This woman’s response to a rude and sleazy car mechanic is absolutely perfect.
So I’m pretty competent when it comes to general car knowledge – my dad was a mechanic and he taught me most of the basics when I was growing up. I also happen to be a woman. No big deal, right? Well apparently, some people are so sexist that they can’t handle a woman who’s good with cars.
One day, I noticed an extremely loud rattling noise coming from the front of my car. More specifically, the noise seemed to be coming from one of the front wheels. Since I don’t own a garage, I figured it would have been a huge hassle to jack up my car and pull the wheel out myself.
So I went to one of those chain auto repair places to have it checked out. Straight away, I realized I wasn’t going to like the guy checking out my car. He started by making crude jokes, winking at me and saying, “Where’s the husband, miss? Shouldn’t he be doing this kind of stuff?”
I ignored him, I had a long day and I wasn’t in the mood for it.
I then made sure to specifically instruct the mechanic that I only wanted the front wheel checked out, and nothing else. I knew where the problem was, and I knew that the rest of my car was perfectly fine (I do semi-regular checkups and inspections at home).
The sexist scam artist mechanic then came and told me that the cause of the noise was a tire balancing weight that had gotten in the wheel somehow, and was making that loud rattling sound.
“Oh okay,” I said, happy that the issue was something so simple. This should be a pretty cheap visit, I thought.
Then the mechanic handed me my bill. I looked at it, shocked. There were over 1800 dollars of charges.
“Excuse me,” I said. “This can’t be right, are you sure this is my bill?”
“That’s right hon,” said the mechanic. “We did you a favor and did a 100-point inspection while we checked out that noise. Sometimes, your type comes in thinking there’s only one problem when there are actually loads. Sometimes those problems can be dangerous, too.”
I cringed a bit at his use of the word “hon”, but I didn’t get mad.
Instead, I just laughed in his face.
I asked, “Specifically what issues did you find?”
Some customers nearby were starting to look and listen into our conversation.
The mechanic waved his hand, smirked, and began listing: “Your oil needs to be replaced with premium synthetic, your air filter is dirty as hell and needs replacing, your transmission fluid needs changing, your brake pads are pretty worn down, same with your tire tread, and your wheels are not properly aligned.”
The more he listed, the more I laughed. I knew that what he was telling me added up to about $1800 worth of complete bull.
Then, loudly so everybody nearby could hear, I began deconstructing everything he listed and I explained to him why it was complete nonsense:
“My car doesn’t need premium synthetic at all, my air filter is perfectly fine, the transmission fluid was replaced last month, the brake pads are new, the tire treads are clearly still good, and I’d have noticed if the wheels weren’t aligned properly. Now, could you either fix this bill, or go get a manager please?”
Clearly surprised and thrown off guard, the mechanic stammered something like, “oh, I didn’t realize you… yes, I’ll be right back with the manager.”
As he walked away, I made sure to remind him what a sleazy scam artist he was. “You must think I’m an absolute idiot if you think I’m going to fall for this stuff,” I said. By now almost everyone in the lobby was looking at us.
Eventually, the manager came out, apologized profusely, and gave me the check-up for free.
Then, I left. And half the people in the lobby left with me.
Based on a comment by /u/Novaova