here is what more than likely happened... sales person aka service writer needed some money and saw that the mechanics inspection noted 50% worn brakes... in the services writers mind there worn out. loose tie rod end = very loose tie rod end to a service writer. There is a good chance the guy who looked at the car was just doing his job, its the BS sales staff that makes the mechanic look like a crook, at least the majority of the time. now don't get me wrong, there are alot of shady shops out there but more then likely its the sales staff that needs to be blamed. I know if i get a car in the shop for a particular complaint i am expected to do a full vehicle inspection regardless. so that means telling them about stuff that is unrelated to there issue that brought them into the shop in the fist place. people have the right to know what is wrong with there car no matter if it has anything to do with their complaint. but at the same time i know exactly how you feel in this situation! I always look at it this way. tell them what will fix the issue they are having but then let them know that there are other things that need to be addressed as well, let the customer sort them out and if they want some advice on what should be prioritized, i give them honest advice. And you already know that honesty goes a looooong ways in this biz. I just had to rant on this cuz i Fing hate the service writers at my shop. 
But its good to hear that there are other honest mechanics out there!!!!!!!!!! 
keep up the good work
i fully agree about service writers. i know what kind of crap they do. i'm good friends with a guy that spent about 10 years doing that for a goodyear shop. needless to say, he more than likely did exactly what you said, then some.
even when i used to sell the work for the last couple shops i worked at, i concerned myself with the problem at hand, not other bs that had nothing to do with the complaint.
in the case of this radiator, she should have been told nothing about anything outside the area of her complaint(like hoses, thermostat, etc.) until the heating problem was solved.
i'm somewhat familiar with the shop she took it to before coming to me. till recently, i've never heard a bad word about them. it seems in the past year or so, i've been hearing stuff like this. there was a nissan 200sx i had a couple of weeks ago, that had been taken there for a stalling problem, and non-functional speedometer. they put a vss in it, and let it go. didn't solve the stalling, and it still had a non-functional speedo. i put a used instrument cluster in it for the speedo problem. solved that. the stalling went away when i put some gas in the tank for them.
