"No brakes, it's true"
So just how tired am I? Extremely. Why? Not sure. I didn't do a damn thing yesterday except watch BBC America.
I finally got my brakes fixed on my car this past Saturday though. It didn't go as well as I hoped it would, but they were fixed anyway...$927.00 and FOUR HOURS later. Not exactly my idea as a fun filled Saturday.
I had to sit there and listen to Hurricane Rita coverage for four hours straight and make awkward conversation with this man who was one of those "truck guys". You know them, you see them driving down the road and think to yourself, "why the fuck do you need a truck that big?" They talk about diesel engines and how many miles they can get out of it.
"You know, I can go from 0mph to 65mph in three seconds. Ain't that somthing?"
I force a small smile but don't say anything and quickly turn away.
"My brother just bought his new truck two weeks ago. Makes my dad's look like a toy." He laughs at his non-funny joke.
I don't smile. I just look, get up, grab the new Cosmopolitan magazine and quickly educate myself on this year's fall hair styles.
Joe, the nice mechanic who was more than happy to charge me $927.00, would come in every so often and tell me the status of my car and the shitty state that my brakes were in. He took his job very seriously and wouldn't joke around about cars, so my comment about "buying a new pair of shoes for my little one," seemed inappropriate. Joe didn't make me feel like a good car care taker. He made me feel like I was one of those abusive parents that locks their children in the bathroom for three days because they didn't eat all of their dinner.
He brought in parts off of my car and showed me the actual shitty-ness and let me tell you, it looked like shit. He then explained that the reason my car would squeal when I was driving and not when I would brake is because somehow, the brake started going in at an angle and wouldn't go all the way back up vertically. It just remained "cock-eyed," and that just sounded scary.
I told Joe, "please, do anything that you have to in order to fix my car. I normally don't let things like this happen, but everybody makes mistakes." I think he understood where I was coming from and put two of his mechanics to work on my car at the same time.
I paced back and forth. I sat and watched her from the waiting room. It was painful for me to see all of this happening to my first baby. She was suspended up in the air and there they were, drilling, screwing and turning things every which way giving her a new set of front and back brakes.
Eventually though, they lowered her to the ground, gave her a quick test drive and then returned my keys to me while I was paying. Joe gave me a nice little envelope to keep all of my papers in and went over everything and even gave me a lifetime supply of brakes. It's these little coupons that will save me $70.00 everytime something like this happens and they'll keep on re-newing them for as long as I use Midas. I waved good bye to all of the mechanics whom I got to know on a first name basis (Jason, Joe, Emar, Bernard, Ron, and Trevor), and drove off to meet Mendy for dinner.
It was a shock to the system, no doubt. I'm just really glad that I was paid the day before.