Top of the morning to you, Miss Diary!! coming to you early this morning in the dark at my desk....waiting, waiting, on the electrician. It is Tuesday and I am in early as I have yet another new employee starting at 7 am. I have come to understand that among body shop employees the acceptable way to quit is to not show up one day and not to call. If someone is more than two hours late, with no call, I know they have quit. That is just how it is done. To say, "I quit" or (heavens no) give notice, I now know is just foolish for me to expect. Sometimes, I am a slow learner.

I have had a letter on my desk from a gentlemen regarding his mother. Ms. Aldondo McCracken. Aldondo brought her car in to be repainted. She seemed like a very nice elderly lady. Seemed. When she came to pick up her car she blamed us for "fading" her molding. OY! We explained to her, very nicely, that one cannot fade molding. Often when an older car is painted it becomes more apparent that the moldings have faded over time. Aldondo went from 0 to 10 in a nano second and declared us incompetent and left is such a huff that we did not have a chance to tell her we could flat black her molding if she wanted us to.

She came back with the car two weeks later, again angry. She had tree sap on the hood. She said that was out fault because we used crappy paint. We use very expensive paint, by the way. She admitted that she probably parked too close to a tree, but that was not her fault and she demanded we repaint her car. I told her no. That tree sap was not covered by the warranty. We offered to try to get it off for her, but that I could not do it for free. Again with the 0 to 10, name calling and off she went.

Then, the letter from her son arrived addressed to Mr. Moore. He explained in his letter that his mother was very upset with her paint job. Duh. He said she came in with over spray all over her car and we told her that we would not take it off unless she paid us. He further stated that she had black spots all over her car, (sap) that was a sign of a bad paint job. He states that his mother was told to keep her car in the garage! We agreed with her when she said it was not a good idea to park under a tree. That one was the closest to the truth in the letter.

Now, I ask you, Miss Diary, how do I respond to her son??? without offending him regarding his mother's two sided story telling?! I plan to call him, I have thought about this enough, and just be upfront, say, bring the car in, talk to me in person. Yep, this will be fun. Thank you Aldondo!