[HoneyBadger]

Gandalf is 110% correct, and that so called "colorful story" is precisely what I go through every day in my line of work, except that everything should be repeated atleast 3 times until the customer wakes up, plugs in their brain, turns up their phone and/or hearing aide, and rediscovers their knowledge of basic English.

And it's not only better not to give them a time estimate, it's actually much better to conceal all guesses, thoughts, and suppositions, because if you give the customer anything on which to base a thought-process, except cold hard facts (and those hold their own danger), they will inevitably come to the most deceitful, vile conclusion possible.

It's war, basically. An American war in which the enemy usually ends up better off than they started, just as soon as they stop being stubborn and start losing, getting out of our way, and letting us do our job.