Happened to me, too. I was getting my oil changed, and the man with the clipboard motions me into the work area and points to the pine cone parts and acorns around the air intake for the engine. He said when I get home, I need to get my husband to vacuum those out and put a piece of metal screening over the intake so the rodents don't try to move in again. I have no husband anymore, I told him, and he said, "well, your boyfriend, then."
As I was doing this, myself, I thought a couple things. 1. I chastised myself for criticizing dear departed husband for saving virtually everything, because now I needed a piece of hardware cloth about 6" square. That would be just the thing I would have looked at and thought, "What good is something that small? Toss it." 2. Having accomplished that, and changing out the thermostat, and the kitchen faucet in the last couple months, I still had no plan for dinner. I thought to myself, "I need a wife."
I will go back there because on the whole they do a good job, get me in and out in a timely manner. They also, (and this is a big plus for me) act as if they respect themselves and the work they do. That trumps a ham-handed attempt at small talk, in my book. YMMV.
