Craig from RACQ bloody brilliant.

My lovely girl was having trouble with her car and so after some messing around we managed to call and get the angel mechanic Craig from RACQ to help us out. We met him out at the arse end of buggery where the poor old car had been abandoned. It was stinking hot, but Craig was cool as a cucumber and he got stuck straight in. He listened to the car gurgle clickity clickity click click and was like a triage doctor in his speed of diagnosis. It was only the battery. Yippee.

Steve had spent hours on the google finding auto-mechanics within 20km of the arse end of where-ever in case we needed to get an RACQ tow, because the poor old car was badly broken, so when there was an easy fix we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Craig got to and popped in a new battery and then tested to make sure that other electrical stuff, like the alternator, was working well. He checked the oil and filled up the water in the radiator as well as the windscreen wipers, and had a good look at the tyres which might need attention very soon and so he suggested that we might like to get a quote from a particular shop.

It was so refreshing me to meet someone so keen on offering excellent service. 'All in a day's work,' Craig reckoned.

So we drove home and then set to ringing RACQ to pass on our thanks and to give Craig a well deserved compliment.

5 calls and 30 minutes later, Amanda I think her name was, said in her capacity as supervisor of buggered if I know what, that she would call someone on our behalf and pass on a compliment.

Who could believe it would be so bloody difficult to say something nice, pleasant, positive, thankful?

I find it hard to believe that we were the only lucky customers impressed with the service from Craig, but I can easily forgive others for not bothering to jump through all those hoops to try to say thanks. After the first 7 or 8 minutes on hold I nearly gave it up as a bad joke. I am pleased that we persisted, though  I am still not convinced that there is any record of our efforts.

At one point I asked for confirmation that the call was being recorded for 'Training purposes', and was told that they weren't bothering this time. That's a shame, cos they really could do with some training. It must be all bullshit threats when you get that spiel about recording the calls, or at least it's only when it suits 'em - when they have so completely wound you up that you drop the 'F' bomb, so they can justify hanging up.

Perhaps no-one bothers with a 'Thank You' anymore and so companies have no capacity to accept one. What a sad sad situation huh?

Do you bother with a big THANK YOU?
How far you bother to go to give someone a pat on the back?