I spent most of the morning waiting for Blogger to fix their publishing problems. This afternoon, I took my car to have the brakes fixed. I have known the mechanic in question for thirty years. We went to school together. He graduated a year or two ahead of me. He and my brother were in the same clique. My dad has been doing business with the mechanic's family for forty years.

I get to the shop a little after 1 pm, and ask his daughter, since I work until 6 pm, an hour after they close, if they can deliver the van. "I'll have to ask." I ask if they can park the van outside the fence so I can pick it up. "I'll have to ask." I hand her my card and say, have your father call me so we can talk about this.

Sure enough, at 4:30, the daughter calls and tells me the van's ready. So I ask about them leaving the van outside the fence, and she tells me they can do it if I want to pay over the phone. I tell her that I was going to pay cash, but since I can't actually get there during their business hours, I guess I'll pick up the van on Thursday. Thanks. Bye.

I understand why they do it. I understand that this is the first time I have had work done at their shop. But their needs to be a bit more customer service there. My other mechanic, who couldn't look at the problem till next week never has a problem with leaving my van out and letting me pay the next business day. I guess I'll use them next time.