My appointment for Friday morning came in on time at 8:00. It was to be an oil change and standard inspection. I slipped my seat cover on and welcome mat down to prevent any kind of marks or dirt from my getting in and out of the vehicle. All went well with the neat little 1999 Toyota Corolla until I had finished the work and backed it out to the door. I reached for the door handle to exit the car and snap, crackle, pop – the interior plastic piece of crap door handle breaks. I have replaced many of these for customers over the years because they don’t take much in the way of wear to break so I know better than to be rough with them. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry to get the lady out because my next appointment would be in soon, and I tugged a bit too hard on the handle in my haste. After a moment of silence where an inner stream of words never to be uttered in public streamed through my head, I trudged into the office to share my happy news.
The lady takes one look at my face and says, “is something wrong with my car?”
“Temporarily… until I can order you a new inside door handle which I just broke.”
“Huh?”
In her place I’d be a little surprised too. She had been driving the
“How long will it take you to get it?”
“They’ll have three or four in stock so it won’t be long. I’ll call you the moment they deliver it to me.”
She nodded her understanding. “I guess you were in a little too much of a hurry.”
Ya’ think? “Yes, Ma’am, I was. I’m sorry for the inconvenience but I’ll get it straightened out.”
She left after paying her bill. I called
14 comments:
Strange, that's how I broke mine.
At least your customer was gracious this time, lol.
Usually you seem to get the manic ones. :)
Oops! *g*
I doubt it was anything you did other than open the door, Charles. They break easily. :)
She was pretty nice about it, Raine. She had Friday off work. Otherwise she would have had to put up with my door handle adjustment until she could stop in at another time. I get mostly normal people in, but they're no fun to write about. :)
Yeah, Jordan, a very poor start to the day. :( It did improve from there on though.
All's well when it ends well... :-)
Nice lady, she reacted very calmly.
She was indeed, Vesper. :)
You handled it very well. I wish I could say I never uttered those words in public.
Woops! you certainly handled it well...
I wish I could say so too, Beth. :)
Thanks, Leigh.
My favourite line?
"After a moment of silence where an inner stream of words never to be uttered in public streamed through my head, I trudged into the office to share my happy news."
I'll wager the lady will use your services again :D
Oops. I hate it when that happens. Glad it worked out well in the end and you were able to get it fixed and back to her so quickly.
It would have been highly annoying for her to put up with my door handle adjustment for very long, VL. :)
Bernard strong like streetcar. You shall now be dubbed SuperBernard.
Thanks, Miladysa. At least I got a good line out of it. :)
I think a more appropriate name dubbing would be Sir Haste, Sandra. :)
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