I think it's an accurate gauge of how much I hate my job: Monday thru Friday, the alarm clock goes off at 6:06 AM (I get one \\snooz// before I HAVE to have to get up) and I am always, unfailingly, a ball of resentment, sticky eyeballs, and dread. Doesn't matter HOW early I crawled into the blankets the night before--I've tried going to bed at 8:00 PM, for god's sake--doesn't matter. I'm still pissed when it comes time to get up.
But it's Saturday morning at 5:30 and I'm up, wide awake, perky as a finch. Go figure.
Granted, I -did- go to bed early. Well, early-ish; I know it was at least 10 because I fixed dinner, watched the Busch race, switched back and forth between the post-race and the 9:00 news, and then read Chinua Achebe for at least half an hour. So it was at least 10:00. Then LJ came home around 2:45, and we were laying in bed talking when I heard a noise.
"Was that our gate?" I asked him. (He sleeps closer to the window.)
He had barely pulled back the blanket to get up and look when someone started banging on the door--Kenny.
"N***a, what the FUCK you doin' comin' bangin' on my door at 3:30 in the muthafuckin' morning???" I heard LJ say, and then Kenny said "Man, I just got back from the hospital!" So I knew there was a story there, and that LJ was going to want to hear it....
A couple hours later, when LJ came back to bed, he told me a big tree branch had fallen on Kenny's brother's car, over in Garfield Park--just flat out of the blue, no wind or rainstorm or lightning strike or anything. So all the guys that were there, in the car or around it, got taken to the hospital for x-rays and what-not. (Marcus and John were there, too--and apparently John already had his own lawyer, for reasons unrelated to branches or cars, and he was on the phone while they were in the ambulance. I guess it pays to be prepared....)
Anyway, LJ finally came back to bed, but by the time he fell asleep, I was wide awake...and since there's not too much to dread about this day, I figured I'd get up and just get it started. (I -do- have to go to Mom's today, though, so it's not going to be a picnic entirely....)
The car has some issues, we've discovered. Foremost among them is one HELL of a squeak coming from under the front wheel somewhere...not sure what it is, but it's gotta get fixed for SURE. The a/c doesn't work, the radio fucks up at high volumes, the power door locks don't work, and the "check engine" light is on constantly. And none of this would trouble me, but the day after we got it, I called the warranty company and was told "We don't cover pre-existing conditions." Sensible, yes--but no one had told me that when we BOUGHT the warranty. So the first thing I did was call LJ and wake him up--this was Thursday.
"Here's the deal. I have a call in to the car lot--but he's not in til 3, and when he calls me back I am going to tell him they have two choices exactly: either they fix everything that's wrong with this car, and I mean EVERYTHING--or we are going to bring it back and cancel everything, and take our money somewhere else. I am NOT going to get screwed again--that is simply NOT going to happen."
Well, LJ has never heard me be that vehement about anything before. He's seen me pissed--especially at my plumber, about whom more in a later post--but I've never had occasion to put my foot down like this yet. He decided that the best idea might be to humor the crazy woman, and so he said "That's cool--sure, we can take it back..." He said it in that wary tone peculiar to those who realize they are dealing with a maniac.
As I was waiting for the dealer to call back so I could issue my ultimatum, my office phone rang and Tracy, the assistant, said she had someone on the phone from Nationwide about my car loan. I found myself on the line with Irma, a very sweet older lady who listened to me rant for a couple of minutes, then told me "That's fine--we won't complete the contract til you call us back and tell us you're happy with the car and everything's fixed. I'll send it back to the buyer right now..."
Ten minutes later, the dealer called me, on his cell phone, from the auction. I was prepared for a battle, but apparently Irma at Nationwide Finance told him what was what, and he was willing to do whatever it took to calm me down (and to preserve his sale.) He told me to bring it back when the mechanic was there--he's on vacation til the end of next week--and they'll fix everything and even give me a loaner to drive while it's getting repaired. "But will you call over to Nationwide and let them know we settled everything?" he said. And I did, but they're still not gonna do anything til we're happy with the car.
This is the first time I've ever had a finance company HELP me. It's a new experience.
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