The Car Follies Continue On...

I would have been so happy to say that the only fiasco with taking my car into the dealership to get fixed was forgetting my keys when they took me home... but unfortunately that's not all to this story.

Monday evening they called to say that my car needed a "few" repairs (how unrealistic was it for me to think I was going to walk away from that place and pay nothing?). They suggested four repairs that would have all cost me about $2000.

I suggested we only do two of those and it only cost me $300. Because luckily, thanks to the power of google, I know that $1000 for new brakes is absurd! And my tires are "low" but not totally needing replacement (and when they are, I know many places that are cheaper than $600).

So anyways, my car would have to stay the night to get these additional fixes done.

I had already gone all that day without a car, what would be so bad about one more?

But at 11am on Tuesday I realized what would make it so bad... a fire alarm in the apartment with a low battery.

It's INSISTENT beeping that I put a new battery in.

So I called the apartment and put in a work order.

But five o'clock rolled around and I hadn't heard anything about the car and the fire alarm was still beeping. AHHHHHH!!!!!!!

So I might have been a little on edge when I called the dealership and the apartment office.

But it was just... ALL THAT BEEPING, ALL DAY LONG!!!

The apartment complex had sent someone out to fix the fire alarm... in the wrong apartment. So they sent the "on call" guy to come fix it since the normal maintenance workers were gone.

The dealership, taking their precious time to return my call said my car was ready and they could send the guy to come get me eventually... and I did the math in my head. With rush hour traffic and me living on the other side of town from the dealership, it would take hours before I would be back home!

Emily said she would just take me the next morning and drop me off at the dealership. And I much preferred this arrangement.

Except the next morning (otherwise known as this morning) there was horrendous traffic. The whole way we were in stop and go traffic and doing max speeds of 5 mph. It was lucky we left so much earlier, because she has a new job and would have been late otherwise!

However, we had to scrap the part of my ride where she actually dropped me off at the dealership, which was probably about 10 miles away.

No biggie, I called the dealership, told them the story and asked if they could come pick me up. But the driver had to drop people off first, then he could come get me.

So I was just going to wait in Emily's car. However, I had to go to the bathroom so bad I started to sweat thinking about it. Emily's office is not a place you can just "run in" and use the restroom. I'd have to check-in and jump over other hoops that didn't sound appealing.

But there was a Burger King next door. Unfortunately, this particular Burger King happens to be where "people" that want to be hired out for the day for odd jobs wait for other "people" to come get them.

(And I really don't mean hookers. I just re-read that and thought that's what it sounds like. No, it's more like manual labor work.)

But as I walked over there (on the side of the I-35 mind you) I realized my leg had fallen asleep in Emily's car. So I kinda hobbled over there.

Let me tell you, this was not my finest hour. I really felt like a homeless person at this moment. I mean, I had pretty much rolled out of bed and threw one whatever clothes. Now I am limping walking down the highway?!?

Anyways, after I bought myself an orange juice and waited for a while I got an idea, I had seen about a billion cabs drive by. Why not just take a cab?

But I wasn't about to go outside and try to hail one with all of those "workers" out there. I'd look like I was just the most eager (and out of the ordinary) day laborer there ever was.

So I called for a cab.

Waited 20 minutes. (All the while about a billion cabs drove by.)

Called for a cab again.

Waited another 10 minutes and finally my cab arrived!

And just as we pulled away, the dealership driver pulled up.

Doooooohhhhhhh! (Said like Homer from the Simpsons)

But I finally got to the dealership. And I wanted nothing more than to get out of there as soon as possible. I felt so embarrassed by everything. Especially with that poor driver. He'd driven all over town for me, most of the time to no success.

Oh, but I am sooooooo glad to have my car back!!!!!!!!!!

(And soooooo glad the circus to get it is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!)