Hitting close to home ...

Being a mechanic, working for somebody else, I got some rules for myself when dealing with customers. I refuse to talk politics, sex, and religion with them. I yell at them all the time for slacking off on their maintenance, or for being whiny, or for just being an idiot, but there are some subjects I just don't broach.

Firstly, getting into an argument with a customer on faith-based, or sex-based, or politically based terms can cost my boss a lot of other customers (in a small town, generally those who think alike hang together). Word of mouth can kill you in this business.

I might be the best mechanic in the world (I am) but it don't matter if some die hard conservatives think I'm a godless infidel, gay loving, baby-killing, commie, pinko, Kenyanophile, anti-colonialist (I am), they're gonna think my boss is too and go somewhere else. I don't care what they say about me, but he has to live and run a business here and if you get on the wrong side of the local 'chattering class' (in this town it's conservative) life can get very difficult. I live 30 miles away; feces hitting fan won't splatter me but I ain't gonna make life hard for my friend.

That said, this clown stands to lose a lot of business from the libs:

...

Everyone knows I live in Southern California and it's supposed to be this liberal haven of the country. I've been rehabbing my nerve damage so I can't move around too freely, but my car hasn't had an oil change in a very long time. There's a Goodyear dealership that did a good job the last time I went there. Plus I can actually walk home from the place while the work's being done. So I went to get the long-awaited service. I was helped by the owner of the place and after we chatted about what I needed, we went inside so he could write up the order as my car was taken inside and put up on a lift.

As we were at his computer, finishing up the input of our transaction, I saw that Fox News was on his TV and I jokingly said, "Oh, you have Fox News on?" He said, "I didn't put it on, but so what? What's wrong with it?" I said, "It's a propaganda network." He asked, "People can tell what the truth is, so who cares even if there is only ten percent of the truth?" I pointed out that for most people, it's hard to know which ten percent is the truth. That was my first mistake. There were a few other customers behind me, but that didn't faze the owner, as he then launched into a profanity-laced tirade against politicians and of course, the cancer of our society, the unions.

...

I realize many parts of California ain't as progressive as Gordon's backyard, but I'm sure if word gets out (and it will), this guy's gonna have an "out of business" sign on the front door real quick.