Jan 16, 2009

Be Careful What You Think About!!!

Prologue: Meari braves the cold weather on her lunch hour to go to the post office and then get the oil changed in her car. Following is her first hand account of what happened over the course of an hour:

As I went to leave the post office on Friday, my car acted a little funny when I started it. Since the weather was SO cold, I thought it had something to do with it. My mind wandered over my various financial situations and I thought to myself: “Nothing major has happened to my car lately, I wonder when the next thing will be?” I continued on my merry way to the oil/lube place to get my oil changed.

Cute Lube Guy: “Do you know something is chewing up your belt?”

Me: “Uh, no.”

He showed me belt shrapnel all over my battery, pointed out a shiny thing down in the motor, and showed me how loose the serpentine belt was. (Yeah, the same belt I had replaced last year!) While this was going on, we heard something fall in the engine. A plastic pulley melted and fell off the side of the supercharger (Not good!).

CLG: “You’re lucky you stopped in when you did.”

Me: “Yeah, no kidding. Can I drive it to my shop downtown?”

CLG: “I wouldn’t recommend you drive it anywhere.”

Me: (thinking to myself) “Crap!”

CLG: “Do you still want us to do the oil change?”

Me: “Yeah, you’ve already got it in there, you may as well.”

I called the shop and they said to have it towed down there. Me, not ever having had to call a tow truck, came across as soooo ignorant and actually asked him what I should say to the towing company. LOL

I then called the towing company. Meanwhile the shop called back.

Mechanic Dude: “How soon do you need your car?”

Me: (thinking -- Oh, this is not sounding good.) “As soon as possible. It’s my only vehicle.”

MD: “Well, we can’t get to it until Monday. We’re open tomorrow and might be able to look at it but we’re only open 4 hours and already have 5 cars ahead of yours.”

Me: “I guess if that’s the soonest, that’s what it’ll have to be.”

Then I called my coworker to come pick me up. Oh, btw, there are *some* good Samaritans out there. The guy who was having his oil changed in the next bay offered to give me a ride to wherever I wanted to go.

CLG: “That’ll be $47.02”

Me: (laughing) “That’s one expensive oil change.... “ (Referring of course, to the additional repairs required)

My coworker came and picked me up, and after I explained what happened, she asked: “Do you have towing insurance?”’

Me: “Heck if I know. I’ve never had to call a tow truck.”

When we got back to the office, I called my insurance company. Guess what? I have towing coverage!!

One bright spot... and here I thought it was going to be the fact the sun was shining... in my otherwise pitiful lunch hour.

Epilogue: Meari catches a ride home with her coworker, and will spend an entire weekend stranded at home until Sunday. That’s when her Dad agreed to lend her his car for Monday.

19 comments:

Sherry said...

I'm SO very sorry. I hate car problems. But at least you will be warm not having to go out in the cold and maybe you can get a lot of stitching done?!!

Sadie said...

What a PITA. But at least you weren't driving it when bits started falling off the engine! Hope it is fixed quickly and doesn't cost an exorbitant amount of money.
'Cute lube guy' sounds like a character in an adult movie! LMAO

Sadie said...

Think of all the stitching you can get done this weekend!

htimcj said...

Bummer about the car! I hope it doesn't cost too much to repair!
Heidi-ILCS

Beth said...

Just think of how much *other* stuff you'll be able to do since you can't go anywhere, anyway. There is always a silver lining, you know! Enjoy your secluded weekend!!

Hugs,
Beth

CJ said...

Oh Meari -

I feel for ya, girl. Enjoy your time at home, I know you will make the best of it.

CJ

Rene la Frog said...

Again I'm glad I don't have a car and the problems that come with them. Your guardian angel was with you that your car didn't break on the way to somewhere.

Stephanie said...

I have SO been there done that!! Not any fun at all!! Glad you had friends to come to your rescue. Look at all that uninterrupted stitching time you get!!

Emily in NC said...

LOL, sound like you had a rough lunch. Hope everything can get fixed by Monday. You can stay in this weekend and stitch. Stay warm too.

Donna said...

Teach you to go out for lunch! LOL! I am really sorry you had car problems. That is the pits! Try to have a good weekend anyway!

Melody said...

The bright side is you were at the garage when the problem got worse! You wouldn't want to be stranded out in the cold somewhere! Make the most of your 'forced home' weekend, and stitch!!

imnverted said...

Thank goodness the CLG had a brain and didnt let you drive it out of the parking lot. Sorry your car is giving you fits

Carolyn NC said...

There is nothing quite like car problems. So sorry - one good thing is you can stitch this weekend (or work on your house!)

Vickie said...

I hate to hear about your car troubles. That always is a terrible feeling.

craftypatty2 said...

So sorry to hear about the problems with the car, hope they can be fixed no later then Monday and that they don't cost you too much.
Enjoy the weekend!
HUGS
Patty

Gabi said...

So sorry to hear about your car problem, but at least nothing happened to you and you hadn't had an accident. Which could have happened otherwise. Crossing fingers all will work out fine soon.

Lou's addictions said...

lol... I hate cars! Ours plays up every 6 months or so too, it's just a shame that it's never the small things that go wrong lol...

Kristin said...

Wow...you really are lucky you stopped when you did. Hope its not that expensive a repair.

Nancy M said...

Since i know the result...good thing you weren't driving. But this just reminds me I have a car with a new transmission (and $3000 later) just sitting at the repair shop waiting to have someone offer us at least $1000 scrap fee. Depressing.