Dear Mr. Service Manager at the Car Dealership...

I know you guys probably aren't selling a lot of cars these days what with gas prices where they are and the market tanking.

I know you need to make some money and the fact that most people are fixing their cars rather than buying new ones means service is the best place for you to do that.

I also know, that you know, that once my car is in there (for an oil change and brakes) you have me by the balls so of course I'm not gonna pick it up and bring it somewhere else. (If I had somewhere else I wouldn't have brought it to you in the first place!)

But do you really need to charge me $50 an hour for labor when the part itself is only $89?

Do I really need to get a $1200 quote on work that should really cost only $500 tops?

Do you really need to "recommend" work that, according to my brother-in-law who owned a service shop, is totally unnecessary?

I know I am partly to blame.
Year after year I race it into your shop because we're leaving on one of our 6 hour trips to my mom's house and I like to make sure it's in tip-top shape. Sue me for not wanting to break down again on the New Jersey Turnpike in the pouring down rain in the middle of effing nowhere and having to pee so bad while I wait for the tow truck that my eyes turn yellow!

I'm sorry I don't want to go through that again and yet I still manage to leave the car stuff to the last minute...I'm...not...perfect!

But if you think for a second I'm gonna just freely hand over my credit card today when I pick my car up you are sorely mistaken. I will bitch, moan, grumble, growl, beg, annoy, pester, and harass you because the $40 discount on brakes you so generously offered me just isn't good enough.

At some point I will look at this as a blessing. Because you are finally forcing me to find "someplace" else to go. And once I am there, I will tell all my friends, and I will send you a nasty postcard.

Here's to your $40 discount.
ScaryMom