I stayed home from work sick and decided I needed to run to the store. I got there and when I tried to lock the car and it did not honk the way it normally does. I walked back to my car and tried to unlock the doors and the remote would not work, so I manually unlocked the car and tried to start it. Needless to say, nothing happened. I called Seth to come jump start my car and wandered the store until he got there from work. He got to the store where, luckily, there was a parking spot open next to me and tried to jump the car. After 20+ minutes the car still would not even click. I called the mechanic across the street and they said if I could get it to them they could look at the car. I was fiddling around in the car while Seth was fiddling around under the hood when suddenly the car alarm went off. We continued to jump the car, it started, and I drove it to the mechanics.
They were unable to look at it that night, so when I got a call on Saturday morning and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it I was quite surprised. They had tested the battery and alternator and found both to be in perfect working order. They had driven it into the garage Friday night and it started fine on Saturday morning. I asked them to look for a short in the wiring somewhere, maybe in the dash. I got a call a couple hours later saying they couldn't find anything, so I went and picked up the car. I drove it a couple times over the weekend and everything seemed to be in working order so I hoped it really was just a bizarre fluke.
Jump to Monday....I went to work in the morning like I normally would. Nothing exciting was happening so over lunch I decided to take my car to Jiffy Lube to get my oil changed. Normally this process takes about 20ish minutes so I have plenty of time to get it done and get back to work without any trouble. I pulled up to the shop, they pulled my car in and tested all my lights, and then proceeded to change my oil. When they were done they told me I could drive it out of the garage....and once again it would not start. No click, no chug.....absolutely nothing.
I tell them what had happened before and they decided to tell me they thought it was my starter. I tried to tell them differently but they insisted that this was the issue. They said that if you hit one with a wrench it would help it turn over....and then proceeded to take off the engine cover. I quickly realized that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing, so I called a tow truck to have them come get my car and take me to a real mechanic. Keep in mind, by this point my lunch hour has come and gone. I have let my co-workers and my boss know and luckily they were not terribly upset by my random disappearance.
We decided to push the car out of their garage to the parking lot in an effort to get it out of the way. There was a young girl working there as well so we put her behind the wheel of the car. She steered the car out of the door and then got out of the car, leaving the keys in the ignition. I walked around from the back of the car to the driver's door and watched as she tried to use the automatic lock on the car door. It obviously didn't work since the car battery was dead. As I approached I watched her reach out and lock the door manually....and in slow motion I stuck my hand out and yelled stop.....she proceeded to slam the door with my hand in it. She looked at me like I was an idiot and says "What? The door wouldn't lock!" I then looked at her and finally lost my temper. My response is "Well it didn't lock because the battery was dead. Luckily though I stopped the door because the keys are in the ignition, you dumbass." She rolled her eyes and walked off. I crawled into my car and hid there until the tow truck came in an effort to keep myself from yelling at more people.
The tow truck came, and the man climbed out of his truck and popped the hood of the car so he could hook up a battery charger so we could get it in neutral to move the car onto the trailer. As soon as he put the key in the ignition the door alarm starting dinging and the inside lights came on. Needless to say, my head almost exploded at that point. He looked at me funny and asked if I wanted to try to start it. I told him that I wanted to take it to the mechanic anyway and that we may as well haul it since he was already there, so we loaded my car up on the trailer and rode off into the sunset to the mechanical rescue....or something like that. In reality I pulled up to the Husker friendly depot and explained my issues to them. They even thought the problem was incredibly bizarre but promised to get it taken care of so I could make the 60 mile drive home. It was then that I told my boss that I would not be returning to work that day. Suddenly my 20 minute oil change over lunch ended up with me missing 4 hours of work. *sigh*
Anyway, I was fortunate enough to have Jaime come stalk me for a while to keep me company and eventually they found the electrical problem that was causing all of my issues (OH DO I HOPE!!). They got them repaired for what I think is a reasonable price. Of course all of the phone calls of them I had made throughout the day (to Seth, my step-dad, the tow truck, work, the mechanic, etc. etc.) were made standing outside so that the lovely patrons of the different business wouldn't have to hear my incredibly graphic language or the death threats upon the idiots that had previously looked at my car, or my random anger at my car and provoked thoughts of trading the thing in. By the time I got home I was FREEZING. Sitting in my car, wearing my coat, and blasting the heater just could not take that chill off (I guess standing outside for 3 hours in January in Nebraska will do that to ya). I quite literally ate a piece of pizza for supper, grabbed a blanket and pillow off my bed, and then curled up on the floor next to the space heater to try to warm up. Seth watched the kiddo while I slept off some of my stress. I woke up long enough to chat with the boys for a little bit, take a shower, and then went and crawled right back into bed.
Luckily I woke up this morning and most of the troubles seemed to have subsided. I walked into the bathroom, ready to face the day. Unfortunately what I saw looking back at me was this:
My first and only thought: OH Damn....How the hell am I supposed to fix this?? At least it turned out to be a much better day than Monday was.
No comments:
Post a Comment