC Jedi Mind Trick to try to hasten the transaction by speaking in an already-finished-right? tense.
So anyway, a woman comes in complaining of a shimmy but only at freeway speed. Naturally, she parked in the way, and assumed we all had nothing better to do than hop right in her car and fix it all Johnny-On-The-Spot. We got her and her boyfriend out of the way and finished the tasks we were in the middle of, and 10 minutes later a tech and I went on a test drive. At 60mph, there was a rather subtle vibration in the rear. So we drive back to the shop, and the lady and her boyfriend are standing at the edge of the park anxiously. Before we even stop rolling, they both walk over to the car as if to get in and leave; she says to the closed driver window, SO WHAT WAS IT?
Okay, Maam. We just got back from the test drive and confirmed the symptom. This is the part where we pull the car into the shop and lift it and examine the vehicle. When we find the problem, we'll come right over and let you know.
She stood still (in the way) for a minute, while the cows in her head mooed plaintively. She started slowly, dejectedly walking back toward the park, then turned back around and said, ".... 'Cause we weren't planning to come in now." I stopped, turned around and regarded her for a moment and said, if you REALLY need to leave, I'll have the guy turn it around and you can come back another day. WE weren't planning you coming in right now either! Cows mooing. "Okay... I don't want to hurt anything on the car."
Five minutes later, we confirmed that the problem was a bent LR wheel, which we had recommended and documented a month ago when she had a surprise $800+ radiator break.
That happens a lot with waiter customers... sometimes before you've even gotten the KEYS, they are already saying, "So it's ready?"
-Art
So anyway, a woman comes in complaining of a shimmy but only at freeway speed. Naturally, she parked in the way, and assumed we all had nothing better to do than hop right in her car and fix it all Johnny-On-The-Spot. We got her and her boyfriend out of the way and finished the tasks we were in the middle of, and 10 minutes later a tech and I went on a test drive. At 60mph, there was a rather subtle vibration in the rear. So we drive back to the shop, and the lady and her boyfriend are standing at the edge of the park anxiously. Before we even stop rolling, they both walk over to the car as if to get in and leave; she says to the closed driver window, SO WHAT WAS IT?
Okay, Maam. We just got back from the test drive and confirmed the symptom. This is the part where we pull the car into the shop and lift it and examine the vehicle. When we find the problem, we'll come right over and let you know.
She stood still (in the way) for a minute, while the cows in her head mooed plaintively. She started slowly, dejectedly walking back toward the park, then turned back around and said, ".... 'Cause we weren't planning to come in now." I stopped, turned around and regarded her for a moment and said, if you REALLY need to leave, I'll have the guy turn it around and you can come back another day. WE weren't planning you coming in right now either! Cows mooing. "Okay... I don't want to hurt anything on the car."
Five minutes later, we confirmed that the problem was a bent LR wheel, which we had recommended and documented a month ago when she had a surprise $800+ radiator break.
That happens a lot with waiter customers... sometimes before you've even gotten the KEYS, they are already saying, "So it's ready?"
-Art
Comment