A large group of fresh pizza’s just got delivered to the car dealer.  I have not had lunch today.  It is pouring down rain outside.   I could get to the mall across the street if I were daring enough to cross eight lanes of horrifying traffic to do so, in which case I’d probably be swept away by a flash flood or hit by a car.  Both would probably make me forget the fact that I’m about to get taken to the cleaners with my car, so I’m not ruling it out.  The polite thing to do in this situation that would give me a little hope, would be for one of these 20 men in the room to come offer me a slice of pizza since I’m about to fork over my life savings so that my car won’t officially die on me.  It has yet to happen, thus the lack-of-food headache I am beginning to feel is about to get worse.

I somehow always end up taking my car to the dealer, though they are the place that royally screwed me over when I first bought my car.  So they have changed locations and not a single person who used to work here still remains, but at the root of it…it is still a dealership.  Still a place where trust between the customer and the service desk is non-existant.  If only my poor car didn’t start making a sound that instinctively made me know I had no other choice, and that 123,000 miles in four years has finally caught up to my pocket book.

The sun is now shining.  ha.  Pop up down pour and now the sun is reflecting off the beads of water that are saturating all the windows and the cars.  Still, no one has offered me a slice of pizza.  Granted, there are a ton of people working today & the only people I feel for at all are the service men who are sweating their brains out while working on the line of cars in the service lane.  My car is now 3rd in line.  I know that when they finally run the diagnostic, they will tell me all the things that are wrong, just as they did last time I got my oil changed and two new tires.  There is a tiny leak in the power steering, they could fix that for just under $500.  My timing belt needs replaced because it’s hit over 100k miles, and if I wait too long, my AC could go out (which it did about 4 weekends ago just as it started to get insanely hot for summer) – but don’t worry, I have a coupon for a whopping $35 off a $495 job.  My check engine light has been on for about a year.  Each time my brother checks it, the reading mentions something about a catalyst system having low pressure.  You want to guess what a catalytic converter would cost?

You know, I thought buying a car was a good idea & it has definitely been wonderful for the last four years…with the exception that because of how much I have to drive, I end up forking over $500 to $1,000 every year on what was a brand new vehicle.  When all is said and done….this beautiful mid-size SUV has been just a mid-size money pit.  And the work that needs to be done is always “labor intensive” so all that means to be is more $$$$$.

Still no pizza.  However, the last time I was in here, I met this nice salesman, Jim.  Older, retired gentlemam who used to work for the railroad & receives a nice pension from that each month.  He’s just in here selling cars for something to do.  I’d probably buy one from him if I were to ever go through that again.  He seems trustworthy.  He also remembered me from the last time I was in & has come over to say hello, passing time with small talk.  He even seems to care about my experience while I’m here & said he’ll check on my car in about ten minutes.  Apparently, 3rd in line meant first….they’ve gotten my car from the back of the line in.  The service center lady said she’d try – looks like she did.  The diagnostic is going to run me $89, and they will surely tell me that my timing belt is about to die & that I’ll probably have to leave it here over night.

It is a little sad to think that I still try to find hope and the best in people, when I know I’m just here to hand over my purse/wallet at the end of my time here.  Still, all things happen for a reason and the timing is generally weaved quite nicely from the Lord.  Here’s to hoping I don’t start crying when they tell me all that needs fixed & that I have enough to cover the damage.

My laptop battery & my cell phone battery are about to die soon.  Not unlike my car.  Thankfully with both of them, all I need is a recharge, free of charge.