Ever get yelled at for doing things the right way?

I have the worst story ever. Not like a right fix but the right thing to do.

Back in the early 90's I was Service Writer for a Chevy Dealership in Palm Beach, FL. I was a Service Tech first then did this.

A Chevy Blazer came in on a flatbed, it was after 5 and not many people around. A few of use unloaded the truck. The owner of the truck was in the flatbed, he jumped out and said on the way to golf the oil light came on and the engine is smoking smelling of burnt oil.

He had to leave in a hurry for his golf game so we popped the hood and oil was everywhere. Pulled the dipstick and the oil was low (not empty). After looking around I found that the oil cap was off and amazingly I found it in the engine compartment. Put it on, filled up the engine with oil and cleaned all the oil everywhere. The motor was fine, that was it.

My Manager wanted me to call the customer and tell him the motor was blown which needs replacing. I actually told him no, I can't do that. We went back and forth but eventually he gave this case to another writer who did just that. Something like $9,000+ because the owner topped off the oil and forgot to put the oil cap back on.

I wound up quitting, I went above my Manager and told the owner of the Dealership how wrong this was and how can you all sleep at night. I threatened to call the customer and tell him what they are doing to him. The next day I came in to get my stuff and the truck was gone. The owner picked it up and a Tech told me they came clean with the customer. Well sorta, just did the....beyond further inspection we found that the motor did not run without oil....blah...blah.

I could spend a week on this post describing my ex-boss who knew how to do everything better than anyone else.

However, I did learn what the Dunning-Kruger effect is.