February 6
RAAAR!! Okay, so here's my friend, sitting at work. Of course, because he is who he is, he does not HAVE to work, he just wanted to see what it was like one day. He wanted me to point out to all of you that he's got a pen because he was going to take CHICKtation. Get it? CHICKtation. Hah! Hah! It's funny! Raaaaarrr!!
Bitch Bitch Bitch:
I had to bring the VW in to the dealer to have the lock tumbler changed--it was broken when they sold the car to me. As such, I've never actually opened it with the key, which is okay, because there's some button jobber on the--huh, I don't know what to call it, uh, body of the key, that unlocks and de-alarms the car making actual key entry unnecessary. I'd noticed a few other minor weird things about the car, too, that I wanted to have checked out, so I brought it in yesterday morning at 8. I went over the stuff I wanted them to look at, and he asked me when I wanted to pick up the car. I told him 5:30, and he wrote down "PICK UP AT 4", winking and saying "If I say 5:30, it'll be 6 for sure!"
Later that day--at around 4, I get a call. "Well, we were kind of busy, is it okay if we keep the car overnight?"
That, right there? That's a pet peeve of mine. A HUGE one. No, it is NOT okay for you to keep the car overnight. It is never okay for them to keep my car overnight--unless they've warned me ahead of time. I mean, why ASK me when I want to pick it up if you're not going to actually stick to what you said. Factually, ALL mechanics are busy. They ALL take in a million cars a day (give or take a few hundred thousand) and they all overbook. That doesn't mean that giving me a call an hour before I'm supposed to go get my car telling me that they were busy is going to make me overflow with understanding. I want my car when I want it, and I will never let them keep it overnight, unless they're like dropping the engine or something. To replace a lock cylinder, to repoint my headlight, to fix a glovebox? These are not overnight stay requiring things.
I think what makes the "can we keep it overnight" phenomenon so extremely annoying to me is that the self same thing is constantly happening at work: it's an unspoken implication that everyone else's time is more valuable than mine. I try very hard to do what I say I'm going to do, and get shit done when it needs to be done. I expect the same courtesy. Anyhow, needless to say, they did NOT keep my car overnight, and everything seems to have been fixed. The most important thing I discovered in the lot was the thing I'd feared most of all: the truck was sold. Now I can stop stalking it.
And Speaking of Being Retarded:
When I got to the dealer yesterday morning to drop off the car, I sat there for a minute, just staring at The Dude Who Lives in My Car. In the truck, he had a perfect seat: in a vent hole on the middle-right of the dashboard. The VW has no clear cut place, so he's been kind of leaning on the wall. It's worked out so far for everyone concerned. I started thinking yesterday, however, that it was very likely that they'd be working on that side of the car, and that there was a chance--however small--that he might, in fact, be knocked out accidentally, and then stepped on or tossed away. Because I am clearly insane, spent several moments of my life, contemplating whether or not I ought to leave him where he was on the dashboard. After all, he's been to many many mechanics in the past, never being lost of thrown away or covered in oil. But, too, he's never had a seat so close to the door.
In the end I wound up sticking him in my bag. Yep. I did. I am a sad, sad person. It's even sadder that I actually thought anyone would give enough of a shit for me to jot it all down, just now. Sorry about that.
And Speaking of Being a Sad, Sad Person:
Haiku for Deletion:
where there were once words
now there is gentle haiku
too much sharing: bad
the other day - home - email - tomorrow