Fuel for Thought

Attitude Adjustment

No one likes to have to go to a repair shop. Having a planned or unplanned trip to a shop or dealership for repairs can not only be very costly when the bill arrives for the work done but you also have a loss of revenue while your truck is down. Then there is the way some shops treat you. Some shops act as if you are a bother to them, others may not have qualified mechanics (or technicians as they prefer to be called these days), and still others seem to have no respect for your time. 

No trucker who runs over the road can always make it back home to their preferred mechanic every time. Inevitably, you will have to visit a shop from time to time which you are not familiar with. This is generally when drivers will complain about the treatment they receive from the shop technicians or service writers. Needing to visit an unfamiliar shop can be worrisome as you never know what level of service you will receive. 

When visiting an unfamiliar shop, keep in mind that you are a visitor, not a regular. Keep in mind that your own preferred shop may give you (a regular customer) preferential treatment, just the same as this unfamiliar shop also might do for their regular customers. You may not be a priority to them as their regular customers may come first. With that said, you still want good service and you may want it quick, but that may or may not happen. 

When visiting an unfamiliar shop for service, be patient, be pleasant and be courteous. This may get you better service overall. 

While you are waiting, listen to what is going on with the shop employees, you might just find that prior to you arriving and adding to their workload, they were just dealing with some unreasonable, rude customer and they would much more prefer to work with you (a pleasant, patient customer). 

Attitude can be everything. Sure your truck needs some sort of service and you want to get going as soon as possible, but being a loud, rude condescending, annoying stranger will not motivate them to work on your truck any sooner. To the contrary, I have been to shops where I was told it would be 3-8 hours before I could get my truck in the shop, but I am convinced that having a good attitude helped to reduce that wait time to under an hour. It may not work every time but it works more that you might think. 

Shops are busy. They have to deal with some drivers who are not pleasant to be around. You know who you are (or maybe you don't and that is why you are unpleasant). If you are constantly complaining of bad service or bad attitudes from shop personnel,  maybe you should consider how you treat them. Maybe your problem is your attitude. Be the kind driver that a mechanic wants to help rather that a blustering blowhard that the shop dreads to see walk through the door.

See you down the road, 

Greg