Burke's Automotive Repair

I filed a police report and provided it to the BBB.
Police report ID number is X25090803.

As a psych major and health care navigator, I advocate for mental health and the fair treatment of customers and employees. The police report is to document the incident and discourage this behavior.

I walked up to find a small, unattended lot full of cars wondering what to do for a few minutes when I later heard tapping from a tinted window. I walked over to find Kevin sitting at the computer in a dark room just staring outside.
Strike 1 – Greet your customers, this was a red flag.

I greeted him, said my vehicle runs but needs parts replaced before they break. He asked if the car was outside. Humorously, I said, "no, I took a rental here." He turned around to sit saying he needs me to bring the car before he can do anything. I explained I was joking, and the car was outside. He looked at me very sternly and in a grave tone said he was not in the mood for humor, and didn't want to hear that from me again. He added that his mother is passing away and he’s not having a good day. I apologized for the heavy time he's having, and we looked at the car.
Strike 2 - Poor boundaries. In full empathy, I never got over losing my grandmother and did not handle it well. Yet, as a customer in my own crisis, I’m also vulnerable. Never lash out at a customer to blame personal issues.

He inspected the car, outlining how the car is more susceptible to overheating after 150,000 mi. I’m nearing 200,000 and will soon need to invest $10,000 in repairs. This is leading to bigger repairs I had to run by family. The family chat went from reporting news to blaming me for having a high mileage car, stating the problem is not the car but me as a person. The chat was stressful but not heated. I set the boundary that I would not get involved in blaming or throwing a temper tantrum because a car does what a car will do, and ended the conversation with “thank you for your support, let's take a breather, chat soon.”

I let him know we would have to decide as a family what to do, but unfortunately my mother thinks she knows more than he and doesn’t believe that high mileage is the problem. He sighed, and asked her name, then her age, and shrugged it off with, "Oh, that's typical of people from that generation. That's just how they are." I agreed with him and started to vent when he stood up and yelled in my face.

"I am so tired of your BULLSH*T, you little punk! If I had spoken to my mother the way you did, I could only hope to burn in hell for all eternity! I ought to kick your f**king teeth in for blaming your mother for your problems. ... Get the HELL out of my office and if I ever see you again, I'm calling the police! ... Get the F**K OUT of my office or I'm call the police and having you removed! You little piece of sh*t!"

Strike 3 - 7:
I explained that his behavior was out of line - he didn't care; that he edited my conversation to a version he felt was the case while in his feelings about his own mom and deep in conversation with someone else - he denied that; I called him out for displacing his anger for feeling triggered and grieving - he raged aggressively; I recognized my conversation could have triggered him, but none of that excuses his behavior - he doubled down on threats to bodily injury and calling the police to have me removed.

While any other day might have gone differently, and I see he has good reviews, I will say:
This level of unhinged emotional dysregulation in a business owner who works face-to-face with customers is alarming. We don't truly become adults until we lose a parent, and this man is deeply hurt. While many mechanics have better customer service skills than he did today, this industry tends to attract people with poor social/emotional intelligence because they rather deal with machines more than the people behind them and that kind of growth is a choice. It's one thing to have to deal with attacks from family members, it's another thing when complete strangers insert themselves to create more drama. I just wanted to repair my car to get to work and school. I have 3-hour commutes 5 days a week. I'm gonna look for a different mechanic, and this is not okay.