It was time to get the oil changed on the Jeep. In the past, I would try to time my oil changes when I was in Lubbock, because the little place I used, hidden on the side of a main street was ran by Vietnamese. They are not the ones hiding in the reeds and rice patties waiting to attack you. Those years are gone. These little guys are actually Catholic, easily discernable by the religious items hanging on the wall. But since then, they sold out to others who I believe are also Asian, and Christians. Good people. I always enjoy visiting with them as they would always ask me what country I am working in, how long I would be in the States and what trips I would be taking, etc.

I once had the oil changed at a Walmart in the Austin area, and the next time I had it done in Lubbock, the little guy told me the last service place I used did not put all the bolts back in the cover plate underneath. They only put four of the original 9.

But since moving much further south, I had to find a place I trusted as I did the little guys in Lubbock. An older brother used to own an oil change service center and I learned a lot from him on what to look for. So I spent time looking on the Internet and checking reviews.

Among the selection was a place called Slick’s Oil Change. That conjured up an image of a place with the entrance in back of a body shop, who has a guy with a runny nose and a beer in his hand, comes out to see what you want, wearing dirty overalls with one strap broken showing his dirty undershirt. “Whatcha needin’?”

“Uh, oil change?”

“Yeah, I kin do that for ya. Actually, you are in luck, cus I afa sale on good used earl. (oil). And I can git ma cousin Leroy to do it. He allas wanted to learn to change earl.” Then he crushes his empty beer can on his forehead and throws it back into the building.

Ah, no. So, I skipped over Slick’s Oil Change, and looked at others. But the more I searched, the more Slick’s Oil Change came up. So, I gave in and looked at the reviews.

The CarFax website gave them 5 stars with 247 verified reviews. Another site gave them 4.9 stars with 296 verified reviews. Another gave 4.9 with 506 reviews. These are for an oil change place!

So, I drove up there to get it done. Very nice brick building with a lot of customers. Went in and they said it would be about an hour and a half. Okay, so I decided I could wait until I got to Lubbock.

Months later, I had to get the inspection done, so I waited until mid-month so there would be fewer inspections going on. Went back to Slick’s and they said it would be about 45 minutes and since I was pressed for time, I decided to go elsewhere.

Down the street and around the corner is the “5 minute oil change” place that also did inspections. One of those places you don’t even have to get out of your car.

Sure enough, they had time for an inspection, because all three guys were standing around loafing. One was eating a sandwich.

“Sure, we can do that. You don’t even have to get out of your car.”

They had it done in 5 minutes and I drove off. I was the only customer at that place, while around the corner and down the block Slick’s had a multitude of people working on car after car.

So, back to the present. I called Slick’s and they said they open at 8:00. So I headed there the next morning and arrived at 7:45. There were about 7-8 people already standing in line to get in when they opened. Crap.

I debated whether to wait until the middle of next week to get it done when there would most likely be fewer customers. I would go in and ask about the wait time for later in the week.

At 8:00 I followed the line in and stood around near the desk. A little lady who reminds me of one of my sister-in-laws, but not as loud, was in charge. She called out someone’s name and a guy near the front spoke up. She quickly got him set up for service, then called another person. Then about eight people later, she called my name! It turns out, she noticed who came into the parking lot and got the license plate number, looked it up and placed it on a sticky note on her desk in the order they arrived. The Jeep had not been there for service before, so she had to look the number up on the Internet.

I was impressed. I asked if it would be quicker if I came in later in the week, and was told, “No, it is this way all the time.”

So, my name was put in the que at 8:10 and I was out at 9:10. On the way home, I passed by the 5-minute oil change place, (you don’t even have to get out of your car) and it had no customers.

So, I did a little slick research on Slick’s and found it is owned by a woman and her sons. Capitalism works for everyone.

Unless you own a 5-minute oil change place.