Jace: "What are the chances of him showing up here?"
Riley: "Who?"
Jace: "Rick, the prick that fired me! I just saw a Duct Dynasty truck park outside and saw him climb out."
Riley: Giggles "Nice rhyme!"
Jace: "Wasn't even trying to, but I guess that was pretty good.
Rick walks into the cafe and walks up to the counter. He looks at the name tag of the barista.
Rick: "Excuse me, Emma. I'm Rick with Duct Dynasty. We had a call that your new walk-in cooler wasn't working again.
Emma: "That's right, and it's honestly getting old. We keep having you guys come back out here to fix it, and I've been told several times that what it would take to fix it isn't under warranty. You guys put it in, and it's only 4 months old! Why isn't it covered and fixed?
Rick: "Well, according to our records there was a burnt wire last time and you refused to pay to repair it, so that's why it isn't working. Our installation warranty is only a month from the installation.
Emma: "So you really aren't going to fix it if we don't pay the extra several hundred dollars? I thought a burnt wire would be something you would cover on a new installation.
Looks some things don't change. He's trying to scam a customer that just had a new system put in. I bet even you could fix this one.
Jace: "I know I could"
Directive: Face slap your previous employer
Technician: Jace Thorn
Repair point: 60
Time limit: 1 hr
Penalty for failure: paralysis of your dominant arm for 24 hrs
Current repair points: 40
Jace: "First time I've had a time limit and a penalty!"
Patchwork: There are reasons for that. For one, this is an easy fix that he's been dragging on to milk money out of this customer. Second, you have to conquer your past to fix your future. We don't want this coming back up later when we are doing more serious repairs. You will have to have a clear mind with no regrets at the higher levels. Third, from what this guy has done to you, he deserves a good faceslap.
Jace: "Oh, I'm more than happy to do that one!" "Riley, I'll be right back"
Riley: "Ok"
Jace walks up to the counter, intentionally butting into the conversation. "Excuse me, Miss Emma, I couldn't help but overhear that you were having issues with getting your walk-in cooler fixed. I actually used to work for him before he lied and had me fired. If you like, I can take a look at your cooler for you as a second opinion. Maybe there's something being missed.
Rick: "Well look who it is! I thought that after being fired for embezzlement you would be in a ditch somewhere."
Jace: "Stay out of it, you prick, this is up to the lovely Miss Emma to decide."
Rick: starts to panic a little "Miss, if someone other than our employees works on the equipment, it will void any warranties on the equipment!"
Emma: "I'm sorry, Rick, but you just told me it was out of warranty, and that's why you were trying to charge me. Jace, I would love a second opinion!"
Jace: "Sure, give me just a second." He runs back over to Riley. "Hey Riley, can I borrow your phone for a second to take some pictures? My camera is busted."
Riley: "Sure, happy to help where I can!" She slides her phone over
Jace: "Thanks! Here, you can hold on to mine as collateral!" He sets his phone down as he picks hers up. He then goes with Emma to look at the equipment.
Emma: "So it will work great for a day or so after they come out, then it stops working again."
Jace: "Give me a second, and I need to borrow your step ladder for a moment."
Emma: "Sure, it's right here."
Jace sets up the ladder and climbs on top of her cooler. Using his multitool that he never leaves the house without, he takes off the cover and looks at the controls. I knew they were pulling this one again. He sees a wire that is just barely on the terminal. It looks like they only put a couple strands of the wire into the connector, allowing it to work for a short time before burning through the little bit of wire and breaking again. I remember getting after a couple guys about this before. He takes a couple pictures to show Emma, before unplugging the unit. He puts the entire wire into the connector before tightening it down again. Once again, he saw a spark shoot into the controller. He plugged it back in and climbed down again. It starts running again almost immediately.
Jace: "There you go Miss Emma!" He pulls out the phone and shows her the pictures of before and after. "I had a feeling something was going on. As I said, I used to work for them. I was actually one of the supervisors directly under Rick. I had to get onto several guys that tried this trick before. Do you see how in the first picture it only has a couple strands of wire under the screw? That picture was before I even unplugged the unit. What that will do is allow the unit to run for a short while. Technically it is repairing the unit because the electricity can flow again. However, by not using the entire wire it pulls too much current through that connection. After a day or so, it's heated that part up so much that it burns through the wire and you have to call in another service call. This second picture is how it supposed to be connected. See how all the strands are under the screw? The same amount of electricity can flow, but now it's similar to a 6 lane freeway instead of a single lane country road."
Rick: Faking being shocked "I am appalled that one of our technicians would do something like that! I assure you, Miss Emma, I will be investigating who did that repair when I get back to the office!"
Emma: "Come to think of it, I think you were the one that was out here last. I take it these are the standards your company works to?"
Rick: "It must have been a mistake. As a token of apology, we will zero out the balance on your account. This should have never happened. However, I'm glad that we were able to get it fixed for you. Please give us a call if you have any other needs." Rick tries to get away.
Jace: "We? You didn't do anything this time! If I hadn't been here, you probably would have tried the same thing again!"
Emma: "Jace, would you mind sending those pictures to me? I feel like I need to have them investigated for unethical business practices."
Jace: "Sure thing!" Emma gives him her phone number and he sends the pictures to her. "If you have any other issues, I sent my cell number as well. I don't live far from here, and I'm here a lot, so I have no problem helping out if you have an issue."
Rick grabs his bag and runs out of the door. "Jace, I'll get you back for this!"
Jace ignores him.
Emma: "Since you live close and you've helped me out so much, come in anytime you like. I own this cafe, so as far as I'm concerned your money is no longer good here! It's the least I can do for you. Who knows how long he would have continued that!"
Jace: "Thank you! I'm always happy to help!"
Jace walked back over to Riley. "Well, that was pretty easy! Just another shady fix I've caught them doing before! Here's your phone back. Emma had asked me to text the pictures to her. She's going to have them investigated for what they were pulling." He set her phone back on the table and picked his back up.
Riley: "I was wondering why he left so fast! Serves him right!"
Directive face slap your previous employer complete.
Technician: Jace Thorn
RP: 100
Jace happens to glance at his phone. He notices the contacts app was open. He scrolls through it and sees one marked new. He reads it and chuckles a little. "Gorgeous neighbor Riley Quinn, huh?"
Riley blushes a little. "Crap! I was hoping you wouldn't see it while I was still in front of you! Umm, it was meant as a joke. Yeah, that's it" I really hope he agrees with that description at least a little
Jace: "Well, I wasn't going to call you gorgeous because I didn't want to assume anything and make you feel weird. I was going to say pretty, but if I'm honest gorgeous could work too." Jace blushes a little.
Riley: "OMG, do you actually like me?"
Jace: "Well, I definitely wouldn't oppose hanging out with you."
Riley: "I'll take it! I'm calling it, we're dating now!"
Jace: "I didn't want to force you into that! I'm happy to though! We'll have to have a proper date sometime soon though." Jace looks at his watch. "I need to get going though. I need to make some money today. Want to walk home with me? I still need to get that toaster to you."
Riley: "Sure, my boyfriend! I just really wanted to say that! You have no idea how long I've wanted to be able to say that!"
You really don't have any idea. Honestly, you're so clueless about women you thought "emotional intelligence" was a dating feature that you could enable.