Undue Familiarity

[Fireball]

Whatever happened to the first rule of business

The customer's always right?

Back in the '70s, I accepted this rule, until I replaced a carburetor (at the customer's insistence) which was not the problem. Customer got all kinds of bitchy about the expense (because the problem wasn't fixed!), and the shop owner had to eat that cost, as the customer got his money back. After that, I relied on my own diagnosis. If the customer disagreed, they took their business elsewhere, because I wasn't going to throw parts at a vehicle until it was fixed, even if the customer asked first. I grew up poor as piss on a plate, and I don't like spending other people's money on unnecessary repairs, just like if it were my own vehicle. The customer is not always right, but it's up to the "salesperson", in my case the mechanic, to explain why they are wrong, and if they don't trust my diagnosis, they can go to another shop. The number of times I was wrong can be counted on one hand. Yup, I was a cocky sumbitch, and I made a lot of money, honestly, as opposed to making shit up and changing parts until the vehicle was fixed. Those guys make more money right up until the customers stop coming back because they spend too much money on getting simple problems fixed.