If you're rude and refuse to pay, we have
the right to refuse services, even after they're
done
So I was in the shop one day, a customer was
in getting some keys copied, nice and simple
job. Suddenly while I've got the machine running,
some shirtless guy comes in looking really
frantic. I tell him I'll be just a minute
longer, then I finish the keys, and send the
first customer on his way.
Frantic dude: "jeez, took you long enough,
I need you to come unlock my car"
I'm already a little annoyed since its almost
closing time, but I just figure he's got a
kid/dog/groceries in the car and give him
the benefit of the doubt.
Me: "No problem, where is it?" FD: "A couple
miles that way, my girlfriend drove me over
here. You can follow us to it."
I get some info from him, the kind of car
it is, his name/number/address in case we
get separated, etc.
FD: "My phone's in the car so if you call
it I won't answer" Me: "Then how about your
girlfriend's number?" FD: "Hers is in there
too"
Well ok then
Since it's pretty much closing time, I just
go ahead and set the alarm and lock the doors
as I leave, he doesn't like this and starts
saying how I'm taking forever. Yeah yeah,
take a chill pill, 5 extra seconds won't kill
you.
I get in my truck and follow him out there,
when we get there I grab my tools and head
to the car. Surprisingly, there's nothing
in there except for the keys on the seat.
No kids or dogs, so now I'm just hoping it's
actually their car.
FD: "You'd better not mess up my doors, this
is a classic"
Yeah, a classic Ford POS
I open it up in about 10 seconds and check
the insurance card, and yup it's their car.
I pick up the keys and go over to him, tell
him it's $40, and he just looks at me dumbfounded.
FD: "Wait you mean I have to pay for this?"
Ummm, yeah?
Me: "Yes sir, we charge a service call when
we have to go out to the location." FD: "Well
I'm not paying for that, you did it in 10
seconds, I could've done that myself if I'd
have known" Me: "Well I'm sorry, but I can't
do this for free."
I could've, but there was no real urgency
like a life endangered, plus he was rude about
the whole thing. We normally would just bill
someone in the situation, but we've been burned
too many times, so we'll only do that for
companies.
FD: "I'm not paying for that, I don't have
any money" Me: "Then if you think you can
do it yourself, go for it."
I throw his keys in the car, lock the doors,
shut it behind me, and leave. I get home about
ten minutes later, then after probably an
hour he calls back.
FD: "I can't get it open, come back and open
my car again" Me: "I can go out again, but
I'll have to charge you for two service calls."
FD: "F- you A-hole, I'm not paying you 80
bucks" Me: "Then you can call out other locksmith
nearby, I'm sure he'll be happy to help y-"
click
I didn't tell him, but they charge $100 to
unlock cars.
Never heard back from him
Pretty crazy, pretty ridiculous story, right?
Well, alright, let's get into the comments
I would have been disappointed if you hadn't
locked his keys in his car after he refused
to pay.
Good on you for standing your ground.
Seriously, FUCK people like that! I too would've
been upset if he didn't do that.
I worked for AAA recently. That was their
policy for lockouts where they can't prove
it is their car or if it was a cash call (member
already used all 4 of their annual service
calls service can be sent out but must be
paid for) and they refused to pay. Service
provider will lock it back up.
I didn't tell him, but they charge $100 to
unlock cars
I was about to say, $40 sounds too generous
to unlock a car
I was hoping for: "I'll have to charge you
for two service calls, and an extra out of
hours charge."
It took ten seconds because you know what
you're doing and he doesn't, that's also why
you have to pay for services, skilled vs unskilled.
Also, it was 10 seconds plus the time it took
to drive there and back.
I say, it's a few grand in tools, a few grand
in training plus a few years experience to
know what tool to put where for a 10 second
job. I also could have sent the new guy who
takes 30 to 40 minutes to do anything.
I don't know, $40 doesn't really seem like
a lot to fix a fuck up, like locking my keys
in my car...
I've only had one customer not pay me, but
since she was obviously poor and suffering
from the mental overload that poverty imposes
I handed over her keys. I also gave her some
practical advice on how to not get in that
situation again. She got a 20 from a family
member, and I made her a spare key that would
work her door.
I've had several others that didn't want to
pay me, but I sit in their driver's seat filling
out my invoice with their keys in my hand.
If they get vocal I happily offer to call
the sheriff to help us resolve matters. Strangely
enough, no one has taken me up on the offer.
Seems like the guy needed a dose of reality.
Nothing in life is free, pal.
Alright, let's get into my 2 cents on this
whole thing and it's obvious that this guy
was way entitled. And if he's going to mess
up like that, he shouldn't expect this guy
to just bend over backwards, spend the time
driving out there, expending all the gas,
and to expect him to do all that stuff for
free. And this dude locked his phone and his
girlfriend's phone in the car? Like...that's
kind of next level stupid, right? And it's
crazy that such entitled people can really
exist out there, because they have this lack
of awareness, this lack of consciousness that
the world doesn't revolve around them, and
if they mess up, you can't just expect other
people to come to your rescue. And to do it
for free. 'Cause, that's just crazy. Not only
crazy...they have to be mindful of the fact
this stuff requires training. And like someone
said, it is skilled labor and there is all
this stuff regarding licensing, knowing how
to use all the tools, knowing what to do in
very specific situations. That's why people
pay a premium for skilled labor. Not everyone
knows how to do it, and like, in this entitled
guy's situation, he's like "Well I could've
done it myself." But it turns out he couldn't.
And really, just, don't be that guy, man.
Don't be that guy who...just thinks "Oh, I
could...you're gonna be charging me for that
much? I could do it myself." When in reality,
that person knows they can't. They're just
looking for some kind of excuse to have this
person do this kind of work for free.
And, yeah, it's just seriously mindblowing
how so much entitlement can exist and it's...the
crazy thing is that this kind of entitlement
exists all over the place. It existed when
I worked in retail when I used to work for
Gamestop when I was a teenager. It existed
when I was in college working in the food
service industry, working for restaurants.
And even in corporate situations, all the
different roles that I've held, there entitled
people who are working at all aspects of different
professions and being on the customer side.
I think these people just need some kind of
wake up call to understand that people can't
just do things for you and have no expectation
of being compensated.
It's just mindblowing, right? How about you
guys? Have you had a crazy entitlement situation
where you had to deal with a person in a particular
situation that was just mindblowing that they
coulnd't really understand that they were
being entitled? Or maybe was it a situation
where you were the person who was entitled
and you ended up being consciously aware of
the fact that you were doing this behavior
that was seriously unacceptable. And how did
you learn and grow from it? Because I think
that most people can learn from their mistakes
and understand that some behavior just isn't
right and can become better, but that's not
everyone. There are still going to be idiots
and we just have to find our ways of dealing
with them. Maybe kind of similar to how this
guy dealt with it, because, yeah, that kind
of behavior can't be accepted, it can't be
tolerated, and they need to be taught specific
lessons to say "Hey, this is not going to
happen the way you think it is." And yeah,
hopefully, I dream for a day where we don't
have to deal with entitled people, but right
now, we do.
So, thanks so much for watching and I'm just
kind of figuring out how to run this channel.
To add my thoughts into it, because, it's
just a really fun side project right now and
would really like to see how things turn out
and I'm gonna be changing how I kind of do
things, because, yeah, everything is brand
new and I want to establish a a smooth way
of running this channel and seeing where it
goes. So thanks for watching and I'll you
guys later.
