Transportation Woes

Last week, my car started doing strange things. I took it to Saturn and had to drive around with a technician. This was slightly unnerving. I always feel as though my passengers are judging my driving. I don't feel I'm a poor driver; I just don't usually have an audience. On this co-piloted drive, of course, my car was behaving perfectly. I went on my merry way, stupidly optimistic that the problems would subside on their own. Saturday, I took it in for a routine oil change. In the 3 days prior, it seemed my problems had indeed gone away on their own. Fingers crossed anyway.

Forward to Monday and my darn Check Engine light comes on. I was disheartened at first but knowing that my car probably wouldn't have righted itself, I was glad that they now had something concrete to look at. I took it in today after work knowing full well that it costs $86 just for them to hook my boy Blue (that's my car) up to their handy machine that tells you why your lights come on.

I hadn't heard anything by the time I was supposed to so John called my new buddy Dale over at Saturn. I hate cars and I'm also car stupid. John's not a whole lot better in this area but he agreed to call and check on it anyway. He also deals with the unpleasant money situations in this marriage. He already knew he would be fielding the call about the bill for this service because if it was over $500 (my hopeful amount) there's a good chance I would start crying. I'm not usually a big crier but I will confess an embarrassing story. One time when I was younger, too young to be driving or have credit, I went to pick up some pictures I had developed at Drug Mart. For some reason, they were way more than I thought they were going to be and I didn't have enough money. I started crying in Drug Mart. I had to leave and ask my dad for more money. He had been waiting in the car for me. I'm pretty sure he laughed at my misfortune and sorrows. I can't really remember as it was quite some time ago. Thus, why I don't deal with unpleasant money situations.

I digress.

The whole blasted point is: it's now almost 9:00 pm and an hour ago, after they had been looking at Blue for 3 hours, they still didn't know the crux of the problem. They know it is transmission related, not a cheap fix, but can't say for sure how to repair it. THIS IS YOUR JOB, Saturn Technicians. You work on the same models of cars all day long. There are only so many issues that can possibly arise. They're keeping Blue overnight, and there's a good chance they'll also have to wait a few days for parts. Eff it. This sucks.