Thursday afternoon I made an appointment. I went in. And the first thing I noticed, while the service tech was dealing with an old guy who was borrowing the loaner of The Mechanic Around The Corner, is that no one was wearing a mask. Not the service tech, not this old guy, not the cashier. No one. Fuck. (This is the first "No" in the title of the blog post.) I did not want to be confronted with ... such an issue. I thought about backing out, but that would not have done me any good. Nevertheless, the anxiety of being trapped with no one giving two shits about contracting the coronavirus "encouraged" me to wait outside. Thank goodness the sun was shining, otherwise ten degrees would have felt exactly like ten degrees. (Oh, I also thought about picking up Kentucky Fried Chicken, for which I had a coupon that expired that day, before going to the repair shop, but I thought I shouldn't be late. Turns out that was the smart thing; I was going to eat it inside, but I sure as hell wasn't going to do that if a bunch of fucking anti-maskers.)
What was worse was that it took about an hour from the time I got to the shop before I could leave (second "No"). That wouldn't be a bad thing, except that this issue -- unless they, like, tore the entire valve off of the tire and I needed to get a new one -- should have taken only a half-hour. I think the service tech said that they didn't have a bay open for a while because, I guess, they got backed up or something.
The good news was that as soon as a bay did get open and they drove my car in to look at the valve stem core thingamabobber, I think it took ten minutes for them to see that it was bent, to take out the valve stem core, and replace it with one that the tech said was bigger but would seal to ensure that the tire sensor would not be set off. The tech threw it in the trash, but he fished it out for me to see that the notch indeed was bent, probably from the air hose I clamped on it on Monday. Moreover, it was $15. He said that if I went somewhere else, I'd be charged $100 for a brand new sensor. I believe them. They're anti-maskers, but I believe them. (The "Yay.")
So I pay. And I give the cashier a coupon I got, knocking off ten bucks for any repair. But then she's all, "Nope!" and I go, what do you mean, and she (third "No") ... well, I don't know what she fuckin' said. I think she just continued to say no. And I had no idea what to do because she kind of had me over a barrel. I mean, I couldn't just walk out without paying. And so what if it's only fifteen bucks? These fucking people send me coupons all the time, and now that I want to use one, I can't use it? Then don't fucking send me your junk mail anymore! And I checked the coupon Friday night in case there was a reason I couldn't use it, but there wasn't. Should've paid only five bucks for that, goddammit. ...
Oh -- while I was waiting, I bought MegaMillions tickets for my sister, and I used the winnings from a previous MegaMillions drawing I bought for her to defray the cost of this one. And I swear to fucking God, I can't find it. I don't know where the hell it is. And now I figure that this cashier is a bitch who secretly thinks she's better than me because I was wearing a mask and she wasn't. And so I think I left the tickets I bought on the counter, and she didn't bother even telling me that I forgot. That's how much she loathes me. Isn't it obvious?
I thought about going on Yelp to complain about all I encountered and saw at The Mechanic Around The Corner. I might wait to make sure they don't know it's me. But I'm still thinking about it. And in the meantime I'll need to get tested once again. And I'll need to find this goddamn lottery ticket.
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