Working the System (with patience)

Paul tells the story:

When I bought our car a few months ago, the seat adjustment handle was missing. The lady at the dealer said she would order one and call me when it came in. Well, she never called. I went back there twice but they were closed both times (surprise! Once on a Saturday and once during my lunch break which, of course, is during their 2-HOUR lunch break) I finally made it back there to try again.

The lady who helped me the first time wasn’t at her desk so I had to explain my problem to another very nice guy (in French). One difficulty – I didn’t know the word for handle so I had to make the hand gestures (which is quite normal in the course of speaking in France) and he understood me. He then took me to the repair shop and told the foreman my story. When this guy heard that it had been more than 2 months since I bought the car he said it was not his problem – a condition in France where if someone can find a technicality to make it someone else’s problem, they immediately hand it off. So I had to talk to the lady who originally made the order request and so he took me back upstairs.

Mme. Giselle was busy giving someone the rundown on their new car so I had to wait. Through the waiting room window, I watched her deal with 2 other customers as well. Of course, she made a half-dozen phones calls and a couple of people drifted in and out of the conversations. After about an hour of waiting, Mme. Giselle finally got to me. After a few more hand gestures, thank goodness she remembered me and my original problem with a missing handle.

First she asked for my “grey card”. I gave her that and she went to make a copy. Then it was back downstairs to the repair shop and she asked for my file (dossier). She FINALLY said that they would have to order a new handle – it would be here next week. OK, but then I told her we were going out of town for the weekend and my poor wife was complaining of back aches – Could she (at least) adjust the seat to a more comfortable position? Ahhh… She then found a repair guy who spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to adjust the seat. Finally, he gave up and decided to go to the Parts Department to see if they had one in stock.

Twenty minutes later, he showed up with a new seat adjustment handle! It took him about 30 seconds to install it and voila! Problem solved.