I don't feel the story from the author was BS at all. I've taken two vehicles to Monro Muffler at the BJ's located in Newington and have had very similar experiences. The first was when I took my Tahoe in for inspection. I was wearing my suit and tie when I brought the vehicle in and probably didn't look like I knew my way around the underside of a car/truck. Paul came out with terrible news. The brakes, rotors, emergency break and a caliper were all shot along with the front ball joints, idler and pitman arm. Paul said he'd fix her up for $3000.
In his arrogance Paul didn't think that I may also be a mechanic or that I'd upgraded the braking system myself using parts that I'd picked up from Summit Racing three months prior. The pitman and idler had also been replaced a year prior with Moog equipment (Better than OEM) besides unless you're doing some serious off-roading or forgot to grease your fittings these parts are pretty unbreakable.
Needless to say I walked out of there and had my vehicle inspected at my local dealership where it passed with no issues.
The "Mechanics" at Monro Mufflers aren't really mechanics at all, just a bunch of hacks that have moved up a rung on the job later. They're not ASE certified, probably didn't graduate high school and were most likely wearing Burger King uniforms a few weeks back.