I had a flat tire a few months ago in my then Mercury Sable. Ok, no big deal. I tried putting the temporary spare on and discovered it was too small for the vehicle. I forced it on (yes, not a good thing) then drove to Big O Tires.
When I got there a sour looking employee strolled out. I told him the spare was the wrong size but I'm there so lets get a new tire on. The first thing out of his mouth was "oh man, you got big problems".
"Like what?" I asked.
"The studs! No way we can put those lugs back on. I need to send you car across the street to get new studs" he said as he immediately started walking across the street. He came back and soon there are three guys looking at my wheel shaking their heads.
"Lets get the spare off and try another one on to see where we stand", I said.
"No, can't do that without getting the studs changed. Too dangerous. I'll put 2 nuts back on and we'll limp it over next door" guy #1 insisted. The place he wanted my car (fixed) at is one of those `Honest Charlie' used car lots where they roll the odometers back.
"Why don't we put the tire on and I'll take it to my own garage and have them check it?"
"Nope, can't do that. You can have it towed if you want" he said.
"How about we put a @&^$#! tire on it before we draw any conclusions" I said. I was starting to get really annoyed.
All three guys are having a stroke over this. They're walking around, pacing, shaking their heads like the world was coming to an end. Then guy #1 yelled for the manager. He came out and soon four of them were shaking their heads.
"There's no way we can put a tire on those studs. We refuse" said the manager.
Now I'm getting completely steamed. I think I mentioned something about how `Kreskin' decided there was a problem before we pulled the spare off. I followed that up with "how about we put a $&^%$! tire on and find out if we have a %&^%$! problem!".
He said "nope, we won't work on it. You can do it yourself".
I said "fine, give me the %&&^%! tire".
They brought out the tire and I put it on the "studs". Then the manager attempted to hand me his tire iron. I said, "keep it I'll use my own". I went to the back of my car, pulled it out, and while tightening the nuts said "I better not see any $%^&! labour costs on the bill". He said "no, but we'll charge you for air".
I tightened the nuts and said "well I don't see there being any $%&! problem. Give me my bill so I can get the $%^! out of here".
I paid, drove off and stopped at my regular maintenace garage. They checked..no not a problem.
