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trailmonkey- I personally love the irony of someone making holier-than-thou comments about people they know nothing about
At what point did I say I was holier than thou ? Just pointing out the "people in glass houses" nature of your post.
Do try and relax, it's the weekend.
would have asked him not to smoke personally. Dont really care what he does when I am not there but in my presence I would object.
As i am paying I would expect him to wait a few minutes till I left.
having shared a truck ride with [b]Junkyard[/b] I now feel myself to be a victim of passive talking...
Remember folks,
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Oh, hold on a minute...
My favourite garage t'other week we were talking about cars/etc as they tinkered (and I asked my thousandth question) and one said 'awful place that, thieving-****'s'. Now I was immediately offended/backfoot/stammered/flushed but I didnt say 'take that back'- I asked why they were 'thieving'. People are different. People who work in garages tend to be abit more earthy than us 'Nerds' so to speak. Let him smoke his cig. I'd rather that TBH.
Got to go now as got a bit moist riding to meet hubby on his commute home from work
Fnar,fnar... Get a life FFS and move on.
I 'd of made it obvious the smoke too much for me and we'd not get sorted till he's put it out and can serve me without my eyes streaming(anymore than there are right now from hayfever)
He might be offended, but he also may not even know it's a problem to others unless someone tells him that it is......manners work both ways, he may of surprised you and put it out then sprayed the office with febreeze...
god you realy are a fekin winger arn,t you
complain and wait and see what yer motor fails on next year
god you realy are a fekin winger arn,t you
And you're an abusive **** who can't spell. So...?
Man the **** up...
Could I or should I have said something?
Yes you could, no I wouldn't.
Mechanics (as with many other trades) are people which always I ensure I develop a particularly good relationship with. My mechanic I trust totally, if I didn't, then I would go elsewhere. I never ever challenge his quotes, and I never ever question his judgement. In return he trusts me, eg - he will let me pick up my car and pay him a day or two later, if it is more convenient for me to do so. He will often drop everything he's doing to deal with an urgent problem which I might have. Often he will do small jobs for me without charging, and we end rowing because I demand to be able to pay him ! He quite rightly points out that he will make money from the next job he does for me. He values me as a customer because he knows that I will never be awkward or be difficult to deal with. I value him, because I know that he is an excellent mechanic who is honest and trustworthy.
The point I am making is that when you find a tradesman which you like and trust, don't piss them off. Hang on to them and be good customers to them, and they will be good tradesmen in return. If you're not happy with them then just find another one. Customer/tradesmen relationships are special and should be nurtured imo.
Customer/tradesmen relationships are special and should be nurtured imo.
Ah bless, the noble but slightly dim tradesman, you make him sound like a faithful dog ffs. Thing is, you can be a good professional without smoking all over your customers. Is that really too much to ask for.
Ah bless, the noble but slightly dim tradesman, you make him sound like a faithful dog ffs
No he isn't (sorry ernie if I'm speaking on your behalf)...he didn't say anywhere that a tradesman is slightly dim and I suspect that's coming from somewhere inside you. I'm also guessing from some of his posts that he's either a tradesman now or has been in the recent past. All he's saying is that if you find a good one and you have a relationship with him/her, you keep it that way. The same could be applied to your doctor/solicitor/accountant...you know, the really intelligent well educated people, not your thicko tradesman.
While, for the most part, (electricians excepted...that's just the devil's work to me), you can "see" how good any work that a tradesman does is, for most of us, apart from changing a wheel, topping up with oil or windscreen wash fluid and filling it with fuel, the workings of a car are beyond us. So finding a mechanic you can trust is pretty important no? The one thing I miss about not having my crappy old car and now having something new with a warranty that I'll have to take to the main dealer for servicing is that I can't give my business to Ted around the corner anymore - a lovely guy who would do stuff in a hurry for me, drop a bill through my letterbox and wait till whenever I had the money spare to pay. He could have filled his mouth with smoke and kissed me for all I cared - I was just happy to have him and not worry about being royally screwed for any work.
Back to the OP...for christ's sake, when did we lose all sense of proportion? If the OP feels that badly about it, then go to KwikFit...you'll be amazed what they can('t) do. And there's a nice smoke free waiting room with a coffee machine there too these days.
Ah bless, the noble but slightly dim tradesman, you make him sound like a faithful dog ffs.
Well I don't know how the **** I managed to do that. Specially when I said quote : "[i]I never ever question his judgemen[/i]"
My mechanic is highly intelligent, and I never cease to be amazed by the vast and staggering level of knowledge he has about his profession. From complex electronic issues, to detailed knowledge of the performances of fuels and lubricants.
I often feel like a complete idiot in his presence, and he tries to explain things to me which he assumes I must know about. Many a time I nod in agreement whilst thinking "what the **** is he on about"
As Deadly suggests, I also have trusting and highly valued client/professional relationships with non-manual professions. I particularly value my relationship with my vet, who happens to be one of Britain's most respected avian vets. I know that I can phone him up on his mobile in an emergency, and he will always speak to me even if he is in a restaurant on a saturday night.
Find a tradesman/professional which you can trust, don't piss them off by being arrogant. If you are unhappy with their behaviour either mention it in a jokey manner, or move on and find another.
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Thing is, you can be a good professional without smoking all over your customers. Is that really too much to ask for.
I notice your complete lack of suggestions concerning what to do about it.
Christ almighty - some people really have too little to think about getting in a twist over something as unimportant as this.
If you are not happy leave the room.
IMHO (legal bollox aside) the guy owns the garage, he was presumably smoking there perfectly legally long before the ban was foisted upon him + the government are still quite happy to screw billions from smokers in tax.
If it upsets you that much, then find another garage owner without such a disgusting habit and while you are at it make sure he/she isn't fat or eats pies in the presence of customers just in case you are deeply offended again 😉
BadlyWiredDog wrote:
inflict his toxic smoking habit on others when it's illegal to do so would be the same bunch of knee-jerks who gleefully rip into speeding drivers
Nice to see Google Ads is doing a good job over there -->
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get over yerself....!
you think your lungs are so precious yet you see fit to drive around in a car kicking out far more crap than one man's cigarette ever could.
go back and tell him what you think and i'm sure he'd take heed of what you have to say then tell you to f*ck off. i would.
if you were to tell the 'man' the mechanics business would suffer due to the fines and all the other legal bollox involved. it could cost him his business and deprive you of a decent local independent mechanic.
HTFU.
I still don't see why people find it so unreasonable to ask a tradesman not to smoke all over them. Perhaps it should be encouraged so you can feel that you're martyring yourself and your lungs in exchange for good service.
'Yeah, I put up with a bit of passive smoking cos he really knows how to set up my tracking...'
I just don't think being good at your job gives you an excuse to both break the law and inflict your suicidally stupid personal habits on others...
Personally I think smoking should be banned. The only pros to it are that it's an instrument of Darwinism and cuts the number of stupid people among us. Long term solution: just wait patiently.
Oh and nowhere does the OP say the MOT tester is any good at his job, it's just something people have pinned on him to justify their pro-smoking prejudices.
BWD, I hope your own personal pollution output can be measured in negative values. You're going to look like a right self righteous numpty otherwise.
Personally I think smoking should be banned
I think this is shortsighted. Look how well prohibition worked against alcohol and now drugs. I think the current rules against doing it in enclosed public places is sufficient, and holds smokers to enough ridicule and deterence
BWD, I hope your own personal pollution output can be measured in negative values. You're going to look like a right self righteous numpty otherwise.
yeah, I've been sleep smoking all over people. Twot...
I still don't see why people find it so unreasonable to ask a tradesman not to smoke all over them. Perhaps it should be encouraged so you can feel that you're martyring yourself and your lungs in exchange for good service.
So, are you really concerned about the snowball effect that this mechanic's smoking around his customers might have? Is that what it is? Are you worried that if the OP and people like you don't report him to the authorities, that, slowly, it'll become acceptable to do it everywhere again? Next thing you know, you'll have your colleagues sneaking a crafty fag while you're going through last month's figures together..."...no harm in it really is there mate?..." and your local barman will have a rollie hanging out of his mouth with the ash threatening to land in your pint as well as greatly increasing your risk of developing lung cancer due to inhalation of secondary smoke?
In fact, if the OP doesn't get on the phone RIGHT NOW, by the end of the summer, all the dirty, stupid, reverse evolutionary, lung-cancer inflicting smokers will have moved out of the beer garden and moved back into the pub. Perhaps, that's where they belong with all the idiots who are binge drinking and risking their colons and the well being of the planet by over-indulging in red meat as they munch on their well done steaks.
Or of course, it could simply be that you've chosen smokers as your target of choice today - heck, why not, they're easy meat aren't they? Smoking is unhealthy and stupid. Ergo smokers are automatically stupid you would like to think? I would differ.
yeah, I've been sleep smoking all over people. Twot...
Once you start name-calling....
Ah bless, the noble but slightly dim tradesman
Still would like you to expand on this statement or else just say "...that was silly of me to make such a statement..."
1) Several times in this post I have been told to get alife.
I have one thanks.
2) I've been told I drive around in a car and cause fumes everywhere.
That's where you are completely wrong.
3) I too am a tradsperson with over 200 people on my books. I would never consider smoking over any of my customers. Or would I turn the mechanic in for doing this, to close down his business.
4) If you read all my thread, you would see the reason why I hate smoking so much.
Try going into a lung clinic, people sitting around you coughing, some can't talk and are hooked up to a ventilater. Try running up a hill until you feel your lungs will burst, then you stop running but your breath won't come back, you cough until you're sick, you can't keep food down. Lung cancer is a horrible death. Lung cancer usually shows no symptoms. Lung cancer has an unbelievable high death rate. All this can be prevented.
Right I'm off to eat some chocolate, which hopefully won't affect any of you.
So, are you really concerned about the snowball effect that this mechanic's smoking around his customers might have? Is that what it is? Are you worried that if the OP and people like you don't report him to the authorities, that, slowly, it'll become acceptable to do it everywhere again?
No, you misunderstand me. I just think it's a ****in' disgusting habit and something your shouldn't inflict on others. It's really bloody simple despite people attempting to dress it up with all sorts of rationalisations, it's just a vile, anti-social, disgusting thing to do. Simple. Would it be acceptable for someone to deliberately sneeze all over you or blow snot in your general direction or sit on the counter and fart repeatedly as you tried to deal with them?
That's it really, simple. That's where I draw the line. It's vile. It's also illegal, but mostly it's just really unpleasant.
D'ya smoke yourself then or do you just selflessly support the right of others to blow carciogenic smoke over folk?
BWD, I hope your own personal pollution output can be measured in negative values. You're going to look like a right self righteous numpty otherwise.yeah, I've been sleep smoking all over people. Twot...
Hehe. Thought so.
Dont see what the problem is. His garage, he can do what he wants.
I've not read this till now (as an ex-smoker I've worked hard not to be righteous about smokers) but....
[i]I like the irony of someone complaining of others polluting the air, when THEY'RE ABOUT TO PICK UP THEIR CAR[/i]
Brilliant! Laughed out loud quite a lot. Thanks.
[url= http://www.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/consumerhealth/news/article_1375696.php/Organic_chocolate_off_market_after_cancer_substance_found ]mmm.........chocolate![/url]
I lost both my parents to smoking related deaths. Horrible way to go, really horrible.
I can understand why smokers so vehemently try to defend their "right" to smoke because they are addicts, but WTF aren't the scum who market the stuff in jail for manslaughter?
They continue to sell cigarettes knowing what it does and kill more people than terrorists, drunken motorists, and Adolf Hitler put together. So why aren't they in jail?
Political donations perchance?
deadlydarcy - Member
The one thing I miss about not having my crappy old car and now having something new with a warranty that I'll have to take to the main dealer for servicing is that I can't give my business to Ted around the corner anymore
You are free to take your car to who you want for servicing as long as the service and parts fitted are to the manufactures specs. The are a lot of garges now that offer to levels of servicing the first is for cars less than 3 years old and the other for older cars.
Fair point, but not if I've bought the service pack upfront...well, not to my knowledge anyway
it's just something people have pinned on him to justify their pro-smoking prejudices.
I don't see much of the above as pro-smoking and lets face it, smoking is a pretty indefensible habit/addiction. However, smoking is not illegal and there are far worse habits which deserve the wrath of STW 'burn'em' brigade.
Epicyclo has hit the nail on the head, except the vast amount of tax revenue is more important than political donations.
Bunnyhop
Right I'm off to eat some chocolate, which hopefully won't affect any of you.
Let's hope it's from an ethical source and harvested by non-smoking farmhands 😆
However, smoking is not illegal
Unfortunately it [b][i]is[/i][/b] illegal, in the workplace. For "MOT Garage", substitute "playschool while picking the kids up" or suchlike and see if your defense of "let them do what they want" still works.
Ultimately it's fair and polite to ask "do you mind if I smoke?" if you are wanting to ignore the law, otherwise wait.
Much the same as you wouldn't stand there and fart loudly, wafting it at the customer, and that's not even health-damaging.
I'd not complain directly, but it would colour my choice of MOT tester. I have a friendly MOT tester, he gives me advice on things that should technically fail but he knows I WILL fix that day, as soon as I return home, or not use the car until it is fixed. I'd not want to lose him as a tester, likewise he doesn't want to lose me as a customer and so only smokes in his breaks.
Wow, long wordy responses to match some of my contributions! 🙂
I'd shop the guy! Smokers puffing their shxt into an enclosed space is so anti-social and selfish. There is a health implication, but the worst thing is the disgusting smell that gets into your hair and clothes after the briefest of encounters. It's a highly offensive habit and the law states that you must not do it in a work place etc. No excuses!
I don't subscribe to the "it's his/her life not mine so let them get on with it" attitude. When smokers end up in hospital, it costs a fortune and deprives people of medical attention who are ill through no fault of their own! I'm certain that tax receipts on tobacco sales don't cover the costs of smokers' illnesses. Not to mention the misery that the friends and loved ones suffer when someone is seriously ill and/or dies.
Shop 'em! No question!
I'm certain that tax receipts on tobacco sales don't cover the costs of smokers' illnesses.
The only 'certain' thing is, you don't know your facts !
As i was brought up in a family of both parents chain smoking and both my brothers ending up smoking i have a bit of an issue with it. I have NEVER smoked in my life and wont ever. Its a digusting habit. I was that kid sat in the back of the car with both parents smoking in the front with the windows wound down an inch choking for air.
Anyhow, i refuse to be smoked upon so in that situation i would have got myself out of there as quickly as possible. I WOULD THEN REFUSE TO EVER RETURN AGAIN. Its not your responsibility to police peoples places of work, just make sure people like this dont see your hard earned money in future.
I have worked in the motor industry for 13yrs now and seen it go from the accepted smoking whilst working scene to the rather clinical situation now. People go on about their back st garages but if you visited ours you would find a service manager who rules with an iron fist, a workshop with every piece of latest equipment and tools, pits and ramps for every type of vehicle, an industrial st sweeper that cleans the workshops EVERY NIGHT and customers are treated to flat screen tv, coffes on tap, sweets, courtesy vehicles. The mechanics all wear the same uniform which is clean and smart, they all have to speak to customers withour grunting and if one of them smoked on company premises they would be sacked on the spot.
Since this service manager came in our Customer Satisfaction Index has gone through the roof and i have only heard good comments.
Yes a main dealer is more expensive than your back st garage but its a myth that they are only out to fleece the public any more than its a myth that BSG are your best buddies.
I'd go to the tatty place round the corner, where they all smoke, but don't charge you extortionate prices to pay for the flat-screen TV, coffees, etc... 😉
Yes a main dealer is more expensive than your back st garage but its a myth that they are only out to fleece the public any more than its a myth that BSG are your best buddies.
I recently had 3 main dealers unable to spot a damaged tyre (large bulge) and blown wheel bearing (rattling, causing steering issues it was that bad) despite being pointed in that direction. When I pointed it out I had quotes from £200 to £250 for what I know is an hours work and a part that costs ~£30 (done 8 or 9 before myself).
Likewise I've known tatty places that smoked that didnt change oil when they said they had etc.
I trust no-one with my car unless I have no other choice, currently very angry that I dont own a bearign press and am considering buying one just so I dont have to deal with the aforementioned garages.
[i]I'd go to the tatty place round the corner, where they all smoke, but don't charge you extortionate prices to pay for the flat-screen TV, coffees, etc... [/i]
Our hourly labour rate hasnt changed from before we did all of this to now we do. We charge £60 + VAT per hour which is in keeping with most main dealers around here and our mechanic utilisation has gone through the roof with the new service manager so we are making more money now without charging more.
As coffeeking pointed out, you get good and bad in both.
Bunnyhop, I would have hated that too. Probably done some annoying coughing and pulled faces but not had the courage to actually say something.
i'd have hated it too and probably would have said something, the thing that annoys me this time of year is that all the nice seating areas outside pubs and cafes is full of smokers, outside or not i can still smell the stink from their fags, ban them!