My first oil change shop at the place by work was very comfortable. The employees spoke at a pace that you could follow them. They chatted with you about the weather and your plans for the weekend. They actually acted like they cared about you. Now after shopping them for a year and giving them glowing reviews in the opinion section, but less than stellar reports about all of the mumbo jumbo that the company wanted them to say, they talk so bloody fast that if I didn't know what they were supposed to be saying, I probably wouldn't have a clue about what they actually said. Yay, no one tried to convince me to buy some extra service, but to be honest, I'm not sure if my car actually needs anything at the moment because he pretty much glossed over that section. So this report they got a horrible review in the opinion section, but they probably scored a 99.9% for the company mumbo jumbo. I have a new pet peeve though. I wish forms would give me 5 options for would you return or reccomend to a friend. Yes or No seems to final. If you force me to make a decision, I'll go with No every time. With 5 options, I can be a firm yes, a mild yes, ambivalent, a mild no or a strong no. I'm wishy washy! I need options! don't make me say yes or no!

I always hate to answer those "how likely are you to recommend to a friend" questions because the truth is I RARELY express opinions about any place I've gone. So it is ALWAYS "very unlikely" I would recommend it, but not because of the place, because I just don't go around recommending things. I usually make a neutral response.

I guess I take things too literally. If they asked, "Would you be WILLING to recommend to a friend?" I could answer that.

This sounds like scripted teaching. One of the things i grew to hate about the way the teaching profession had become, was canned programs for teaching reading or math. Teachers were to memorize scripts and everything had to be timed. The scripts were designed for teachers who were subpar, but were sold to administration in school districts as magic bullets to see success in "no child left behind". Of course it didn't work well. Teaching is an art as well as a science and they tried to remove the art, the interaction with people. The same with your oil change place. They knew before the art of interacting with people, and the corporation tried to make it into a science. See the story below:

QUALITY ASSURANCE

A company chairman was given a ticket for a performance of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. Since he was unable to go, he passed the invitation to the company's Quality Assurance Manager.

The next morning, the chairman asked him how he enjoyed it and, instead of a few plausible observations, he was handed a memorandum:

1. For a considerable period, the oboe players had nothing to do. Their number should be reduced, and their work spread over the whole orchestra, thus avoiding peaks of inactivity.

2. All twelve violins were playing identical notes. This seems unnecessary duplicative, and the staff of this section should be drastically cut. If a large volume of sound is really required, this could be obtained through the use of an amplifier.

3. Much effort was involved in playing the demi-semiquavers. This seems an excessive refinement, and it is recommended that all notes should be rounded up to the nearest semiquaver. If this were done, it would be possible to use trainees instead of craftsmen.

4. No useful purpose is served by repeating with horns the passage that has already been handled by the strings. If all such redundant passages were eliminated, the concert could be reduced from two hours to twenty minutes.

In light of the above, one can only conclude that had Schubert given proper attention to these matters, he probably would have had the time to finish his symphony.

Author Unknown

Wow, your story amazes me. I work in the OEM automotive world and I am always coaching my service teams to slow down and be a human being; get to know your Customers and DON'T be a robot.

Our CSI scores will tell us if we become automatons because once that happens, CSI scores drop like a rock.

Your experience is the opposite of what we try to accomplish.

It is like trying to win a young girl's heart by showing her your math homework.