well at least the situation turned out well for you and the guy helped out on the gear install, unfortunate situation.
one question though, why did they take your wheel off in the first place? I understood that when you do a gear install it's just the rear gearbox you mess with?
Like Beau said, as it was explained to us this is standard procedure at this shop. One of the techs takes the wheels off and jacks the car up, then the manager comes out and does his thing (the work, or just double check that everything is there, or something).
This time they just forgot to retorque the lugs. Sucks, but it does happen .