A certain Anonymous fatherly figure of mine frequently inquires, "How's your car working?"
Lately the answer has been, "Not well."
A week ago Saturday Jason came home with a huge bolt in the front passenger side tire. When we tried to put on the spare, we discovered that we don't actually have a jack. Fortunately, some kind neighbors were willing to loan us theirs.
Monday morning I brought the tire into Walmart, fearing that it might have to be replaced. Much to our delight, they were able to patch it instead, saving us the cost of a new tire.
I meant to return to jack immediately, but forgot, which turned out to be really good thing because we blew out our rear tire completely while driving by the same Walmart on Wednesday. So much for not having to purchase a new tire! Worse yet, the tire blew while we were driving Jason to the airport, causing him to miss his flight. Oh, the trials of life!
True to form, unfortunate events always seem to come in threes. I swung by Walmart yet once more on Saturday morning following a morning jog. When I went to get back into the mini-van, the side door wouldn't open and was beeping. When I turned on the ignition, it was dead. I immediately went to phone Jason and discovered that my cell phone was dead too.
Pulling out the jumper cables, I flagged down a truck, but we couldn't get the van to start at all. Desperate, I went inside and found a payphone to try and get ahold of Jason. No luck. At a loss as to what to do, I called our emergency roadside service through Geico (since we've already used our AAA service twice recently) and asked them to send a tow truck. Immediately after, I managed to connect with Jason. He thought the problem really sounded like the battery, and recommended that I just buy one at Walmart instead of having the car towed.
And so, canceling the tow truck, I went down to the repair center (where I am now known as a regular customer.) The same man who removed the bolt kindly offered to drive his truck over and try once more to jump the car before putting in a new battery. He hooked her up, I turned on the ignition--nothing. Rechecked the connections--nothing. Then he asked if the car was in park. It wasn't.
Naturally, the mini-van then started up like a charm. Never even needed a jump. Oh, the depths of my shame! I was so embarrassed that I immediately went home and wrote "Dufus" on my forehead. At least I was smart enough to use washable marker, and no, I am not idiotic enough to post the photo here.
Lessons learned: put the car in park, always keep your phone charged, and stay far away from Walmart!
10 comments:
I have done that very thing. Glad it was quickly resolved:)
Oh man. No words suffice. Bad car, bad!
Oh, I laughed and laughed?! This is like right out of the comic strips and would make a great movie. Loved the way you shared it! Thanks for not being afraid to include us ... and if you think you're the only person who has ever done something like that, think again. Love you!
Don't worry ... I sometimes do the same ... not looking if the car is in park and starting to panic! And I had to jump-start the car at least 8 times the last 6 months ... my car is old and I have to move it every other day or the battery will not start on the third day. So I am not buying groceries for a whole week anymore ... because I need a reason to move the car every other day :)
In spite of it all, at least it was an easy fix and remedy. These are moments to look back on later and to get a good chuckle out of. We got the pleasure of chuckling now, however. And, yes, I think we've all experienced moments like those!
I seem to remember going through similar experiences many times in my life too. I got real creative? and wrote a poem regarding one week of total bedlam, called "the week before xmas"! Remind me to share that with you. I'm glad you're writing all these real life experiences down so you too can have some good laughs later in life!
the above post is really me - grandma Hansen
I'm sorry, how embarrassing! At least the car was fine (even if your ego was not). :)
That is so funny!! I could actually see myself doing that as well. Sometimes you get so rushed into getting something done that you forget to do the simple things. Going to walmart always seems like a nightmare - don't let my mother know I said that.
At least you didn't have it towed before realizing it wasn't in park!
-Bruce
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