Flies, honey, and vinegar

[edible_hat]

We all know the old saying "you catch more flies with honey and vinegar". Here's a nice example of it in action. I was the fly.

Backstory: The air hose at my work developed a problem. The compressor's fine, but there's a leak somewhere between it and the hose that customers use to fill their car tyres. We weren't aware of it until today, when...

SC: "I've just let all the f*ing air out of my f*ing tyre and your f*ing air hose isn't f*ing working, what the f* are you going to do about it?"
Me: "I wasn't aware of the problem until you told me just now sir..."
SC: (interrupting) "I don't care about that, f*ing do something about it!"
Me: "I'll call my boss..." (calls the boss, who says basically to apologise and put an out of order sign on the hose and that there's no spare pump anywhere on the site)
SC: "Well? Are you going to pump up my f*ing tyre?"
Me: "My boss doesn't think we have a spare pump, but I'll look for one." (because I remember that the boss didn't think we had a jack two months ago, but there was one in a store room. I look everywhere a spare pump is likely to be, and there isn't one)
Me: (returns to counter) "We don't have spare pump, but..."
SC: (interrupting again) "Well that f*ing doesn't help me! Thanks for f*ing nothing!" (stands there staring)
Me: (thinks) That's a couple f-bombs too many so I won't offer to help you change the tyre (speaks) "Well it looks like there's nothing I can do for you."
SC: "F* off, and tell your boss to f* off too." (stomps out to his car, and drives away with one flat tyre)
Me: (thinks) one for the forum...


For those not confused by my wine-assisted writing style: Basically I was about to offer to help him change the tyre which would at least let him drive normally, but he pissed me off a little too much so I decided to stick with the bare minimum effort to get rid of him.

[csever01]

The first words out of my mouth would have been, "Sir, if you continue to use that language with me, I will not be able to help you."

[chainedbarista]

nope, i think you handled it perfectly. f bombs slip occasionally, and his amount of slippage was past quota.

i'd have laughed at him as he pulled out; here's to you not being smart enough to change out the offending tire AND driving away on it, mr. f bomb.

[Rapscallion]

Me: (thinks) one for the forum...

Heh - the number of times I thought that... It kept a smile on my face.

Rapscallion

[edible_hat]

Heh - the number of times I thought that... It kept a smile on my face.

Rapscallion

Oh yeah, there's no doubt that you provide a valuable public service here. It's stopped me becoming an alcoholic (I used to come home from work and have a few beers, now I come home and log on)

[Ironclad Alibi]

SC: "I've just let all the f*ing air out of my f*ing tyre and your f*ing air hose isn't f*ing working, what the f* are you going to do about it?"

He let the air our of his tyre? Why would he do that? Was he changing the air in his tyre?

I have on many occasions put extra air into my tire, but rarely let any out unless I put too much in. This one is a puzzler. Hmm... I got it! I have a tire, not a tyre. Tyres must need to have their air changed while tires don't.

Since he has a f*ing tyre, does that mean he'll have a bunch of little tyres rolling around in a few months?

[edible_hat]

I have on many occasions put extra air into my tire, but rarely let any out unless I put too much in. This one is a puzzler. Hmm... I got it! I have a tire, not a tyre. Tyres must need to have their air changed while tires don't.

I wonder if other things in the Commonwealth need the air changing while the American versions don't...

There actually are garages around here that offer to change the air in your tyres. For an extra fee they'll even fill it with 70% nitrogen.

edit: and people are dumb enough to fall for it. It even made it onto one of those pseudo news shows as "a great way to save tyre wear".

[RetailWorkhorse]

Since he has a f*ing tyre, does that mean he'll have a bunch of little tyres rolling around in a few months?

There went rule number 1!

[Gurndigarn]

I wonder if other things in the Commonwealth need the air changing while the American versions don't...

There actually are garages around here that offer to change the air in your tyres. For an extra fee they'll even fill it with 70% nitrogen.

We've got that, or something like it. The place that does it advertises it heavily

[Darkwish]

Ok, I can see letting some air out when it doesn't work (you press the little valve thingy and if air ain't going in, it's coming out), but how stupid do you have to be to let all of it out before you realize something ain't working right? Nevermind, I don't want to know the answer...

[Andara Bledin]

He let the air our of his tyre? Why would he do that? Was he changing the air in his tyre?

If your tire is already low enough that you need to put air in, it would likely be pretty flat before you realized that the air pump was letting the air leak out rather than pumping it in.

^-.-^

[BookstoreEscapee]

He let the air our of his tyre? Why would he do that? Was he changing the air in his tyre?

Maybe the tyre air goes stale after a while?

I don't know...I also have tires...I've never had to change the air.

(Actually, my dad usually checks my tires and stuff - I don't ask, he just does it - plus when I get my oil changed they do a safety inspection, including checking the tire pressure, so I don't usually have to worry about it.)

[tigerlily0]

"you catch more flies with honey and vinegar"

The phrase is "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar".

I had a problem once where my tire was very low (it had a slow leak), and I went to fill it up, but unknown to me, the air pump wasn't working at that gas station (and it wasn't marked "out of order"). And you can't visually see if the tire is really filling up or getting lower for a little while after you start trying to fill it up, so it was a lot flatter by the time I figured it out. It was so close to flat that I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to drive to another station to get to a working air pump.

So you don't have to be stupid to have this happen to you.

[Sharsarannon]

<snip>
Backstory: The air hose at my work developed a problem. The compressor's fine, but there's a leak somewhere between it and the hose that customers use to fill their car tyres. We weren't aware of it until today, when...

SC: "I've just let all the f*ing air out of my f*ing tyre and your f*ing air hose isn't f*ing working, what the f* are you going to do about it?"
<snip>


For those not confused by my wine-assisted writing style: Basically I was about to offer to help him change the tyre which would at least let him drive normally, but he pissed me off a little too much so I decided to stick with the bare minimum effort to get rid of him.

See, if it had been me, the moment he poses that expletive- filled question, my answer is, " What am I going to do about it? Well, if you'd been civil, I might have helped, but I don't have to take abuse from anybody, not even you. So I'm going to offer to call a cab or a tow truck. Not sure why I'm offering, but hey. *shrug*"

[Apathy]

There actually are garages around here that offer to change the air in your tyres. For an extra fee they'll even fill it with 70% nitrogen.

WOW! Where do I sign!?
I am not surprised in the least that people fall for this.

And shame on you, hat, for not being able to produce a magical air pump from nothing. That's poor customer service.