Monkey lads at it again

[Grant Lenahan]

Why do you return to places with monkey lads?
No trusted shops in the area?

Grant
On Jan 27, 2007, at 9:33 PM, Huw Powell wrote:

>> Unbelievable...
>>
>> I take my son's new car ('97 A6 quattro avant) to NTB in Newton MA to 
>> have
>> the Nokian RSi snows mounted on a set of 7 spoke A4 wheels
>>
>> I ask the manager -- do you use torque sticks?
>>
>> Sure, he says, and we hand torque them.
>>
>> So I meander out to the shop.
>>
>> Cromagnon man (I'm not kidding) is working on my car, and he's got the
>> pneumatic gun in his hand. No torque stick. "Stop" I yell at him. You 
>> need a
>> torque stick.
>>
>> He grunts and gets a stick. I tell the manager that the 3 other wheels
>> already mounted need to be retorqued.
>
> Caveat emptor noted, of course, but one thing I like about NTB is that
> they let you hang out near the work being done.
>
> Any place like that, has to sort of "bottom feed" for employees - as 
> in,
> real "techs" get jobs at real car repair places.  So they are the place
> where either kids "learnin' the biz" or "old timers sick of the biz" 
> end up.
>
> I have monitored tire mounting work and an alignment job at my local
> NTB, I always think it helps if you're there, and care - the "tech"
> tries to do their best, to show off?  To be honest?
>
> It's an art, of course, the balancing act between being a buddy and
> being an a-hole.
>
> I hope you also taught your son to loosen and re-torque lug nuts/bolts
> after any "unsupervised" work on the wheels... and bought him a torque
> wrench... another addict and troublemaker is born!
>
> -- 
> Huw Powell
>
> http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi
>
> http://www.humanthoughts.org/
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