Seriously, the Z owner would have been better off dropping his car off at the local Vo-Tech Auto Body class.
Lower priced car painting is an interesting industry. The little shop of horrors featured in this thread obviously has enough of a local reputation to attract at least some customers with decent cars. It seems that with any discipline at all, the operator could do acceptable work. His customers are presumably looking to get by on the cheap, so why not capitalize on this market, and do a minimally passing, if not quality, job?
Finding myself between jobs, I once applied as a manager at a well known discount auto painting location. I arrived for the interview to find a very professional, polite, frazzled regional manager apologizing for making me wait. He was trying to cover three stores that day. Customers... drop-offs, pick-ups, and comparison shoppers... were literally lined up on the street.
I'm sure that five grand worth of business drove off in the couple of hours that I was there. I looked over the shop and observed the employees as I waited. Beyond the corporate signage, the place was a wreck... filthy, disorganized, in serious need of repair. The phone rang off the hook, mostly unanswered. The actual painting operation was a complete nightmare... spraying in an open garage bay - I guess the paint booths were full (You can't make this stuff up!), equipment in various stages of disrepair, employees arguing with each other, absolutely no apparent process or supervision or quality control.
I saw some "finished" cars waiting to be delivered. I was reminded of a coloring book where the kid didn't stay inside the lines!
What are these guys thinking?! They're sitting on a goldmine, with a minimal capital investment. Get some adult supervision! I didn't hang around for the interview. I hope that the regional manager hasn't had a heart attack yet.