u/heartsholly

I went to the Jiffy Lube today to get an oil change and I think I was strategically insulted because I was acting shy and they thought they could upcharge me. When I got out of my car I asked for an employee to drive it over the pit because it scares me, and I followed an employee to their lobby area so I could wait and use the restroom. I chatted with the cashier about my garden, and I told them multiple times I just wanted an oil change and air in my tires because I knew they’d try to talk me into add ons. I used the rest room, and then an employee walked in with my engine’s air filter.

He looked right at me and said “Are you dumb or do you just not care about your car?” I wasn’t anticipating him saying this, and I didn’t know what to say. After a few seconds I responded with “Well, I’m young so I guess I’m still pretty dumb.” Because that was the honest answer to his question. I asked him to list what was wrong with my car, and he gave a list, and I asked for a quote because I wanted to see what they were asking. He quoted me $1150 for a tune up, tire rotation, spark plugs, a coolant flush, brake fluid replacement, oil, filters, 3 hours of labor, and a waste disposal fee.

I didn’t want it, I negotiated, $700 for subtracting a few things. $400 after just the fluids and filters. I ended up just saying “No, I have no job right now. I can’t do that.” And that I would take the quote paper and remember the guy’s name for next time. Just to get them to back down because I felt BAD after he asked me if I was dumb or didn’t care. Like not paying him to work on my car for 3 hours was me being bad because I didn’t maintain my car right and this was my punishment or something. I sat back down and heard them talking about my car and just texted around to pass time. I paid, they acted sympathetic that I couldn’t afford it, and I went to the petstore next door and petted some rabbits while feeling deeply deeply uncomfortable.

I picked my roommate up from her job and told her what happened. It took her telling me that he was in the wrong and acting unprofessional and rude for me to finally process that they’d attempted to use an extremely rude and inappropriate upselling tactic on me. I just couldn’t believe it and I felt so insulted. I also couldn’t believe that I FELT guilty for being insulted. I was thinking in my head “yeah, you can’t take hard truths. He you shouldn’t be uncomfortable right now.” And I just feel so oblivious and sticky that I had to be told what happened to me, and that I appeared as a target because I looked naive or carried myself naively.

I can’t help but feel that if I just looked like a more official or tough adult then they wouldn’t have done that, and that it even happened in the first place. It took me a long time to get used to going to get oil changes and now I’m going to have to go to a new place because I hate them now.

UGH.

I am going to dread going to a new place for weeks before my next change. I’ve been going to jiffy lube for the full 4 years I’ve had a car.