I'm not ready to make nice...(long)

[julie at menloparkrandd.com (julie@menloparkrandd.com)]

Phew. I thought facing 12-14" of snow was bad. My day now looks rosie!
Hope tomorrow is better for you Cath :)

>-----Original Message-----
>From: C Boyko [mailto:roccit_53@scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca]
>Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 08:41 PM
>To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>Subject: I'm not ready to make nice...(long)
>
>Well, here goes a nice rant. WAY too long since I had one, isn't it? 
>Anyway, I went out seeking an intake manifold for one of the many projects
>around here, and since I have time off this week, I get to be parts bitch.
>The only place we could find one was two hours distant. So I phoned first
>to determine that it was the correct one, he gave me a price that was $45
>less than just the top half was available for locally. So I thought I'd
>better clarify that it was both halves.
>(His part of the conversation in quotes, mine between, actions in brackets)
>"Which manifold do you want, intake or exhaust?" Intake, and I clarify
>engine code/model years etc. "It's one piece, and that's the price" My
>computer shows it as two parts. "(aggressive tone) M'aam, we do this all
>day long and I don't care what your computer says, it's one piece". And you
>have one? "Yes". So I'm thinking they remove it with the mid gasket intact,
>as one piece, fine.
>Off I go the next day (today), a two hour drive. I get there, there isn't
>one already detached, but there's one bolted to a block on the floor. I am
>then offered one of the black air intake hoses as the intake manifold.
>Mildly insulting. Nope, says I, I want an intake manifold (point to
>manifold). Which the nice guys with the wrenches then extract and place in
>the box I brought. It's got all sorts of vaccuum stuff hanging from it, but
>I figured they'd just as soon have me dispose of that stuff, since they
>would have to anyway.
>So now I wait for the nice guy I talked to on the phone, after a good
>fifteen minutes of me patiently waiting in the narrow space between the
>piles of car parts and the "counter", he finally comes out to collect
>payment. "Where's the stuff" Here in the box. "This is the intake manifold
>(picks up upper half) This is not the intake manifold (picks up lower
>half)" I asked on the phone if it was both parts "(he stands up taller in
>order to tower over me/spaces himself within my personal space/raises his
>voice to a good yell) Ma'am, now don't you give me any attitude. THIS is
>the manifold. Not that other stuff. So you told me you wanted a manifold,
>not this other stuff" I explain in my best calm but firm teacher voice that
>I'd asked if it was both halves, and this 'other stuff' is the lower half.
>"No it isn't, this is the manifold, this isn't" (I extract the printout
>from that 'software which shall remain nameless' from my back pocket) This
>refers to it as the lower manifold. "(pause) So did you want the other
>stuff or not?" Just the manifold, both halves, you can take the hoses off
>if you like. He stomps off with the parts, to the back, tinkers for an
>excessively long time to remove a few vaccuum lines. Leaves the injectors
>in, they are not an issue it seems. But those vaccuum lines, wow those have
>resale value....I pay the agreed upon price, and drive home hopping mad.
>So the sum of that was that I asked for a price on an item, showed the guys
>with the wrenches what I wanted, and got that item at the price quoted. Why
>in the hell the attitude? I really thought he'd have felt better if he
>could just hit me. And I do fights as a weekly part of my job (I work in a
>rough school), I'm a pretty good judge of aggression by now. I did nothing
>to provoke the attitude, of that I'm sure. Except maybe being born with
>that one hunk of a chromosome that was a wee bit too long to suit him.
>
>Anyway, I survived. Most parts guys are decent, but once in a while you hit
>a beaut. What this man did NOT know was that I'd skipped lunch. And those
>who know me understand that is not a good thing to mess with. I'm certain
>that the legend of the "pizza rant" still lives around here :)
>Cathy
>
>
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