Switched Keys

I'm not sure how to begin this or how to summarize it but I think it says something about the confidence we have in what we say.

My wife took her car in for an inspection today and came back with a failure. When she came home she told me the mechanic said her right turn signal was broke. Well I checked all the lights and all were operational. As we investigated further I found out that they were talking about the side marker signal. The car was wrecked about three years ago and that piece was broken so I took it off. Every year since then it has passed inspection. It seemed odd that this year it failed but I did what I thought would be reasonable. I found the broken lens purchased and installed a bulb and went back down for a re-inspection.

The mechanic looked at it again and said it still didn't pass. While the actual light and cover was intact the reflector that was attached to it was broken. The mechanic said it needed to be like the one on the other side. I talked to someone else there (he acted like a manager) why it passed inspection in past years. He told me that it wouldn't have passed there.

I told him she had it inspected there last year. He insisted that it wasn't inspected there. He said that there was a $500 fine for passing something like that. I was confident that it was inspected there so did some research. I noted the date of the inspection looked through our canceled checks and found a check made to Detail Masters for $12.50 on the same day it was inspected.

Either he is more demanding in his inspections now because of the slow economy and lack of business or he was a bit more confident than accurate about the facts. Since the problem has more to do with details than it has to do with safety (i.e. safety inspection) I'm leaning toward the first conclusion. I have however been just as confident and wrong about something before. Not very often but it could happen.

I suppose with a name like Detail Masters they need to be concerned about the details. But then he forgot the detail that she's been getting her car inspected there for years. I'm tempted to take the current inspection sticker and the copy of the check and present it to him but that sounds like a lot of trouble. This entry may be all I need.