I like when businesses advertise their Christianity. It let's me know right up front to avoid them. Remember 'Christian ethics' is not an oxymoron, the modifier is there to let you know that their ethics is different from real ethics.
"If you're doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing; his word isn't worth shit, not with the good Lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal."
-- William S. Burroughs, "Advice for Young People" September 28th, 1993
I never do business with any company trumpeting their Christianity as a good reason to patronize them. Some are straight up scam artists, but the true believers are worse. When people convince themselves they're operating under divine sanction, they can rationalize an excuse for anything.
OK, I understand that I'm supposed to be a lot more sympathetic to the victim here than I am going to be. But as someone already noted, even Jesus can't fix stupid.
There is car repair and then there is repairing transmissions, engine blocks, drive trains, and so on. Car repair maybe you can do with the toolbox or two. Repairing transmissions and other things like that requires a shop as far as I can tell. How is somebody even going to get a transmission out of a car if that's what it needs While working in someone's driveway? What relevance does being a Christian, or even a "Christian", have to anything-- except that the scam operates in a similar way. Pay in advance, or tithe, for unspecified services and unguaranteeable results?
OMG, I just proved the truth of everything with the phone call that happened while I was typing. The call was from an organization which didn't sound like anything in particular, telling me that I could get $26,000 for every employee I had during the pandemic. It's not a loan, you don't have to pay it back, all you have to do is demonstrate that you have three or more employees during the pandemic, and you were going to get a pile of money. We just need some information, and the money is yours. Money From whom? Why? (Because you had more than three employees during the pandemic). They needed to ask my name. They didn't seem to know the name of my business or whether I even had employees or an open business .
I let the earnest young man with the Indian accent – they all seem to be either Indians, or at least Filipinos on occasion-- talk for a little bit, and then I asked him what I always ask these scammers: "do your parents know that you scam people for a living, and are they proud of you?" For some reason, he hung up, just like they always do.
I would have had to be very stupid indeed to start handing information to some guy calling me up who didn't know anything about me and who is promising me free money from something that happened three years ago. But that level of stupidity is not some thing that's easy to achieve, and I am afraid I am a miserable failure at it..
So, yes, I feel a little bit sorry for yet another person who fell for a religious scam. But I don't feel incredibly sorry, because I doubt that she will be asking any questions at all, and certainly not why she would assume that this was a valid repair business when it was simply something so blatantly obvious.
To me, this is the problem in our country right now: tribalism, and it's bastard cousin of cousin fucking iggerunnce and lack of any critical thinking faculty.
Maybe I'll think differently when I have my 3rd cup of coffee.
Semi OT, mini rant. Maybe it's just me, but I don't have much luck finding services on line. Recently I needed to find a roofer. I found a couple on line, left contact info on their websites, and never heard back. Finally, I went up to the local lumber yard and asked if they could recommend a good roofer. Got a couple of names, called the first one, left a message, and had my call returned later that day. That guy has no web presence at all and relies on quality work and word of mouth.
Same thing happened when I needed a tree service a couple years ago. The one callback I got from on line was a guy that did tree trimming as a side hustle. I went with an outfit that my insurance guy recommended. He had worked for them as a summer job when he was going to college. Again, no web presence and relying on quality work and word of mouth.
I also have an auto mechanic that has no web presence. It seems to me that businesses that have web pages spend more time maintaining their social media than they do providing their services.
Here's the real kicker in my book: the local Christian community probably won't do a thing about the situation. The completely undeserved reputation Christianity has in the US of A means that this mechanic was trusted with a prepayment because it was assumed he'd be more honest with his work due to his faith, and when that didn't happen, Christians just don't do anything about it. Local churches should be arguing over who gets to help these people first, not pretending the problem doesn't exist.
Finding a good, reputable car mechanic is hard, and it's even more difficult when the mechanic is actively trying to scam people on social media. It'd be nice if we could get mechanics like this guy out of the business on a long term basis, and ideally it'd be nice if we could remove that undeserved reputation Christianity has, too.
I like when businesses advertise their Christianity. It let's me know right up front to avoid them. Remember 'Christian ethics' is not an oxymoron, the modifier is there to let you know that their ethics is different from real ethics.
Never pay in advance. That's a sure sign of a scam.
Come to think of it, tithing falls into that category.
Taking a person's money and giving nothing in return is the very definition of Christianity.
It happens every Sunday across the country.
"He may actually be a Christian mechanic! But it doesn’t explain why he’s cutting and running in the middle of a job."
Yes it does.
"If you're doing business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing; his word isn't worth shit, not with the good Lord telling him how to fuck you on the deal."
-- William S. Burroughs, "Advice for Young People" September 28th, 1993
A reputable mechanic will never ask for money up front.
I wouldn't think you pay before a service, especially a garage service.
Jesus, take the wheel! And the cash!
I never do business with any company trumpeting their Christianity as a good reason to patronize them. Some are straight up scam artists, but the true believers are worse. When people convince themselves they're operating under divine sanction, they can rationalize an excuse for anything.
OK, I understand that I'm supposed to be a lot more sympathetic to the victim here than I am going to be. But as someone already noted, even Jesus can't fix stupid.
There is car repair and then there is repairing transmissions, engine blocks, drive trains, and so on. Car repair maybe you can do with the toolbox or two. Repairing transmissions and other things like that requires a shop as far as I can tell. How is somebody even going to get a transmission out of a car if that's what it needs While working in someone's driveway? What relevance does being a Christian, or even a "Christian", have to anything-- except that the scam operates in a similar way. Pay in advance, or tithe, for unspecified services and unguaranteeable results?
OMG, I just proved the truth of everything with the phone call that happened while I was typing. The call was from an organization which didn't sound like anything in particular, telling me that I could get $26,000 for every employee I had during the pandemic. It's not a loan, you don't have to pay it back, all you have to do is demonstrate that you have three or more employees during the pandemic, and you were going to get a pile of money. We just need some information, and the money is yours. Money From whom? Why? (Because you had more than three employees during the pandemic). They needed to ask my name. They didn't seem to know the name of my business or whether I even had employees or an open business .
I let the earnest young man with the Indian accent – they all seem to be either Indians, or at least Filipinos on occasion-- talk for a little bit, and then I asked him what I always ask these scammers: "do your parents know that you scam people for a living, and are they proud of you?" For some reason, he hung up, just like they always do.
I would have had to be very stupid indeed to start handing information to some guy calling me up who didn't know anything about me and who is promising me free money from something that happened three years ago. But that level of stupidity is not some thing that's easy to achieve, and I am afraid I am a miserable failure at it..
So, yes, I feel a little bit sorry for yet another person who fell for a religious scam. But I don't feel incredibly sorry, because I doubt that she will be asking any questions at all, and certainly not why she would assume that this was a valid repair business when it was simply something so blatantly obvious.
To me, this is the problem in our country right now: tribalism, and it's bastard cousin of cousin fucking iggerunnce and lack of any critical thinking faculty.
Maybe I'll think differently when I have my 3rd cup of coffee.
Another Christian business that's oily?
Carrie and Freda can't be the only victims of these tools. How many other wrenching stories are out there?
(I know. Those puns were ratchet of me. Guess it's too early for a screwdriver)
"There's a sucker born every minute" 2 Corinthians, 45:2024
Semi OT, mini rant. Maybe it's just me, but I don't have much luck finding services on line. Recently I needed to find a roofer. I found a couple on line, left contact info on their websites, and never heard back. Finally, I went up to the local lumber yard and asked if they could recommend a good roofer. Got a couple of names, called the first one, left a message, and had my call returned later that day. That guy has no web presence at all and relies on quality work and word of mouth.
Same thing happened when I needed a tree service a couple years ago. The one callback I got from on line was a guy that did tree trimming as a side hustle. I went with an outfit that my insurance guy recommended. He had worked for them as a summer job when he was going to college. Again, no web presence and relying on quality work and word of mouth.
I also have an auto mechanic that has no web presence. It seems to me that businesses that have web pages spend more time maintaining their social media than they do providing their services.
YMMV, end rant.
Here's the real kicker in my book: the local Christian community probably won't do a thing about the situation. The completely undeserved reputation Christianity has in the US of A means that this mechanic was trusted with a prepayment because it was assumed he'd be more honest with his work due to his faith, and when that didn't happen, Christians just don't do anything about it. Local churches should be arguing over who gets to help these people first, not pretending the problem doesn't exist.
Finding a good, reputable car mechanic is hard, and it's even more difficult when the mechanic is actively trying to scam people on social media. It'd be nice if we could get mechanics like this guy out of the business on a long term basis, and ideally it'd be nice if we could remove that undeserved reputation Christianity has, too.
OT : if DM can find a nurse she should be discharged on Monday.
At first I was wondering what god needs with a mechanic. Then I realized that someone has to fix the tractors so that the cows can drive.