PSAs from your friendly LBS mechanic

At my local LBS, I've routinely seen MUD-covered mountain bikes brought in for service. 

Do you wash your car before you bring it into the shop? 

They didn't set up shop to give  cleaning time away free.  I guess I would rather pay them to work on it than pay them to clean it. 

Never got my car back washed after getting service. 

Then just charge extra? If you're cleaning it ANYWAY, I don't get it. Same with dentists as mentioned above - if you eat a package of Oreos before you go in, they're still going to do their job and clean your teeth (or charge extra). It's part of what you're paying for. 

The sweaty jersey on my keyboard does not compare. Maybe if you were bringing in your keyboard for service and it had a bunch of crumbs between the keys? 

I disagree that its ridiculous to have an expectation that my bike will have residue on it. I think it kind of comes with the territory - if you work on bikes you kind of have to expect to deal with that kind of stuff, no? Is that really a surprise? Otherwise you need to be clear with customers about what you will and will not work on (or complain about). Or charge extra, problem solved.

I guess maybe it differs between bike shops? My LBS states that, say, a tune up comes with a cleaning. Which is why this "PSA" was a surprise to me. Maybe not all bike shops offer that and it's a perk unique to mine.
 
I wouldn't expect my entire car to have been washed after I get my oil changed, but I would expect the affected areas to be cleaned up and not have oil everywhere.  

Also, you might want to make sure your aero bottle is empty before the bike mechanic pics up the bike and spills water all over his shoe.....

Ooops

As a former wrench monkey, I have to agree with the OP.  Its pretty rude to just bring your bike to them caked in crap and expect them to just deal with it.  I worked in 4 different shops over 10 years, and I absolutely HATED it when someone would bring in a bike caked in mud, or if it reeked of pee.  I wouldn't even touch that bike.  I'd tell you to take it and high tail it out of the shop, and wouldn't care if you came back or not.  That's just poor form.

Take care of your mechanics and they'll take care of you.  This goes for way more than just bikes.

My son's bike needed a new rear derailleur today (he crashed).  I walked into the shop, they grabbed the bike as soon as I walked in, took a derailleur off a bike from their floor since they didn't have the one I wanted in stock, and I walked out the door 25 minutes later.

I walked next door while they worked on my bike and bought them a gift certificate that will pay for their lunch one day next week.

Our bikes stay clean, so nobody expects they should clean them....my kids are learning to wipe their bikes when they are done with their ride.....I couldn't imagine expecting someone else to do that.

I NEVER have a complaint about my LBS.....they take care of me, I take care of them.

As the manager of an LBS my suggestion to people is: Clean your bike.   Not for when I work on it, I have latex gloves and a hose...you'll pay a little extra, but I can clean it and it can actually be a nice break in my day.  I say clean your bike because you'll have to see me less often and your bike will need less when it comes in.

I've cut forks out of Cervelo's because they were corroded together with the headset bearings, we replace a front derailleur or two a month that are no longer functioning because they were left coated in sweat and gatorade (or your beverage of choice).  Rear brakes don't work because the cables are corroded from sweat.  Fixing each of these problem costs more than $20, the most expensive...well over $400, the cost to you to hose it off after a ride/every once in a while is minimal.

When I bring my bike it comes with a cleaning..

Then again, I haven't had to take a leak on my bike though...