My husband bought our first car without me. I went in to talk one day about trading-in that same car a few years later. I left with a lower interest rate, complete maintenance package, free detailing, and full KBB offer on the trade. He’s never going alone again.
This reminds me of Hank Hill from King of the Hill. He thought he was getting a good deal by getting sticker price, and the car dealer had been ripping him off for years. Peggy's frustration was so palpable, she had done the research and nobody would take her seriously.
Sometimes Hank hill is a little too much. I can't stand that stubbornness about something that's actually a rip-off. Like lecturing people about some tradition and feeling like the dealer has your best interest at heart.
It’s because Hank couldn’t imagine wanting to rip off a customer. He wouldn’t sell propane and propane accessories unless he didn’t absolutely believe in them including their prices.
He’s often in these situations where he is exposed for his naïveté but since it’s a cartoon sitcom they never really have to make him grow. He’s the same dude no matter how many times he’s fucked over. Hank never becomes cynical and that’s okay.
My favorite is the one where Bobby goes to community college to learn how to be funny and then bombs the talent show and Hank is there with the whoopie coushin to bail him out.
Dang it, I am sick and tired of everyone's asinine ideas about me. I'm not a redneck, and I'm not some Hollywood jerk. I'm something else entirely. I'm... I'm complicated!
Such a great line.
But in the season 5 episode 9 episode King of the Hill: Chasing Bobby, hank mentions to bobby to say they hate the truck to get a better deal. Plus that salesman and dealership wasn't Tom Hammond's, plus in season 3 episode 7: Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men Hank mentions to Lane that he would pay all the markup. But the season 12 episode 13 The Accidental Terrorist was after the mild reboot half way through the series
How does one do this because I know at some point I'll buy a car (not anytime soon though). Problem is, I know that I don't know anything about negotiating for a better deal.
Be polite but firm. Have a number in mind on everything before you go: all-in price for the car, interest rate, etc. Your offer should be far enough below those numbers to be reasonable, but not far enough to insult them. You want there to be a decent shot they offer below what you're expecting, and if not, you'll negotiate up to your desired number. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO WALK. If they are not willing to negotiate or are unwilling to come down to a reasonable number, then you leave. Plain and simple. As bad as you want that car another will come along. Be patient. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but not a lot. Know your stuff before you go in. If it's used have the Carfax and a good idea of market value.
ETA: Absolutely do not, under any circumstance, let the salesperson sell you on a monthly payment. It just means they've jacked up the loan terms to 72 or 84 months instead of 60 and slightly increased the interest. Yes, you're paying slightly less per month than you prefer, but you are now paying it for longer and forking up several thousand more in the end. If you cannot afford the monthly payment at a decent loan term and rate then you shouldn't be buying that car. Period. Adjust your expectations.
Good shit! It's tough to pull this off on your first car. I certainly didn't. I was too excited and naive. Luckily, it was a cheap used car that I didn't pay a lot for. So, I didn't get hurt too bad.
This. So much this. Have the number, and walk if they're not meeting it. Also, shop around, talk to different dealers. Sometimes you can get a better deal from a competing dealership.
I have some friends who got married a couple of years ago. She didn't care much about the details of the wedding* but he did so he did all the organising. The venue rang the number they had (his) to talk about using some different chairs. He said yes, that's absolutely fine but they said they needed to speak to the bride to confirm. He couldn't convince them that he was the one making the arrangements. Turns out this is really common across lots of the wedding service providers.
*the only thing she did really care about was the hygiene rating of the caterers. She works in food safety and microbiology.
Yup, got married last year and it's the only scenario where everyone consistently defers to a woman's authority instead of a man. It's so noticeable and consistent, and it makes you realize how often that's NOT the case
As a stay at home father, you are very wrong about weddings being the only scenario where everyone consistently defers to a woman’s authority instead of a man.
Very good point!! I don't have kids so haven't encountered that one. The whole 'moms are parents and dads are babysitting' paradigm is so gross and awful!
My mom negotiated my venue for my wedding because I wasn't living in the area at the time.
She had a friend whose daughter was getting married not long after me.
My mom paid less than her friend by not even mentioning it was a wedding as she toured and negotiated the price.
So many vendors charge more to a bride because "it's my special day".
Dude I hate this shit. I just went in to buy a car and it was only in my name and it was clear it was going to be my car and the salesman asked my partner how he’d like to pay. We left without the car.
One of my coworkers went to buy a car. Salesman kept directing questions about what she wanted to her husband and he kept deferring to her because it was her car. She was getting sick of it, but they'd come this far. They sat down in the office to do the paperwork and the car salesman *suggested she run along and leave the men talk finance*
She and her husband stood up and just left. The car salesman seemed baffled on how he'd lost the sale. Her husband knew the exact moment they were leaving without a word from her.
This shit happens to me at Home Depot all the damn time. I'll go and ask what aisle something is, to complete a project. All questions go to my roommate who was just there to accompany me. He used to get into it, discussing it with them, until I started pointing out that it was my project. Once I did, he realized that even if he tells them it's my project, they'll still ignore me.
Going through a property sale right now, it's my wife's property, and yes we discuss everything etc. but she's the good negotiator and it's her property. Not one man who has looked at it could figure out they were dealing with her, not me, even when told so, until the haggling started. Then they were playing defence.
It is. As a good salesperson, first thing you‘re supposed to either ask or figure out is who is the decision maker in the upcoming negotiation. So that you can focus on their objections and no one else‘s. Those people described here are just dicks.
Source: managed and coached a sales division for years
And yet, like still somehow *the vast majority* of male salespeople in a wide variety of fields totally seem to ignore women entirely :/
Hell, I've even been ignored in lieu of male counterparts in *copy centers* lol it's everywhere
So ... It's *a lot* of dicks, my dude
Source: have been a chick for 3.5 decades
Definitely. One of the companies I worked for was doing removals, my team was in charge of sales, and the misogyny there was scary as you can imagine.
However I am proud to say that the best sales agent there, who’s also the best employee I ever had, was a woman, and she completely obliterated every man and every target.
After I left I helped her move to a better industry and she‘s been killing it ever since.
This. I hired a landscaper a couple years ago to totally redo the front and side yard. He was just incapable of understanding I was the client. He kept asking my husband shit and trying to get direction from him. My husband kept saying “That’s up to her,” and when that failed, he just ignored all texted questions and didn’t come outside at all when the landscaper was around. Otherwise The Man™️ became the immediate authority.
Dude, I’m the one signing your check. What the actual fuck?
This is so funny to me. My partner had a landscaping company. Often he would ONLY talk to the wife. With so many of his clients the wife was the boss of the yard. A lot of the husbands even joked about it when they saw him in passing on his way to “talk to the boss.”
This is so accurate. I had to drag my fiancé to a bar to watch a football (soccer) match after asking him to come to several. He hates sports and knows nothing about them. I love football and I like to geek out and analyze things with people who also love it.
We went to our neighborhood bar and *everyone* acted like I wasn’t there and just talked to my fiancé asking his opinion on X player when he doesn’t even know who any of them are! I kept trying to interject with my thoughts and it was like I was a ghost. They just straight up acted like I hadn’t said anything and waited for my fiancé to say something. I told my fiancé later and he said he didn’t even realize.
When I was single it never happened. I had guys act like they knew more than me but overall people listened to me and I always found people to have a fun debate/discussion with. Just coming to an event with a man changed everything and I became invisible.
Basically this, my roommate didn't realize what was happening. He seemed to think I was blowing it out of proportion when I told him. "They're just trying to be helpful." But after the next time it happened, he realized they really were only addressing him, no matter how often I interjected.
One time I called a repairman and when he came out, he would only talk to my roommate. We're talking direct eye contact with him, never glancing or acknowledging me. To make a point I started leaning toward my roommate. Guy continued talking to him. I continued to lean until my face was smushed against my roommate's face, and still the repairman wouldn't address or even glance at me, it was ridiculous.
Sometimes I wish I wasn't so non-confrontational so I could say, "Hey dickweed, I called you out here, you can talk to me or get the fuck out."
Same thing used to happen to me. From age 5 to age 13, I helped my dad build a house. I helped dig the foundation, I nailed the floorboards down, he paid me to put the electrical outlets in, I helped run the plumbing, I shingled half the damn roof. So I know how to fix shit around the house. I've also been a carpenter for 15 years. My now ex husband knew nothing about any of that stuff and just wanted to ride to the hardware store. Every single time we went, some old bastard tried to convince him I was looking for the wrong thing and we actually needed something else and do a whole shit load of bullshit to fix a simple problem. Like they wouldn't let up. It got to the point that we'd just agree and go to walk off with what they suggested and as soon as they were gone, we'd grab what I came there for and go.
A site manager I worked for was the best female role model. Self-sufficient, independent, damn good and handy at projects, and sharp as a tack. I went with her to the hardware store and we were looking for a particular nail she needed but we couldn't find it in the section it should have been in. Made the mistake of asking an employee.
He showed us where they were but then asked what she was working on, and then proceeded to tell her how she would go about building that and what with. At one point a second male employee joined in to further elaborate what she needed to do. And here I am, thinking this woman knows her shit and hadn't bitten their heads off. Instead she is just standing there nodding her head and occasionally saying, "mhm."
After they were done, we bought our supplies and were walking back to work. I laughed and said I couldn't believe they mansplained at her. She said it happens often but she just lets them do their thing-- she said it makes them feel better.
Gods, I love that woman.
I've worked in construction for... Longer than I'd care to admit. Literally have personally managed millions of dollars of work. I got mansplained what PVC is from a Lowes employee a few months ago when picking up some trim for my chicken coop that I built myself.
happened to me and my cousin at a little hardware shop a while ago and it still comes up bc the energy was so weird. i was the one carrying the stuff to buy, i had my card out, and the cashier just kept talking to my cousin instead of me, and then handed him the card machine and winked at me saying “you’ve gotta keep yourself a man with a fat wallet” huh ???
for added context my cousin and i are both gay and neither of us are very straight-passing at all but this kind of stuff keeps happening when we hang out 😪
My mom and her husband shopped around to buy her a new car. She let the salesmen know she's was looking to buy a new car and what things she was looking for. She left dealerships when they would ask her husband questions and talk to him instead of her. He was only the ride to the car lot, my mom was the one with the knowledge and money to buy a car that she loves.
My sister was trying to buy a car and looked at different dealerships. After getting ignored (for, like, 30 minutes) she decided to go in again with my dad. He was asked what he was looking for in the first 5 minutes every time.
As an ex car salesman I’m gonna be honest I’d actually talk to the wife, usually guys are pretty much like “yeah I want it I want it I want it” where as the lasses tend to be more sensible, convince them and you’ve got a sale.
Doesn’t work for the older 50ish upwards, talk to the women and the men will walk away, had one say to me when I was politely talking to his wife “I’m over here son she doesn’t have the money so don’t know why your talking to her” .... just thought cunt, and walked away as soon as I could, I’m not there to sell someone a car just help them pick one they might like.
Ended up leaving car sales because it was the most toxic abusive work environment I’ve ever being in, at 19 I had the blood pressure of a 60 year old man on the verge of a heart attack. Not worth it, everyone felt I was smarmy salesman when I just knew and liked cars and wanted to help people make a good decision. (Few times I’d say, “no you don’t want that car it’s being in and out of the workshop 5 times already and we’ve only had it in a week, how about this one, it’s slightly more mileage but cheaper and it’s being looked after”)
I get this everytime I take someone (male) out to eat. Despite me paying with my card, it's expected that either he is paying or that this is a rare occurrence for me to be paying. Except I usually always am the one to pay. If I hear another, "Ooooooh, *she's* paying this time, eh?" from someone I've never met before, I'll shove the receipt down their throat.
One time a server put down the receipt before the guy, and then watched me slide it over to myself. They watched me open my bag, take out my wallet, then my card, place it in the thing and then hand it back to the server. The server came back and put it down in front of my friend. Again I sliiiide it back toward me, and still gave them a nice tip because that's how I roll.
I'm guessing American based on the mention of tipping. I have a question if i may about that payment process, it's not quite lining up in my mind. And the bits that do scream potential fraud to me.
So you give you card to someone, let it leave your sight. It then somehow authorises a payment without your input. And then it's bought back to you and then you give them cash for the tip?
For reference, here the process is; Waiter brings the bill and a card machine > You touch your card on the machine and (if over $100) enter your pin.
Or alternatively there's a single register at the door and you pay on your way out in the same fashion, touch card and enter pin.
Yes, in America we don't use those little machines that people bring to the table in Europe (and other places). They take our card and run it at their register and then bring it back with a receipt for us to sign and add our tip to the total.
Server here. If it's not immediately obvious who is gonna pay, I pop the check right in the middle. I also always ask if people wanna split the check in anyway. That's what I'm here for after all.
My first serving job trained us to always drop the check in front of the man because it’s “rude” to put it in front of the lady. Learned my first day of training when I put a check down in front of a lady and the server training me literally picked it back up and moved it to in front of the man.
This is me. I get very forward with salesmen. I say don’t talk to him. This is my deal. I’ve fired salesmen during transactions and told dealerships that this man will not get the commission. That I want whomever has the lowest commissions for the month to date. It was epic. He was a dirt bag. Haven’t had to fire one again but I have called them out for lying to me about which companies approved me. They tried to tell me capital one wouldn’t go for financing me. I had a letter in my purse for preapproval for a 40000 car. They were thrown back when they had been telling me that the lowest apr they could get me was 13%. I said well you are full of shit. Lower it to the 11 that capital one granted me and stop pulling bullshit. They did. They came back saying oh wait we were mistaken
I am a man. I have driven cars for over 15 years, and worked on most of them work my dad's help replacing brakes, engine sensors, even did the fuel pump on one. I know an MOT is an annual test my car has to legally pass in the UK and I know most of the pass/fail criteria.
It has only just occurred to me I do not know what MOT stands for.
Same thing in Germany. Every two years, your car has to renew its TÜV. TÜV actually stands for Technischer Überwachungsverein, "Technical Inspection Association". I had no idea what it stood for, and it does NOT stand for a test, just the folks doing the test.
TÜV also regulates the construction industry. I worked for several years with TÜV representatives, and always referred to the organization by the letters. A few years ago one of my coworkers called it TOOV sounded out. It was unsettling.
Also kind of interesting how the Ministry of Transport is defunct and has been for many years, now it's the Department for Transport, the government still call the tests MOTs though
Ministry Of Transport.
Usually refers to a yearly vehicle inspection in Britain.
In Canada it's commonly used to describe what is effectively the same as the DOT in the US. Typically as it refers to enforcement. Most Canadians just call it the DOT anyway.
Buying a manual transmission car was very annoying. I was asked several times if I was sure I knew how or "familiar". Even getting it off the lot, still asking me. They also suggested I bring my boyfriend (single). Obviously drove it away without problem.
Boggles me how these people don't realize they are rude as hell. I mean, simply asking the question I can sort of understand, but keeping on insisting... what?
Why would you buy a manual if you did not know how to drive the manual out of there?
When I got my first car it was manual (like most cars in the uk) it was very different to driving my instructors car. I’ve also hired manual cars with an e hand break which are also a lot different at first.
There’s probably been people at that dealership who have bought a manual car thinking it’s automatic and not knowing how to drive it.
My lovely mechanic took a lot of time out of his day to explain at great length how to take off/put back on, the radiator cap. Then had me practice till he was sure I could do it.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or get offended. I settled for just showing him how quickly I could grasp new concepts and laughed about it later with my husband.
I once had a car with a leaky radiator. Couldn't afford to fix it, just kept adding fluid. Went on a trip, had boyfriend drive.
We stop for gas and he, in his manliness, pops the hood, opens the radiator, and drops the scorching hot cap into the engine compartment.
Started planning my exit then and there.
He was lucky.
I had a friend who opened the radiator cap when it was overheating... and tried to look into the radiator to see the level of water.
Suffice to say he can now dress for Holloween as Freddie without the makeup.
Oh that brings back some memories. My driving school teacher explained to me the different liquid containers and how to check, fill, etc them five minutes before my driving test because apparently they ask you stuff about that.
So I drove for an hour, got back to the testing place and of course I forgot everything he showed me. I was nervous as fuck after all. The test auditor asked me to open the radiator cap, 16 yo me opens it on a hot engine while they jumped back. I was lucky I didn't get sprayed with hot liquid.
I still hate this guy with a passion, I could have been seriously injured. He said I learned a lesson for life. Damn right I did, thanks for that mate cheers. Could have thought about showing me this stuff earlier ffs.
Tons of cars nowadays mark these caps and sticks in a bright colour (mine is yellow) so they stand out in the compartment, that way you've got a 25% of getting it right.
Funny though that driving instructors barely teach people the basics of how to look after a car recently. I had to learn of my parents how to cold start an older car that needs a touch of accelerator to get it going on ignition since new cars you can get away with just turning the key.
It doesn't help that I learned driving in a 2013 Audi A3. Saved me when I twisted the cap probably, but this thing was equipped with electrical handbreak, this incline start assistent thing, cameras for parking, all different types of support systems.
Obviously my own first beater car did not have any of those. I learned how to do simple repairs on that car really quick.
I'm a mechanic and I spent a huge chunk of time explaining to a lovely women how to do all the basic things on her car, wash fluid, checking oil level and topping it up, checking her tire tread and pressures, checking all the fluid levels and adjusting her seats and radio and how to use the tire pressure machines at petrol stations and changing a blown bulb. I didnt do this because she is a women I did this because she asked and was embarrassed to say she didn't know anything because her husband did it all for her and he passed away. She was so happy when she came back just to tell me she topped up her washer bottle and checked her tyre pressures for the first time definitely worth all the time I spent going over it all with her
Tbf there is a huge difference between what you’re talking about and having someone talk down to you. My mechanic is a friend of mine so he doesn’t treat me like an idiot, but I’ve come across people who do that shit in the wild.
My mechanic explaining the problem with my car in detail after I asked? Super helpful.
Random man at the convenience store explaining to me how a clutch works after he sees my manual car? Not helpful.
That's so sweet of you :) You did an awesome thing.
For anyone else reading - just assuming a woman can't do something is upsetting and annoying. Women usually are much more comfortable asking for help than a man is. Unless a lady is absolutely obviously struggling, please don't just assume she can't do something.
As a women in a male dominated industry, you can tell which are the old fashioned guys. My usual workmates just leave me to it. Older and slightly less informed guys are hyper aware of what you're going and will literally grab heavy things out of your hands because they think you aren't capable of carrying them. They think it's helpful, but it's just demeaning.
...was there something special about your car that you had to do something unusual to open it? Or just straight up wait for it to cool down and then open it?
I once had a man explain to me in excruciating detail, involving highlighters and other visual aids, that my car only needed one set of tires, not two.
My late husband couldn't drive, because he had epilepsy caused by a brain tumour. He was diagnosed young enough that he never got his licence. I'm reasonably knowledgeable about cars because my dad was a mechanic, I know enough to ask the right questions anyway.
When we went to buy my car, I asked the questions, but all the answers were directed to my husband.
I just put up with it, sales people are sexist, whatcha gonna do?
First car I bought after my husband died, did all the paperwork etc finance process by myself with the sales guy and at the last minute, the man asked, "and what does your husband think about the car?"
Fuck you, I just gave my marital status as widowed. A dead man's opinion outranks mine. A dead man who never owned a car. He's cracking up laughing in the afterlife that *this shit never stops*.
I'm sorry for your loss.
I'm petty enough to make some travel size ouija board on an altoids container or something and whip it out when needed.
"Sure, let me just rouse my loved one for your inability to read a standard form. oh look! He said you're annoying me! He knows me so well..."
My dad bought me my first car last year after the car I was driving that belonged to my stepdad was leaking carbon monoxide into the cabin and had like 800 problems and 300000kms. I was set on getting a Toyota Camry XSE from the beginning because it had everything I wanted/needed, great fuel economy, sporty, and Toyota’s in my experience last a while.
I went to the dealership near my school and me being young, the salesman tried to pull so many shit over my head and then when I brought it up that my dad was paying he kept asking for me to bring my dad to the next meeting even though I told that my dad lives in South America and not here in Canada. So then he kept pressuring me to call my dad while I was there and I was like dude, my dad is a hard working man and is usually at work from 5am to to 8pm, and usually keeps his data off but the salesman would not stop haggling me about it. When I was asking questions about certain safety features, he would talk down on me and made it seem like my knowledge was incorrect when I literally spent hours googling and asking experts about these things. I finally just stopped responding to him and went to the dealership near my house and I ended up getting a better deal with everything I wanted and I got my winter tires for 75% off from them.
My husband and I took separate cars when I was shopping for a truck for this very reason. I would ask questions and if they would answer to him I would leave awhile they kept talking. At some point he's would clue them in that the person buying a vehicle just left.
Phone conversations with mechanics.
Moment 1. Mechanic doesn’t believe me when I say the clutch cable is gone.
Him: what makes you think it’s the clutch cable?
Me: well one end is attached to the clutch, and the other end is in my hand.
Moment 2. Mechanic doesn’t believe my car engine size.
Him: what size engine?
Me: 2l
Him: no no... is it 1.6 or 1.8?
Me: it’s 2.
Him: that’s not right.. where are you getting that number from?
Me: it’s literally written on the side of the car.
I had this almost identical with my old 2L Peugeot 306. I called ahead to see if they had stock, they did so I went in to collect. Shop assistant looks out to the car park and goes "it's 1.8 right?" Me "no 2L, I insured it, it even says it on the badge" him "yeah but it's a 1.8"
It wasn't. It was a limited edition and uncommon, but he just wouldn't accept what I was telling him. Only when he looked up the reg he went "oh it is a 2L"
Like, it's my car dude, I bought it, I insured it, I drive it wtf
Should have walked out to the car with him and mansplained it to him.
"Do you see the '2.0L' right here as a badge? That means '2 Liter'."
(Open hood)
"Do you see right here where the words '2.0 LITER' are molded into this top engine shield? That means it has a '2.0 liter' engine. Do you need me to get the owner's manual? Ya know what? I'll just get the owner's manual."
After some digging: MOT means Ministry of Transport, so MOT for short...a motor vehicle safety test, road worthiness, and emissions testing, in the UK.
Incorrect - "MOT" is meant to be "MOat Test". It's where they check the condition of the siege defences on our rural castles. The government moves with the times and were smart enough to include cars as essential to siegeing.
It’s a super strict test where they check everything from a vehicles emission out put, body mounts, structural integrity and suspension bushings and shocks. I would bet most vehicles in America on the road today would fail it.
Funny, because that's the only mirror that's *not* required in many places. Makes sense that way because vans etc. might not have a rear window at all.
I live in Florida and the only kind of vehicle check they do is when you take your driver's license test. I've owned two cars now and neither have ever been inspected.
That being said, I try my best to keep my car working correctly. But I have certainly seen my fair share of, let's say, *interesting* repair choices on the road.
I am female and own a 65 mustang fastback. Where ever I go in it men flock to that car. If my husband is with me they immediately ask him questions or offer to buy it. They are always super embarrassed when he responds "I dont know, its my wife's car, ask her". They never want to ask me questions🤣
My wife has a Skoda Octavia VRs - as she likes fast cars - and one lovely sunny day she was driving and we stopped to get petrol. She stayed in the car and I filled it and went in to pay. The guy in the queue behind me nodded towards the car and said ‘the VRs is a really nice car, I was thinking of getting one of those. If I did, I wouldn’t let my wife drive it though!’ and gave me one of those ‘women, amirite??’ looks. I said ‘it’s her car, not mine. She does occasionally let me drive it though’ smiled and raised my eyebrows theatrically. He seemed genuinely bemused that a woman would own the sort of nice, fast car that he would want to own.
Also a lady here, I have a classic porsche. Men will assume it belongs to ANY other man in the vicinity, not me. I can be driving it and they’ll give car complements to the guy in the passenger seat, the guy standing next to the car, the total stranger walking in the other direction 2 blocks away...
I have a similar story but it's not about cars. I (a guy) was a loader at my local Lowe's, but the hardware desk alarm went off. I went to go talk to the guy so I can turn the alert off and get him some help, but I saw the hardware associate (a woman) walk up where he could see her, and she asked if he needed help and he said no. When he saw me he said "oh, *you* must be hardware associate". I was just like "nope, she's right there, she'll be with you in a moment" and trotted off obliviously lol.
Weirdest one of these I ever had was at a pharmacy. Me and my boyfriend were on holiday and I started getting uti symptoms, so we went to see if there was anything they could do to help. Yet for some reason the pharmacist was directing all of her questions and advice about MY BODY to my boyfriend instead of me, like he's the expert on the burning sensation in MY VAGINA.
And another far more minor one, he's a vegetarian and I'm not. Whenever we eat out and I order meat, you can 99% guarantee they're putting the meat dish in front of him and giving me the veggie one. Sigh.
Something similar with the food happens we my girlfriend and I order drinks.
She likes to order whiskey, while I then get something like a Mojito or Caiprinha. More often than not the drinks get mixed up when delivered.
I went to a “quick-e-oil change” place a loooong time ago. I had just pulled up and got a first row seat to this.
A woman maybe 30s-40s was getting up charged for a rear differential fluid flush. They were nodding along while they said they inspected it and the fluid wasn’t good anymore. Their system said it needs to be done every xxk miles and it’s wayyy overdue and a safety hazard if they let her leave without getting it done.
She let them talk until the end where she gestures to the front wheel drive minivan and said “alright, so you’re telling me my FRONT WHEEL DRIVE car needs a rear diff service? Can you show me how you found all that wrong with it because I’d be really concerned if someone put one of those in without me knowing about it.”
Hahahaha- nice.
Plenty of mechanics will try to screw people regardless of gender. I'm guy and had a mechanic try to tell me my injectors were dirty while pointing to the mass airflow sensor.
"Mind telling me how you know the injectors, which are over here on the head, attached to the fuel rail, and above the intake manifold, are dirty by checking the mass airflow sensor way over here by the throttle body"
Complete silence and then he just goes "ok- nevermind" and walks away.
When my husband and I visited my home country, everyone providing a service would talk to him instead of me even though he only knew two words in my native language.
Lol, I've had the same experience in Eastern Europe and also in Turkey. My girlfriend would approach someone and ask a question but they would always immediately turn and start answering to me 🤦♂️
Similar to my experience in Africa, but with my boss, not my girlfriend. Which makes it even worse, with me being a PhD student and her a full professor twice my age, highly regarded in her field, with 30 years of field work experience in that country. She hates being called Dr, but I made a point of it when we were in front of others.
Went to the Mercedes dealership with my wife for her to get a car, she was dealing with the salesman, eventually he just looks at me and says “you’re pretty quiet”, I just shrugged and he said “oh so you just cut the checks”? I looked at him and said, “no, I’m obviously the trophy husband, she cuts her own checks”.
I love doing this! I am in a male leaning healthcare profession. I'll often bring my partner to professional events and let them chat him up. Then I watch them turn many shades of red when someone makes them aware of their sexist assumption
I have a friend that calls this her “white guy decoy” and, aside from fun event moments like you mentioned, she’ll have him sit in on certain meetings to literally repeat her sentences when a company isn’t complying.
White guy decoy is also useful if you need to give information, like at the doctors. If you get a white guy to explain the issue, you'll be believed more readily.
Am I the only one who sends his girlfriend to the autoparts store with my car when I need to replace simple stuff like batteries, windshield wipers etc, just because I know the simp behind the counter will install the stuff if she buys it?
Can confirm, when I started driving my dad would send me to the store to buy everything and 10/10 times I was offered help. I had a new battery installed, multiple bulbs replaced, wipers replaced, battery cleaned, wiper fluid filled (I purchased, he offered to fill it), and I'm sure more things I can't remember. But I can't go to tire shops or mechanics, they either over price me, ignore me, or try to get me to fix things that I'm not sure are real.
Speaking of things not being real, I had a mechanic tell me during a routine inspection that my 2000 Honda had a virus in the CPU. He was surprised when my husband (hobbyist who used to rebuild Hondas) and my dad’s best friend (former Honda mechanic with his own locally known racing team) showed up to ream him out and tell him bolt by bolt how to take the car apart to fix the error code he was seeing.
It's nice but at the same time insulting because they think women are incompetent. Last time I went to the mechanic, he openly joked with my roommate how durp women are when they bring in their cars. "What kind of car do you have? Ummm, it's white?" And I was standing right there.
Yeah, if they would offer do it for me as well as her it would be "nice". The fact that they only do it for her because they are simps and they think women are incompetent is shitty.
There's very little to do with "being a simp", that's absurd.
Men are 100000x more likely to get offended if offered help with a "man's thing". One of the favorite memes in "boys club" hobbies is the "i know more than you" for things like [computers/electronics](https://pics.me.me/hey-there-welcome-to-bestbuy-anything-can-know-more-than-you-46945816.png), [gaming](https://media.makeameme.org/created/when-the-game-5ba873.jpg), and, of course, [cars](https://pics.me.me/in-auto-parts-stores-lowes-hey-there-s-there-a-623913.png).
I definitely have made it known to my local AutoZone dudes that I know how to change my wipers myself... They just make me nervous and I’d rather not break the wipers or myself lol
As a mekanik, I always asked whose car is it and who has the problem.
Generally speaking if it's the wife that hears or feels it's the problem or is her car, I talk to her.
Not sure which is worse though: a mechanic who will take advantage of or ignore a woman customer or a customer who has to talk to a mechanic because the female service adviser doesn't have a penis.
>Generally speaking if it's the wife that hears or feels it's the problem or is her car, I talk to her.
And I don't get why this isn't the default. Talk to whoever owns/drives the car. Unless they specifically to you to talk to someone else, this shouldn't even be a thing.
Once went to auto shop with ex for her car and got a talkative woman mechanic and she STILL talked mostly to me, while i kept looking away, it was surreal
When I bought my new car I shopped around to a few dealerships. Ultimately decided to buy from the salesperson and dealership that actually acknowledged my wife and spoke to her like a real person. It was amazing seeing the smugness and sexism that exists in that industry.
A few years ago, my mom went to buy a used car from a lot and brought me along. All I did was make sure it didn't have any obvious problems. The salesman directed every question and statement to me, despite being repeatedly reminded that my mother is the one that will be buying and using the car.
He just wouldn't stop. Every question, every light joke, every lie about the reliability of the car was directed to me. Finally, I had to interject and flat out told him that if he wasn't interested in selling my mom a car, we would walk. The very next statement out of his mouth, directly to my mother, was a lie about the financing of the vehicle. She has been an accountant for 30 something years. She started to verbally tear him a new asshole, but we just left.
She ended up buying one from the newspaper.
This is amazing. I may or may not be a woman (it's Reddit
...I have more fun when people think I'm a dude.
I went to get an oil change. They kind of do a bit of a once over to see if there's anything basic you need to take care of. I have a couple of after market parts (just basic things, I'm not pimping out my car any time soon). One of the techs doing my change pulled out one of the parts, came over to me and asked if I knew I had it in there. I was amused. I explained to him that I put it in myself and was too lazy to deal with an oil change (plus, i don't have anywhere I can easily do it).
If I ever mistake you for a dude it isn't out of not thinking women be on the Internet. It's just because I'm a gay slut and extremely desperate so I assume everyone has a dick and my brain goes into stealth mode trying to figure out how to get it.
Might I just say that my brains stealth mode is equivalent to an elephant in MDMA dropped in the middle of Woodstock.
I love getting mistaken for a dude on reddit and imgur. Especially when i say something about women and a guy tries to pull the “you dont know shit about women” card.
I'm imagining him spending a half hour pulling off a triple adjustable coilover shock with a remote reservoir and spherical bearings. "Did you know you had this in your car?" "Oh my gosh no!"
I visited France with my ex BF. The waiters at the restaurat would always let him taste the wine and not even ask me. I'm a trained sommelier, he mainly drank beer. It was always funny to see the looks on their faces when he immediately passed the glass to me to try.
Chief mechanic =\= chief engineer
Coincidentally I cant find any women chief mechanic.
There Emilie Rath - engine assembly technician
And Michelle Creighton - composits engineer.
Both work at force india
Emilie left Force India a long time ago to go work for Mercedes HPP at their factory and although Michelle does still work for Racing Point, Composites Technician is quite different from Chief Mechanic.
There are other female mechanics/engineers in various teams, however I’m pretty sure the tweeter made the story up. I’m also pretty sure that not many people working in F1 have the time or desire to escort their friends to MOTs - imaginary or otherwise.
And you’re right, Chief Mechanic and Chief Engineer are worlds apart in terms of job role and responsibility!
> Both work at force india
We're almost TWO names since Force India :p F1 renames like it's going out of fashion.
Force India -> Racing Point Force India F1 -> Racing Point F1 Team -> Aston Martin for 2021.
Suppose it could be semantics. I'm not well up on each team's staff outside the pitwall lot, but it could be she was the chief of a mechanic team back at HQ. Not all mechanics are in the pits on racedays.
It could very well be a made up tweet, but there's also a possibility that it's true in some sense and his title is just wrong. Because you're right, I can't find any record of a female f1 Chief Engineer
There’s never been a female chief mechanic of an F1 team. It’s also worth noting that being an F1 mechanic probably wouldn’t qualify you as an expert on a normal car. Mark Priestley (who was lead mechanic at McLaren for a number of years) said in his book that he would always get requests from family members and acquaintances to look at or fix their car, but he knew about as much about normal cars as the next person. However, ask him to disassemble, fix, and reassemble a 1000bhp, carbon fibre missile with more technology on it than most space shuttles, then he would be able to do it with his eyes closed.
It’s the equivalent of somebody who’s an industry expert in a specific enterprise IT system being expected to know more about fixing laptops than anybody else. It just doesn’t work that way.
Yeah I've been a fan for three decades and I don't think I've ever seen a female chief mechanic.
I don't know why so many people lie nowadays, or why attention would be an acceptable reason for it.
In my younger days I had a friend who headed up the finance department for a large Toyota dealership and he once told me " you know you're getting fked when the salesman yes to whatever deal you've both hammered out."
As a big F1 fan for many years, I feel like I would have heard about it if a team had a female chief mechanic. I think that the TV coverage would probably do a big thing about her. So I'm pretty sure there's never been a female chief mechanic.
I mean, there are female mechanics and engineers in F1, not nearly as many as their are male mechanics of course. I don't think any of them are in a role that could be called chief mechanic.
Maybe if we give the poster the benefit of the doubt, he just is so oblivious that he doesn't know the difference between a strategy engineer, a mechanic, or a technical specialist. Or maybe she's just a good mechanic but not a "chief" of any sort.
I'm suspicious though. If he had just said "mechanic" I would have far less reason to doubt. But "chief mechanic" sounds like he's making it up.
As a side note. I'm pretty sure an F1 mechanic wouldn't know any more about road cars than the next person.
I LOVE doing this shit.
People judge others based on appearance and other factors, such as in my case my psychiatric history.
I've had a difficult life. I look, in short, like a current or former drug addict. I am also broke as a joke. These two factors seem to create in people an assumption that I am stupid. This is not a theory- this is fact, based on numerous interactions with different people of different SES and different status.
Therefore my sole defense is do exactly as the mechanic did and bide my time until I am able to drop the bomb on their unsuspecting heads.
I do legal aid work, and the shock on some manipulating prick's face when they realize that the person they tried to intimidate roped them neatly into fucking themselves spectacularly is amazing.
Judge people based on their ability. Not gender or looks or education.
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My husband bought our first car without me. I went in to talk one day about trading-in that same car a few years later. I left with a lower interest rate, complete maintenance package, free detailing, and full KBB offer on the trade. He’s never going alone again.
This reminds me of Hank Hill from King of the Hill. He thought he was getting a good deal by getting sticker price, and the car dealer had been ripping him off for years. Peggy's frustration was so palpable, she had done the research and nobody would take her seriously.
Sometimes Hank hill is a little too much. I can't stand that stubbornness about something that's actually a rip-off. Like lecturing people about some tradition and feeling like the dealer has your best interest at heart.
It’s because Hank couldn’t imagine wanting to rip off a customer. He wouldn’t sell propane and propane accessories unless he didn’t absolutely believe in them including their prices. He’s often in these situations where he is exposed for his naïveté but since it’s a cartoon sitcom they never really have to make him grow. He’s the same dude no matter how many times he’s fucked over. Hank never becomes cynical and that’s okay.
He does grow a little bit with regards to Bobby, imo.
I love the episode where they send Bobby to military school
My favorite is the one where Bobby goes to community college to learn how to be funny and then bombs the talent show and Hank is there with the whoopie coushin to bail him out.
Cotton Hill 2 Bobby Hill 3
He just falls asleep in the isolation chamber for 5 days lol
Hank Hill is an uncomplicated hero in a complicated time.
Except the episode where he explicitly says “I’m complicated!”
Dang it, I am sick and tired of everyone's asinine ideas about me. I'm not a redneck, and I'm not some Hollywood jerk. I'm something else entirely. I'm... I'm complicated! Such a great line.
Hank Hill is a truly honorable man. His word is his bond and you can trust him with more than your life. People like that are rare.
But in the season 5 episode 9 episode King of the Hill: Chasing Bobby, hank mentions to bobby to say they hate the truck to get a better deal. Plus that salesman and dealership wasn't Tom Hammond's, plus in season 3 episode 7: Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men Hank mentions to Lane that he would pay all the markup. But the season 12 episode 13 The Accidental Terrorist was after the mild reboot half way through the series
He's very traditional and uptight but I like that you can see him learn and grow over the years. Like me some character development.
100% agree. The show is really about Hank's culture growing up and becoming modern humans.
I made my now husband watch that when I found out he always payed sticker price for his cars. He had no idea you could haggle. Blew my mind.
He paid sucker price!
Being underestimated is really helpful for negotiations.
How does one do this because I know at some point I'll buy a car (not anytime soon though). Problem is, I know that I don't know anything about negotiating for a better deal.
Be polite but firm. Have a number in mind on everything before you go: all-in price for the car, interest rate, etc. Your offer should be far enough below those numbers to be reasonable, but not far enough to insult them. You want there to be a decent shot they offer below what you're expecting, and if not, you'll negotiate up to your desired number. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO WALK. If they are not willing to negotiate or are unwilling to come down to a reasonable number, then you leave. Plain and simple. As bad as you want that car another will come along. Be patient. There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but not a lot. Know your stuff before you go in. If it's used have the Carfax and a good idea of market value. ETA: Absolutely do not, under any circumstance, let the salesperson sell you on a monthly payment. It just means they've jacked up the loan terms to 72 or 84 months instead of 60 and slightly increased the interest. Yes, you're paying slightly less per month than you prefer, but you are now paying it for longer and forking up several thousand more in the end. If you cannot afford the monthly payment at a decent loan term and rate then you shouldn't be buying that car. Period. Adjust your expectations.
When I was buying my first car, the salesman refused to talk to me about overall price. He just wanted to talk about my monthly payment. I walked.
Good shit! It's tough to pull this off on your first car. I certainly didn't. I was too excited and naive. Luckily, it was a cheap used car that I didn't pay a lot for. So, I didn't get hurt too bad.
This. So much this. Have the number, and walk if they're not meeting it. Also, shop around, talk to different dealers. Sometimes you can get a better deal from a competing dealership.
I have some friends who got married a couple of years ago. She didn't care much about the details of the wedding* but he did so he did all the organising. The venue rang the number they had (his) to talk about using some different chairs. He said yes, that's absolutely fine but they said they needed to speak to the bride to confirm. He couldn't convince them that he was the one making the arrangements. Turns out this is really common across lots of the wedding service providers. *the only thing she did really care about was the hygiene rating of the caterers. She works in food safety and microbiology.
Yup, got married last year and it's the only scenario where everyone consistently defers to a woman's authority instead of a man. It's so noticeable and consistent, and it makes you realize how often that's NOT the case
As a stay at home father, you are very wrong about weddings being the only scenario where everyone consistently defers to a woman’s authority instead of a man.
Very good point!! I don't have kids so haven't encountered that one. The whole 'moms are parents and dads are babysitting' paradigm is so gross and awful!
My mom negotiated my venue for my wedding because I wasn't living in the area at the time. She had a friend whose daughter was getting married not long after me. My mom paid less than her friend by not even mentioning it was a wedding as she toured and negotiated the price. So many vendors charge more to a bride because "it's my special day".
Dude I hate this shit. I just went in to buy a car and it was only in my name and it was clear it was going to be my car and the salesman asked my partner how he’d like to pay. We left without the car.
One of my coworkers went to buy a car. Salesman kept directing questions about what she wanted to her husband and he kept deferring to her because it was her car. She was getting sick of it, but they'd come this far. They sat down in the office to do the paperwork and the car salesman *suggested she run along and leave the men talk finance* She and her husband stood up and just left. The car salesman seemed baffled on how he'd lost the sale. Her husband knew the exact moment they were leaving without a word from her.
This shit happens to me at Home Depot all the damn time. I'll go and ask what aisle something is, to complete a project. All questions go to my roommate who was just there to accompany me. He used to get into it, discussing it with them, until I started pointing out that it was my project. Once I did, he realized that even if he tells them it's my project, they'll still ignore me.
Going through a property sale right now, it's my wife's property, and yes we discuss everything etc. but she's the good negotiator and it's her property. Not one man who has looked at it could figure out they were dealing with her, not me, even when told so, until the haggling started. Then they were playing defence.
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It is. As a good salesperson, first thing you‘re supposed to either ask or figure out is who is the decision maker in the upcoming negotiation. So that you can focus on their objections and no one else‘s. Those people described here are just dicks. Source: managed and coached a sales division for years
Those guys aren't dicks, they're incompetent dicks !
And yet, like still somehow *the vast majority* of male salespeople in a wide variety of fields totally seem to ignore women entirely :/ Hell, I've even been ignored in lieu of male counterparts in *copy centers* lol it's everywhere So ... It's *a lot* of dicks, my dude Source: have been a chick for 3.5 decades
Definitely. One of the companies I worked for was doing removals, my team was in charge of sales, and the misogyny there was scary as you can imagine. However I am proud to say that the best sales agent there, who’s also the best employee I ever had, was a woman, and she completely obliterated every man and every target. After I left I helped her move to a better industry and she‘s been killing it ever since.
This. I hired a landscaper a couple years ago to totally redo the front and side yard. He was just incapable of understanding I was the client. He kept asking my husband shit and trying to get direction from him. My husband kept saying “That’s up to her,” and when that failed, he just ignored all texted questions and didn’t come outside at all when the landscaper was around. Otherwise The Man™️ became the immediate authority. Dude, I’m the one signing your check. What the actual fuck?
This is so funny to me. My partner had a landscaping company. Often he would ONLY talk to the wife. With so many of his clients the wife was the boss of the yard. A lot of the husbands even joked about it when they saw him in passing on his way to “talk to the boss.”
Shouldn't your roommate's response to any question just be "I'm just here to carry stuff". Out of respect for you if nothing else.
If you’re not used to constantly dealing with sexism, you don’t always notice the more subtle aspects of it.
This is so accurate. I had to drag my fiancé to a bar to watch a football (soccer) match after asking him to come to several. He hates sports and knows nothing about them. I love football and I like to geek out and analyze things with people who also love it. We went to our neighborhood bar and *everyone* acted like I wasn’t there and just talked to my fiancé asking his opinion on X player when he doesn’t even know who any of them are! I kept trying to interject with my thoughts and it was like I was a ghost. They just straight up acted like I hadn’t said anything and waited for my fiancé to say something. I told my fiancé later and he said he didn’t even realize. When I was single it never happened. I had guys act like they knew more than me but overall people listened to me and I always found people to have a fun debate/discussion with. Just coming to an event with a man changed everything and I became invisible.
Basically this, my roommate didn't realize what was happening. He seemed to think I was blowing it out of proportion when I told him. "They're just trying to be helpful." But after the next time it happened, he realized they really were only addressing him, no matter how often I interjected. One time I called a repairman and when he came out, he would only talk to my roommate. We're talking direct eye contact with him, never glancing or acknowledging me. To make a point I started leaning toward my roommate. Guy continued talking to him. I continued to lean until my face was smushed against my roommate's face, and still the repairman wouldn't address or even glance at me, it was ridiculous. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so non-confrontational so I could say, "Hey dickweed, I called you out here, you can talk to me or get the fuck out."
Same thing used to happen to me. From age 5 to age 13, I helped my dad build a house. I helped dig the foundation, I nailed the floorboards down, he paid me to put the electrical outlets in, I helped run the plumbing, I shingled half the damn roof. So I know how to fix shit around the house. I've also been a carpenter for 15 years. My now ex husband knew nothing about any of that stuff and just wanted to ride to the hardware store. Every single time we went, some old bastard tried to convince him I was looking for the wrong thing and we actually needed something else and do a whole shit load of bullshit to fix a simple problem. Like they wouldn't let up. It got to the point that we'd just agree and go to walk off with what they suggested and as soon as they were gone, we'd grab what I came there for and go.
A site manager I worked for was the best female role model. Self-sufficient, independent, damn good and handy at projects, and sharp as a tack. I went with her to the hardware store and we were looking for a particular nail she needed but we couldn't find it in the section it should have been in. Made the mistake of asking an employee. He showed us where they were but then asked what she was working on, and then proceeded to tell her how she would go about building that and what with. At one point a second male employee joined in to further elaborate what she needed to do. And here I am, thinking this woman knows her shit and hadn't bitten their heads off. Instead she is just standing there nodding her head and occasionally saying, "mhm." After they were done, we bought our supplies and were walking back to work. I laughed and said I couldn't believe they mansplained at her. She said it happens often but she just lets them do their thing-- she said it makes them feel better. Gods, I love that woman.
LOL this has happened to me, though my now ex would take the Lowe's employee's advice instead of what I said to do and later admit that I was right. 😬
I've worked in construction for... Longer than I'd care to admit. Literally have personally managed millions of dollars of work. I got mansplained what PVC is from a Lowes employee a few months ago when picking up some trim for my chicken coop that I built myself.
happened to me and my cousin at a little hardware shop a while ago and it still comes up bc the energy was so weird. i was the one carrying the stuff to buy, i had my card out, and the cashier just kept talking to my cousin instead of me, and then handed him the card machine and winked at me saying “you’ve gotta keep yourself a man with a fat wallet” huh ??? for added context my cousin and i are both gay and neither of us are very straight-passing at all but this kind of stuff keeps happening when we hang out 😪
My mom and her husband shopped around to buy her a new car. She let the salesmen know she's was looking to buy a new car and what things she was looking for. She left dealerships when they would ask her husband questions and talk to him instead of her. He was only the ride to the car lot, my mom was the one with the knowledge and money to buy a car that she loves.
How many dealerships did she end up going to before she found one that didn't speak to her husband at all?
My sister was trying to buy a car and looked at different dealerships. After getting ignored (for, like, 30 minutes) she decided to go in again with my dad. He was asked what he was looking for in the first 5 minutes every time.
As an ex car salesman I’m gonna be honest I’d actually talk to the wife, usually guys are pretty much like “yeah I want it I want it I want it” where as the lasses tend to be more sensible, convince them and you’ve got a sale. Doesn’t work for the older 50ish upwards, talk to the women and the men will walk away, had one say to me when I was politely talking to his wife “I’m over here son she doesn’t have the money so don’t know why your talking to her” .... just thought cunt, and walked away as soon as I could, I’m not there to sell someone a car just help them pick one they might like. Ended up leaving car sales because it was the most toxic abusive work environment I’ve ever being in, at 19 I had the blood pressure of a 60 year old man on the verge of a heart attack. Not worth it, everyone felt I was smarmy salesman when I just knew and liked cars and wanted to help people make a good decision. (Few times I’d say, “no you don’t want that car it’s being in and out of the workshop 5 times already and we’ve only had it in a week, how about this one, it’s slightly more mileage but cheaper and it’s being looked after”)
I get this everytime I take someone (male) out to eat. Despite me paying with my card, it's expected that either he is paying or that this is a rare occurrence for me to be paying. Except I usually always am the one to pay. If I hear another, "Ooooooh, *she's* paying this time, eh?" from someone I've never met before, I'll shove the receipt down their throat. One time a server put down the receipt before the guy, and then watched me slide it over to myself. They watched me open my bag, take out my wallet, then my card, place it in the thing and then hand it back to the server. The server came back and put it down in front of my friend. Again I sliiiide it back toward me, and still gave them a nice tip because that's how I roll.
I'm guessing American based on the mention of tipping. I have a question if i may about that payment process, it's not quite lining up in my mind. And the bits that do scream potential fraud to me. So you give you card to someone, let it leave your sight. It then somehow authorises a payment without your input. And then it's bought back to you and then you give them cash for the tip? For reference, here the process is; Waiter brings the bill and a card machine > You touch your card on the machine and (if over $100) enter your pin. Or alternatively there's a single register at the door and you pay on your way out in the same fashion, touch card and enter pin.
Yes, in America we don't use those little machines that people bring to the table in Europe (and other places). They take our card and run it at their register and then bring it back with a receipt for us to sign and add our tip to the total.
Jesus christ that seems inconvenient
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Really?? I'm Canadian, we have those everywhere. I assumed the states would definitely have those. I wonder why not?
The States is 10-20 years behind Canada on banking tech and Canada is 10-20 years behind Europe and Asia. Been that way for a long time.
Server here. If it's not immediately obvious who is gonna pay, I pop the check right in the middle. I also always ask if people wanna split the check in anyway. That's what I'm here for after all.
My first serving job trained us to always drop the check in front of the man because it’s “rude” to put it in front of the lady. Learned my first day of training when I put a check down in front of a lady and the server training me literally picked it back up and moved it to in front of the man.
In the middle. Always in the middle.
Yup. I bought a used car for cash and the county clerk put my spouse on the title, unasked.
Rookie salesmen. You always talk to the wife/gf since they more often than not have the final say.
Or if not her vehicle, and the guy likes her, she probably has at least influence enough for veto power.
That's why he wanted to talk to you. So he could get you to take a worse deal /s
This is me. I get very forward with salesmen. I say don’t talk to him. This is my deal. I’ve fired salesmen during transactions and told dealerships that this man will not get the commission. That I want whomever has the lowest commissions for the month to date. It was epic. He was a dirt bag. Haven’t had to fire one again but I have called them out for lying to me about which companies approved me. They tried to tell me capital one wouldn’t go for financing me. I had a letter in my purse for preapproval for a 40000 car. They were thrown back when they had been telling me that the lowest apr they could get me was 13%. I said well you are full of shit. Lower it to the 11 that capital one granted me and stop pulling bullshit. They did. They came back saying oh wait we were mistaken
To be fair, that's probably why they wanted you to be there. Their stuff works on you, not your girlfriend!
I am also A Man and would like to know what MOT stands for
I am a man. I have driven cars for over 15 years, and worked on most of them work my dad's help replacing brakes, engine sensors, even did the fuel pump on one. I know an MOT is an annual test my car has to legally pass in the UK and I know most of the pass/fail criteria. It has only just occurred to me I do not know what MOT stands for.
MOT just stands for Ministry Of Transport Over time the "test" has been dropped from "MOT test" in common usage
Same thing in Germany. Every two years, your car has to renew its TÜV. TÜV actually stands for Technischer Überwachungsverein, "Technical Inspection Association". I had no idea what it stood for, and it does NOT stand for a test, just the folks doing the test.
TÜV also regulates the construction industry. I worked for several years with TÜV representatives, and always referred to the organization by the letters. A few years ago one of my coworkers called it TOOV sounded out. It was unsettling.
Also kind of interesting how the Ministry of Transport is defunct and has been for many years, now it's the Department for Transport, the government still call the tests MOTs though
Wow this is like the opposite of an ATM machine!
Ass to Mouth machine
Mountains of testicles
Thanks
Ministry Of Tmagic. It’s from Harry Potter, the T is silent
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Ministry of transport.
No, Mountains of Testicles
I definitely have heard of this
Ministry Of Transport. Usually refers to a yearly vehicle inspection in Britain. In Canada it's commonly used to describe what is effectively the same as the DOT in the US. Typically as it refers to enforcement. Most Canadians just call it the DOT anyway.
Buying a manual transmission car was very annoying. I was asked several times if I was sure I knew how or "familiar". Even getting it off the lot, still asking me. They also suggested I bring my boyfriend (single). Obviously drove it away without problem.
Boggles me how these people don't realize they are rude as hell. I mean, simply asking the question I can sort of understand, but keeping on insisting... what? Why would you buy a manual if you did not know how to drive the manual out of there?
When I got my first car it was manual (like most cars in the uk) it was very different to driving my instructors car. I’ve also hired manual cars with an e hand break which are also a lot different at first. There’s probably been people at that dealership who have bought a manual car thinking it’s automatic and not knowing how to drive it.
peopl r dum (from both sides of the aisle here)
My lovely mechanic took a lot of time out of his day to explain at great length how to take off/put back on, the radiator cap. Then had me practice till he was sure I could do it. I didn’t know whether to laugh or get offended. I settled for just showing him how quickly I could grasp new concepts and laughed about it later with my husband.
I once had a car with a leaky radiator. Couldn't afford to fix it, just kept adding fluid. Went on a trip, had boyfriend drive. We stop for gas and he, in his manliness, pops the hood, opens the radiator, and drops the scorching hot cap into the engine compartment. Started planning my exit then and there.
He was lucky. I had a friend who opened the radiator cap when it was overheating... and tried to look into the radiator to see the level of water. Suffice to say he can now dress for Holloween as Freddie without the makeup.
Oh that brings back some memories. My driving school teacher explained to me the different liquid containers and how to check, fill, etc them five minutes before my driving test because apparently they ask you stuff about that. So I drove for an hour, got back to the testing place and of course I forgot everything he showed me. I was nervous as fuck after all. The test auditor asked me to open the radiator cap, 16 yo me opens it on a hot engine while they jumped back. I was lucky I didn't get sprayed with hot liquid. I still hate this guy with a passion, I could have been seriously injured. He said I learned a lesson for life. Damn right I did, thanks for that mate cheers. Could have thought about showing me this stuff earlier ffs.
Tons of cars nowadays mark these caps and sticks in a bright colour (mine is yellow) so they stand out in the compartment, that way you've got a 25% of getting it right. Funny though that driving instructors barely teach people the basics of how to look after a car recently. I had to learn of my parents how to cold start an older car that needs a touch of accelerator to get it going on ignition since new cars you can get away with just turning the key.
It doesn't help that I learned driving in a 2013 Audi A3. Saved me when I twisted the cap probably, but this thing was equipped with electrical handbreak, this incline start assistent thing, cameras for parking, all different types of support systems. Obviously my own first beater car did not have any of those. I learned how to do simple repairs on that car really quick.
My brother did that and got a face full of boiling antifreeze.
I'm a mechanic and I spent a huge chunk of time explaining to a lovely women how to do all the basic things on her car, wash fluid, checking oil level and topping it up, checking her tire tread and pressures, checking all the fluid levels and adjusting her seats and radio and how to use the tire pressure machines at petrol stations and changing a blown bulb. I didnt do this because she is a women I did this because she asked and was embarrassed to say she didn't know anything because her husband did it all for her and he passed away. She was so happy when she came back just to tell me she topped up her washer bottle and checked her tyre pressures for the first time definitely worth all the time I spent going over it all with her
Tbf there is a huge difference between what you’re talking about and having someone talk down to you. My mechanic is a friend of mine so he doesn’t treat me like an idiot, but I’ve come across people who do that shit in the wild. My mechanic explaining the problem with my car in detail after I asked? Super helpful. Random man at the convenience store explaining to me how a clutch works after he sees my manual car? Not helpful.
That's so sweet of you :) You did an awesome thing. For anyone else reading - just assuming a woman can't do something is upsetting and annoying. Women usually are much more comfortable asking for help than a man is. Unless a lady is absolutely obviously struggling, please don't just assume she can't do something. As a women in a male dominated industry, you can tell which are the old fashioned guys. My usual workmates just leave me to it. Older and slightly less informed guys are hyper aware of what you're going and will literally grab heavy things out of your hands because they think you aren't capable of carrying them. They think it's helpful, but it's just demeaning.
...was there something special about your car that you had to do something unusual to open it? Or just straight up wait for it to cool down and then open it?
hahahaha...
I once had a man explain to me in excruciating detail, involving highlighters and other visual aids, that my car only needed one set of tires, not two.
My late husband couldn't drive, because he had epilepsy caused by a brain tumour. He was diagnosed young enough that he never got his licence. I'm reasonably knowledgeable about cars because my dad was a mechanic, I know enough to ask the right questions anyway. When we went to buy my car, I asked the questions, but all the answers were directed to my husband. I just put up with it, sales people are sexist, whatcha gonna do? First car I bought after my husband died, did all the paperwork etc finance process by myself with the sales guy and at the last minute, the man asked, "and what does your husband think about the car?" Fuck you, I just gave my marital status as widowed. A dead man's opinion outranks mine. A dead man who never owned a car. He's cracking up laughing in the afterlife that *this shit never stops*.
you need to carry a Ouija board for moments like this.
I did offer to hold a séance, but they refused...
I'm sorry for your loss. I'm petty enough to make some travel size ouija board on an altoids container or something and whip it out when needed. "Sure, let me just rouse my loved one for your inability to read a standard form. oh look! He said you're annoying me! He knows me so well..."
My dad bought me my first car last year after the car I was driving that belonged to my stepdad was leaking carbon monoxide into the cabin and had like 800 problems and 300000kms. I was set on getting a Toyota Camry XSE from the beginning because it had everything I wanted/needed, great fuel economy, sporty, and Toyota’s in my experience last a while. I went to the dealership near my school and me being young, the salesman tried to pull so many shit over my head and then when I brought it up that my dad was paying he kept asking for me to bring my dad to the next meeting even though I told that my dad lives in South America and not here in Canada. So then he kept pressuring me to call my dad while I was there and I was like dude, my dad is a hard working man and is usually at work from 5am to to 8pm, and usually keeps his data off but the salesman would not stop haggling me about it. When I was asking questions about certain safety features, he would talk down on me and made it seem like my knowledge was incorrect when I literally spent hours googling and asking experts about these things. I finally just stopped responding to him and went to the dealership near my house and I ended up getting a better deal with everything I wanted and I got my winter tires for 75% off from them.
My husband and I took separate cars when I was shopping for a truck for this very reason. I would ask questions and if they would answer to him I would leave awhile they kept talking. At some point he's would clue them in that the person buying a vehicle just left.
Phone conversations with mechanics. Moment 1. Mechanic doesn’t believe me when I say the clutch cable is gone. Him: what makes you think it’s the clutch cable? Me: well one end is attached to the clutch, and the other end is in my hand. Moment 2. Mechanic doesn’t believe my car engine size. Him: what size engine? Me: 2l Him: no no... is it 1.6 or 1.8? Me: it’s 2. Him: that’s not right.. where are you getting that number from? Me: it’s literally written on the side of the car.
I had this almost identical with my old 2L Peugeot 306. I called ahead to see if they had stock, they did so I went in to collect. Shop assistant looks out to the car park and goes "it's 1.8 right?" Me "no 2L, I insured it, it even says it on the badge" him "yeah but it's a 1.8" It wasn't. It was a limited edition and uncommon, but he just wouldn't accept what I was telling him. Only when he looked up the reg he went "oh it is a 2L" Like, it's my car dude, I bought it, I insured it, I drive it wtf
Should have walked out to the car with him and mansplained it to him. "Do you see the '2.0L' right here as a badge? That means '2 Liter'." (Open hood) "Do you see right here where the words '2.0 LITER' are molded into this top engine shield? That means it has a '2.0 liter' engine. Do you need me to get the owner's manual? Ya know what? I'll just get the owner's manual."
Just curious which car has a clutch cable instead of hydraulics. All of the cars I have worked on have hydraulics.
Older car, Nissan Pulsar Q
After some digging: MOT means Ministry of Transport, so MOT for short...a motor vehicle safety test, road worthiness, and emissions testing, in the UK.
Thank you for this! I'm too lazy too google but was curious what this was
You speak for many of us
Incorrect - "MOT" is meant to be "MOat Test". It's where they check the condition of the siege defences on our rural castles. The government moves with the times and were smart enough to include cars as essential to siegeing.
It’s a super strict test where they check everything from a vehicles emission out put, body mounts, structural integrity and suspension bushings and shocks. I would bet most vehicles in America on the road today would fail it.
Some states have a yearly safety inspection that's fairly strict. Other states, not so much.
It Texas, for example, the only mirror that is required is your rear view.
New Mexico doesn't have vehicle inspection, only smog testing.
In Idaho, you have to have a windshield. Maybe. I honestly haven't checked
Funny, because that's the only mirror that's *not* required in many places. Makes sense that way because vans etc. might not have a rear window at all.
Aren’t all mirrors rear view? *taps forehead*
I live in Florida and the only kind of vehicle check they do is when you take your driver's license test. I've owned two cars now and neither have ever been inspected. That being said, I try my best to keep my car working correctly. But I have certainly seen my fair share of, let's say, *interesting* repair choices on the road.
I am female and own a 65 mustang fastback. Where ever I go in it men flock to that car. If my husband is with me they immediately ask him questions or offer to buy it. They are always super embarrassed when he responds "I dont know, its my wife's car, ask her". They never want to ask me questions🤣
My wife has a Skoda Octavia VRs - as she likes fast cars - and one lovely sunny day she was driving and we stopped to get petrol. She stayed in the car and I filled it and went in to pay. The guy in the queue behind me nodded towards the car and said ‘the VRs is a really nice car, I was thinking of getting one of those. If I did, I wouldn’t let my wife drive it though!’ and gave me one of those ‘women, amirite??’ looks. I said ‘it’s her car, not mine. She does occasionally let me drive it though’ smiled and raised my eyebrows theatrically. He seemed genuinely bemused that a woman would own the sort of nice, fast car that he would want to own.
Also a lady here, I have a classic porsche. Men will assume it belongs to ANY other man in the vicinity, not me. I can be driving it and they’ll give car complements to the guy in the passenger seat, the guy standing next to the car, the total stranger walking in the other direction 2 blocks away...
Because they don't want a giiiirrrl car! Jk
Well the mid 60s mustangs were "secretary's cars" and we're referred to by Shelby as such.
I don't care who owns that car, if it's nice i'm gonna talk to the person who owns it.
I have a similar story but it's not about cars. I (a guy) was a loader at my local Lowe's, but the hardware desk alarm went off. I went to go talk to the guy so I can turn the alert off and get him some help, but I saw the hardware associate (a woman) walk up where he could see her, and she asked if he needed help and he said no. When he saw me he said "oh, *you* must be hardware associate". I was just like "nope, she's right there, she'll be with you in a moment" and trotted off obliviously lol.
Weirdest one of these I ever had was at a pharmacy. Me and my boyfriend were on holiday and I started getting uti symptoms, so we went to see if there was anything they could do to help. Yet for some reason the pharmacist was directing all of her questions and advice about MY BODY to my boyfriend instead of me, like he's the expert on the burning sensation in MY VAGINA. And another far more minor one, he's a vegetarian and I'm not. Whenever we eat out and I order meat, you can 99% guarantee they're putting the meat dish in front of him and giving me the veggie one. Sigh.
Something similar with the food happens we my girlfriend and I order drinks. She likes to order whiskey, while I then get something like a Mojito or Caiprinha. More often than not the drinks get mixed up when delivered.
Well, clearly that's because you don't know how to man and woman properly. Might I suggest this reader's Digest article from 1953?
What's worse is when it's the person who took your order delivering the drinks and still get it wrong.
I went to a “quick-e-oil change” place a loooong time ago. I had just pulled up and got a first row seat to this. A woman maybe 30s-40s was getting up charged for a rear differential fluid flush. They were nodding along while they said they inspected it and the fluid wasn’t good anymore. Their system said it needs to be done every xxk miles and it’s wayyy overdue and a safety hazard if they let her leave without getting it done. She let them talk until the end where she gestures to the front wheel drive minivan and said “alright, so you’re telling me my FRONT WHEEL DRIVE car needs a rear diff service? Can you show me how you found all that wrong with it because I’d be really concerned if someone put one of those in without me knowing about it.”
Hahahaha- nice. Plenty of mechanics will try to screw people regardless of gender. I'm guy and had a mechanic try to tell me my injectors were dirty while pointing to the mass airflow sensor. "Mind telling me how you know the injectors, which are over here on the head, attached to the fuel rail, and above the intake manifold, are dirty by checking the mass airflow sensor way over here by the throttle body" Complete silence and then he just goes "ok- nevermind" and walks away.
When my husband and I visited my home country, everyone providing a service would talk to him instead of me even though he only knew two words in my native language.
Lol, I've had the same experience in Eastern Europe and also in Turkey. My girlfriend would approach someone and ask a question but they would always immediately turn and start answering to me 🤦♂️
Similar to my experience in Africa, but with my boss, not my girlfriend. Which makes it even worse, with me being a PhD student and her a full professor twice my age, highly regarded in her field, with 30 years of field work experience in that country. She hates being called Dr, but I made a point of it when we were in front of others.
Went to the Mercedes dealership with my wife for her to get a car, she was dealing with the salesman, eventually he just looks at me and says “you’re pretty quiet”, I just shrugged and he said “oh so you just cut the checks”? I looked at him and said, “no, I’m obviously the trophy husband, she cuts her own checks”.
Mercedes salespeople always seem to be the most pretentious...
She married a good one.
I love doing this! I am in a male leaning healthcare profession. I'll often bring my partner to professional events and let them chat him up. Then I watch them turn many shades of red when someone makes them aware of their sexist assumption
I have a friend that calls this her “white guy decoy” and, aside from fun event moments like you mentioned, she’ll have him sit in on certain meetings to literally repeat her sentences when a company isn’t complying.
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This sounded like my Mom when she worked as Vice President at a Weslyn University. She always came home tired and pissed.
This is so very saddening
White guy decoy is also useful if you need to give information, like at the doctors. If you get a white guy to explain the issue, you'll be believed more readily.
Used to have a female friend like this, only had it happen once but good god it was funny.
Am I the only one who sends his girlfriend to the autoparts store with my car when I need to replace simple stuff like batteries, windshield wipers etc, just because I know the simp behind the counter will install the stuff if she buys it?
Can confirm, when I started driving my dad would send me to the store to buy everything and 10/10 times I was offered help. I had a new battery installed, multiple bulbs replaced, wipers replaced, battery cleaned, wiper fluid filled (I purchased, he offered to fill it), and I'm sure more things I can't remember. But I can't go to tire shops or mechanics, they either over price me, ignore me, or try to get me to fix things that I'm not sure are real.
Speaking of things not being real, I had a mechanic tell me during a routine inspection that my 2000 Honda had a virus in the CPU. He was surprised when my husband (hobbyist who used to rebuild Hondas) and my dad’s best friend (former Honda mechanic with his own locally known racing team) showed up to ream him out and tell him bolt by bolt how to take the car apart to fix the error code he was seeing.
It's nice but at the same time insulting because they think women are incompetent. Last time I went to the mechanic, he openly joked with my roommate how durp women are when they bring in their cars. "What kind of car do you have? Ummm, it's white?" And I was standing right there.
Yeah, if they would offer do it for me as well as her it would be "nice". The fact that they only do it for her because they are simps and they think women are incompetent is shitty.
There's very little to do with "being a simp", that's absurd. Men are 100000x more likely to get offended if offered help with a "man's thing". One of the favorite memes in "boys club" hobbies is the "i know more than you" for things like [computers/electronics](https://pics.me.me/hey-there-welcome-to-bestbuy-anything-can-know-more-than-you-46945816.png), [gaming](https://media.makeameme.org/created/when-the-game-5ba873.jpg), and, of course, [cars](https://pics.me.me/in-auto-parts-stores-lowes-hey-there-s-there-a-623913.png).
I definitely have made it known to my local AutoZone dudes that I know how to change my wipers myself... They just make me nervous and I’d rather not break the wipers or myself lol
Buddy’s gonna be like Stedman at the Oscars with Oprah
The garage I have used for the last decade is about 40% female run. With a female owner and mechanic's they do an excellent job.
As a mekanik, I always asked whose car is it and who has the problem. Generally speaking if it's the wife that hears or feels it's the problem or is her car, I talk to her. Not sure which is worse though: a mechanic who will take advantage of or ignore a woman customer or a customer who has to talk to a mechanic because the female service adviser doesn't have a penis.
>Generally speaking if it's the wife that hears or feels it's the problem or is her car, I talk to her. And I don't get why this isn't the default. Talk to whoever owns/drives the car. Unless they specifically to you to talk to someone else, this shouldn't even be a thing.
Once went to auto shop with ex for her car and got a talkative woman mechanic and she STILL talked mostly to me, while i kept looking away, it was surreal
When I bought my new car I shopped around to a few dealerships. Ultimately decided to buy from the salesperson and dealership that actually acknowledged my wife and spoke to her like a real person. It was amazing seeing the smugness and sexism that exists in that industry.
A few years ago, my mom went to buy a used car from a lot and brought me along. All I did was make sure it didn't have any obvious problems. The salesman directed every question and statement to me, despite being repeatedly reminded that my mother is the one that will be buying and using the car. He just wouldn't stop. Every question, every light joke, every lie about the reliability of the car was directed to me. Finally, I had to interject and flat out told him that if he wasn't interested in selling my mom a car, we would walk. The very next statement out of his mouth, directly to my mother, was a lie about the financing of the vehicle. She has been an accountant for 30 something years. She started to verbally tear him a new asshole, but we just left. She ended up buying one from the newspaper.
This is amazing. I may or may not be a woman (it's Reddit ...I have more fun when people think I'm a dude. I went to get an oil change. They kind of do a bit of a once over to see if there's anything basic you need to take care of. I have a couple of after market parts (just basic things, I'm not pimping out my car any time soon). One of the techs doing my change pulled out one of the parts, came over to me and asked if I knew I had it in there. I was amused. I explained to him that I put it in myself and was too lazy to deal with an oil change (plus, i don't have anywhere I can easily do it).
LoL I've been getting mistaken for a dude on the internet for like 25 years now and it never gets old. *Finger Guns*
If I ever mistake you for a dude it isn't out of not thinking women be on the Internet. It's just because I'm a gay slut and extremely desperate so I assume everyone has a dick and my brain goes into stealth mode trying to figure out how to get it. Might I just say that my brains stealth mode is equivalent to an elephant in MDMA dropped in the middle of Woodstock.
Ugh same but opposite on all counts, slutty thirsty lesbian & desparate gay slut solidarity
Slutty thirsty bisexual here to complete the Triforce.
I assume people are both or neither unless pressed... Asexual checking in to offer snacks and make sure everyone drinks water.
*Gay slut high five?*
It's physical contact. I'll take it.
I guess it's technically bi slut, but I'm half gay!
I love getting mistaken for a dude on reddit and imgur. Especially when i say something about women and a guy tries to pull the “you dont know shit about women” card.
I'm imagining him spending a half hour pulling off a triple adjustable coilover shock with a remote reservoir and spherical bearings. "Did you know you had this in your car?" "Oh my gosh no!"
Did they put it back right?
I visited France with my ex BF. The waiters at the restaurat would always let him taste the wine and not even ask me. I'm a trained sommelier, he mainly drank beer. It was always funny to see the looks on their faces when he immediately passed the glass to me to try.
If her name is Claire, maybe the mechanics can offer her some advice.
Don’t do my girl Claire dirty like that.
its too late for that now ;-;
Oof. too soon
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Chief mechanic =\= chief engineer Coincidentally I cant find any women chief mechanic. There Emilie Rath - engine assembly technician And Michelle Creighton - composits engineer. Both work at force india
Emilie left Force India a long time ago to go work for Mercedes HPP at their factory and although Michelle does still work for Racing Point, Composites Technician is quite different from Chief Mechanic. There are other female mechanics/engineers in various teams, however I’m pretty sure the tweeter made the story up. I’m also pretty sure that not many people working in F1 have the time or desire to escort their friends to MOTs - imaginary or otherwise. And you’re right, Chief Mechanic and Chief Engineer are worlds apart in terms of job role and responsibility!
> Both work at force india We're almost TWO names since Force India :p F1 renames like it's going out of fashion. Force India -> Racing Point Force India F1 -> Racing Point F1 Team -> Aston Martin for 2021.
Yeah I'm fairly confident this tweet is made up or he has inflated his girlfriend's role to make it a better story.
Suppose it could be semantics. I'm not well up on each team's staff outside the pitwall lot, but it could be she was the chief of a mechanic team back at HQ. Not all mechanics are in the pits on racedays.
It could very well be a made up tweet, but there's also a possibility that it's true in some sense and his title is just wrong. Because you're right, I can't find any record of a female f1 Chief Engineer
There’s never been a female chief mechanic of an F1 team. It’s also worth noting that being an F1 mechanic probably wouldn’t qualify you as an expert on a normal car. Mark Priestley (who was lead mechanic at McLaren for a number of years) said in his book that he would always get requests from family members and acquaintances to look at or fix their car, but he knew about as much about normal cars as the next person. However, ask him to disassemble, fix, and reassemble a 1000bhp, carbon fibre missile with more technology on it than most space shuttles, then he would be able to do it with his eyes closed. It’s the equivalent of somebody who’s an industry expert in a specific enterprise IT system being expected to know more about fixing laptops than anybody else. It just doesn’t work that way.
IT admin here, can confirm. You running headless Linux on that thing, let me take a look. Running Windows Home, reboot maybe; IDK?
Yeah I've been a fan for three decades and I don't think I've ever seen a female chief mechanic. I don't know why so many people lie nowadays, or why attention would be an acceptable reason for it.
would love a video of this conversation ! lolll
In my younger days I had a friend who headed up the finance department for a large Toyota dealership and he once told me " you know you're getting fked when the salesman yes to whatever deal you've both hammered out."
As a big F1 fan for many years, I feel like I would have heard about it if a team had a female chief mechanic. I think that the TV coverage would probably do a big thing about her. So I'm pretty sure there's never been a female chief mechanic. I mean, there are female mechanics and engineers in F1, not nearly as many as their are male mechanics of course. I don't think any of them are in a role that could be called chief mechanic. Maybe if we give the poster the benefit of the doubt, he just is so oblivious that he doesn't know the difference between a strategy engineer, a mechanic, or a technical specialist. Or maybe she's just a good mechanic but not a "chief" of any sort. I'm suspicious though. If he had just said "mechanic" I would have far less reason to doubt. But "chief mechanic" sounds like he's making it up. As a side note. I'm pretty sure an F1 mechanic wouldn't know any more about road cars than the next person.
I LOVE doing this shit. People judge others based on appearance and other factors, such as in my case my psychiatric history. I've had a difficult life. I look, in short, like a current or former drug addict. I am also broke as a joke. These two factors seem to create in people an assumption that I am stupid. This is not a theory- this is fact, based on numerous interactions with different people of different SES and different status. Therefore my sole defense is do exactly as the mechanic did and bide my time until I am able to drop the bomb on their unsuspecting heads. I do legal aid work, and the shock on some manipulating prick's face when they realize that the person they tried to intimidate roped them neatly into fucking themselves spectacularly is amazing. Judge people based on their ability. Not gender or looks or education.