There are certain tasks I am just outright not qualified
for. Many of them are in the realm of
auto repair. Admittedly, if I was forced
at gunpoint (and had YouTube available) I could probably change the oil on my
2010 Subaru Outback. Yes, I drive an outback…which
my “out” friend said that either I’m a staunch environmentalist or a
lesbian. I like to think that I’m a
little bit of both…but I digress.
On Monday, I noticed on my lunchbreak that the low-pressure tire indicator was on the dashboard. OK. I did a quick survey of my vehicle and all tires looked inflated/semi-inflated so I drove it from the office to a local mechanic shop I use because it’s convenient to have that kind of stuff done during the work day. Upon pulling up, the mechanic and I noticed a hex-bolt sticking out of the tread of the tire…the obvious culprit. We come up with a plan: they would quickly swap the tire for my doughnut and I’d be able to drive away until they repaired the tire…or recommend that I replace it. At 3:30pm, the call came in that it would be done by 4 and when I got there, it only took another 15 minutes to get it completed. While waiting, I let them know that I’d be back on Thursday to get my clutch replaced. It seems that I’ve been driving the last two weeks in a manual transmission car with severely slipping gears, and it was time to get that rectified. They said no problem, but it’s usually a 2 day thing because they have to send it out to be machined and that takes time…yadda yadda yadda.
On Monday, I noticed on my lunchbreak that the low-pressure tire indicator was on the dashboard. OK. I did a quick survey of my vehicle and all tires looked inflated/semi-inflated so I drove it from the office to a local mechanic shop I use because it’s convenient to have that kind of stuff done during the work day. Upon pulling up, the mechanic and I noticed a hex-bolt sticking out of the tread of the tire…the obvious culprit. We come up with a plan: they would quickly swap the tire for my doughnut and I’d be able to drive away until they repaired the tire…or recommend that I replace it. At 3:30pm, the call came in that it would be done by 4 and when I got there, it only took another 15 minutes to get it completed. While waiting, I let them know that I’d be back on Thursday to get my clutch replaced. It seems that I’ve been driving the last two weeks in a manual transmission car with severely slipping gears, and it was time to get that rectified. They said no problem, but it’s usually a 2 day thing because they have to send it out to be machined and that takes time…yadda yadda yadda.
None of this fazed me.
I got back to the office the next day, set up a rental car to meet me at
the shop on Thursday with the understanding that I’d need the car for at least
two days. And then I got the phone call
from the shop indicating that there was one mechanic who is in charge of this
type of operation…and he was out. When
is the dead-end time that you need the car, Mr. August? I said by 3:30, Friday…as I had originally planned. They said no problem.
And, sure enough, at 2:15pm today, I got the phone call that
it was all done. But, now I’m on my way
back to the rental place who will then drive me and my two car-seats back to
the shop, where I will have to fork over a pound of flesh in order to get the
keys back of my now-repaired vehicle. Is
this the right time to say that I’d really like a new Mini Cooper Clubman? Looks like I’ll be driving this one for the foreseeable
future. At least it’ll drive like a car
and not some fragile non-accelerating hunk of crap…well, that’s how I hope it
drives. Fingers are crossed that they
fixed what they needed to fix.
No comments:
Post a Comment