Crazy index

Well, well, well. It's that time once again. Just one story for today, but I do like quality over quantity, so I'm tryin to keep that going.

Ring, ring.
"Service, this is Lane."
'Hi, I'm having some trouble with my car.'
"Ok, what's going on with it?"
'Well, my check engine light has been on for a few months and now my car is running very roughly. Do you have any idea what could be going on?'
"Well, there are over 300 things that could make the check engine light come on, so we would need to bring it in and take a look. There's really no way to tell over the phone."
'Oh, well I had several friends tell me that the check engine light doesn't mean anything. I also took the car to a mechanic friend of mine and he said that light is just a scam to get you into the dealership.'
".........Um, no ma'am, that light isn't just for fun. It does actually mean something."
'Really?'
"Yes ma'am. It lets you know when something is wrong and you need to CHECK YOUR ENGINE."

The conversation went on for a few more minutes, culminating with her making an appointment to have it checked out.

But I was absolutely blown away by the fact that she thought we had a built in scamming device in all our cars. Like we somehow had a remote control that we could push and make people's cars malfunction when business is slow. As useful as that would be, and as over-computerized as new cars are now, I feel like that may not be too far off in the future. In the mean time though, I'm reasonably certain that is illegal, and definitely unethical.

I'll give this lady a 6.8, just for her conspiracy theory and paranoia.


lane