Thursday, October 20, 2005
Bad Day
It was one of those days again. Two nights ago, the Check Engine Light came on in my car - you know the one - that one that means spend lots of money. I make an appointment with my favorite VW dealer for this morning. I drive in and tell them that the CEL is on and the door lock doesn't work correctly. One and half hours later I get the bill for $80 with the information that the CEL was on (probably because of a leaking valve) and the door lock doesn't work and will you kindly cough up another $500 to fix the problems. The $500 doesn't piss me off half as much as them charging me $80 to tell me that.
The dealer is about 16 miles away and I have to take Interstate 75 to get there. I've always heard that men are the most aggressive drivers, but I don't believe that for a minute. There are more than enough females who fit that profile now. I'm alledgedly doing 75 mph down the highway passing some slower cars and some hulking SUV camps on my back bumper. And who's driving? Some women with her ear stuck in her cellphone. I'm never surprised about the multiple vehicle crashed on freeways. You should look at I-75 in the summer - bumper to bumper heading north on Fridays and south on Sundays. One gets it and a dozen follow. There is often less than one car length between the two idiots heading for their weekend holiday pushing 80 mph and not even Jeff Gordon could react to a problem there.
And of course you have the 70 year-old gramma and grandpa in their 1998 Buick doing 60 mph while doing 75 puts you in the slow lane; the unshaven Moe Macho in his 1983 rust bucket F-150 with one arm hanging out the window, the other lighting his cigarette while his dog looks on in utter stupidity; the sportsman in his 2005 shiny F-350 pulling two personal water craft (noisy and obnoxious water craft at that) doing 85; and the three semi-trucks abreast that take 14 miles to pass each other at 68 mph while miles of other cars fume in the exhaust.
So, after all that, the parts are on order and I get to drive it all over again next week.
