I only wish my car were as cute as this picture, or that getting it fixed were as adorable. Yesterday on my way home from work, something went wrong with my car. My limited car expertise makes it nearly impossible to describe to you what was happening. Nor do I feel like reliving it. It happened again and again on my way into work this morning. Hopefully tonight I'll be taking it to my mechanic, Dale (who by the way, does not wear a stethoscope like the man pictured. And come to think of it, I'm glad he doesn't because I bet he'd charge more).Besides the obvious complaints of cost and inconvenience, I have two other complaints about getting my car fixed:
- When they ask you what the problem is, you almost always end up having to make car noises to describe what's going on. Then, after you've earnestly mimicked the sounds your car was making with as much accuracy as possible, they look at you with a smile on their face and say, "can you do that again?" And you realize what you must have looked like and you feel like an idiot.
- My second complaint is more likely to happen when your dad or car-fixing-friend takes your car around to see what the problem is and suddenly your car is on its best behavior. This has happened to me many times. I'll tell my dad all about the problem and then he'll take it for a ride. When he gets back, he says, "it seems fine! I didn't notice anything wrong with it!" I mean, come on! Is my car playing some kind of joke on me!?
I just wish I'd paid attention all those times my dad tried to explain car terms to me. My mind is like a sieve when it comes to mechanics. He'd call me out to the car and tell me what he was doing and I'd nod and say, "oh ok!" or "so that's what the problem was!" But I never retained any of that information. Or for that matter, I never really listened in the first place. Sigh. I guess when I'm making car sounds to Dale tonight and he's listening with an amused look on his face, it will be my own fault. Well, I also partly blame my car. It really hope it's in a helpful mood tonight.
7 comments:
I had an old green Neon that I lovingly named "Frogger." Frogger was a pain in the neck. Loved to frustrate me by bursting air conditioning hoses and cracking head gaskets. And stalling, even tho it was not a manual transmission. I highly recommend learning about engines, changing an air filter, replacing a wiper blade, etc. It's a total ego boost! (Altho, I hear ya on the retaining part...I'm not so adept at that either!)
And PS: I'm outside in my car and it's raining...what are we going to do??
Thanks for commiserating with me about the cars!!
On to the other question...I was just thinking the same thing! I keep thinking the rain will pass. Are you outside my office? I'll call you in a second.
I'm in the basement. Who's gonna call me here?
Yeah, I think cars have a sick sense of humor and like to toy with you. They work all fine for other people, but for you they're like, "Ah, she didn't give me the kind of gas I like last time. She's getting some chugs and whines."
Hey, hope your car turned out okay!
I had a car that was rusted out and backfired all the time. I couldn't help but hum the theme from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when I drove it. The brakes went out while I was driving it after I had one of those "It's fine" experiences with my dad. Guess I showed him-haha!
so about a month and a half ago... my car officially... well.. i had to take her to the retirement home. Essie was a good girl. I knew she'd been having problems. I mean, she'd been coast to coast with me... we'd been together over 8 years... she had 175,000 miles or so on her. We were a team... And i thought the problem was just a belt... and then one day... I felt it coming and then an obnxiously loud noise commenced... The problem was not in fact the belt... it was a spark plug that had been working it's way out of one of the 4 cylinders. Thats right, Essie sounded like a lawn mower. With my 400-500 mile a week commute totals, we had to part our ways... Annie is the new car. She and I get along well... But i will always have fond memories of Essie...
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