Instant hypocrisy, a perverted cousin of instant karma, grinds my gears lol.
I work for an insurance provider as an auto adjuster. I was previously on the body shop side, so I know what the shop deals with. I am sympathetic to the shop AND the customer, and I have already taken quite a few dings internally for being too lenient in certain areas now that I'm on the insurance side. It's a fair trade off, in my mind, because my customer survey scores are always great, and those are weighted higher than the dings I get for being too generous. Retention is king, and customer surveys reflect retention!
Anyway, I've got a customer with a vehicle in a shop about 5 hours from me, so I'm dealing with the shop remotely. No problem, as most of the business is transitioning to all-digital anyway. The photo apps and file management systems are great.
This is a mom-and-pop towing/auto body, just a husband and wife with a tow truck and a garage from what I understand. They send me their estimate after looking at the vehicle, which was a deer hit with all air bags deployed because the vehicle detected a potential rollover when he went over the shoulder into the field after hitting the deer. Their whole estimate to repair is completely reasonable, with the exception of a $200 component with no pictures of visible damage.
I allow everything else on my estimate, AND I include 5 (!) restraint system parts that they forgot. That is a significant number of auto-replace components to forget on your estimate. No harm, no foul. I add them to my estimate, including the $200 part they didn't send a picture of, send it back, and tell them I can send payment when they send me a picture of that last component. I just need to cover my ass, as everyone in the industry should know.
They email me back three days later... "This is the difference between an experienced body shop and an insurance guy like you. We KNOW what the vehicle needs, but we have you second-guessing us and asking for every picture in the world. We can't get vehicles done like that."
WHAT??? You forget 5 MAJOR components on your estimate, which I corrected for you without saying a word, and yet you "know what the vehicle needs" better than me lol?
Maybe it's the lack of self awareness that grinds my gears...
Anyway, I sent back a friendly "thank you for the picture! I've issued payment" email, called the customer, gave them a synopsis of what I was dealing with, and told him good luck with the shop, it's in their hands now lol.