Dude, where's my car?

Warning: the following blog entry is R-rated and may not be suitable for children.

Okay, I have about the MOST irritating saga to report to you about my company car...this is what I've been dealing with this week.

First to start off with, let me inform you that my Dodge Magnum is a TRUE piece of shit. Excuse my francais, but it really really is. I have had more problems with this car than my Honda, my Explorer and BOTH of the last two company cars I had...a Malibu and a Ford Contour. Since I got it brand-new last April, I've been in one accident with it, lost a rocker panel, had to have a recall done, and now...this latest slew of nonsense.

While I was on maternity leave, I noticed that my trunk stopped working. It won't open. This is a big problem for an adjuster that has to get a ladder in and out of the trunk. Everything else, I can reach by reaching from the backseat, but the ladder...no way. About the same time, I noticed that my rear wiper ceased to work. And then about a month ago, I got a notice about a recall...something about the car being able to roll backwards possibly while it was in park? It's all bad. At any rate, my boss nagged me and nagged me all week to take it in and I finally picked Thursday as the day to do this.

I went into the dealership (Huffine's of Plano, in case anyone out there is curious!) to drop it off bright and early (okay, 9:15 am) on Thursday morning. My thought was, I would just wait in the lobby and work quietly while they were fixing all this crap. The guy that waited on me, B, told me that the recall would take a few hours and the trunk and rear wiper repairs a few more hours after that since they had to find the parts. My oil change was due too, so he offered to do that as well as a courtesy since they can do work with our leasing company. I said fine and that I would not wait for it. Fortunately, a guy on my team happened to be at the dealer getting HIS piece of shit worked on as well, and his Magnum was ready, so he took me back to the office.

About 3 pm on Thursday, B calls me and informs me that they don't have the part for the trunk and can't get it in until the next day (today) and can they keep my Mag overnight? I said fine but that they needed to call me Friday afternoon when it was ready. After scrambling and making lots of phone calls, it was settled that P would leave work early, pick up the princess, and then come to the office to get me. The next morning, I got one of our office managers who lives about ten minutes away to come pick me up on his way to the office so I could sit there and work while I waited for the dealer to call me.

By 2 pm, I'm waiting and I get no call. I pick up the phone and call B. He says that they are working on my Mag and that he'll have to call me back. 2:30, he calls back to inform me that the rear wiper mechanism that they ordered is defective and that I'll have to bring the car back on Monday to have that installed. I sigh, but agree, and tell him that I need my car TODAY since I have no way to get home. He says that he'll call as soon as it's ready. I line up another person to take me to the dealership to pick up the car, who, by the way, is ready to leave at any moment.

By 3 pm, I have no call. I finally call him and leave him a voice mail to call me. He calls back at about 3:45 and says that the car will be ready in about fifteen minutes and that I can go ahead and come on over. I leave with the guy that is taking me over around 4:15 and by 4:41 I am standing in the lobby of Huffine's.

When I got there, I told the guy that dropped me off to go ahead and go since B had assured me that the car would be ready to go, and, for Pete's sake, it's not like the car is undrivable!!!

I walk in, and B is nowhere to be seen. One of the other service girls tells me to go to the cashier and they will check me out. I go up there, and this chick tells me to have a seat because they are writing my ticket. I get settled in the sitting room and start watching Oprah.

By 4:52, I am still sitting there. I walk up to the window again, and tell them that I am still waiting. By this time, I'm starting to get a tad annoyed. The guy tells me that they'll page B. I tell him I'm going back to the sitting room.

By 5:01, nothing. And did I forget to mention that my car is SITTING in the service bay area and has been for about ten minutes at this point? I walk up to the window and tell them I want my car and I want it NOW. The guy tells me that he was ready to check me out ten minutes ago but didn't know where I had gone since I just "stormed off". WTF? THEN, they proceed to tell me that I owe them $40. For what, I'd like to know, since the trunk repairs were under warranty, the recall was a recall, the wiper repair hadn't been done yet, and I had given them the coupon for my oil change!

Finally, B shows up and wants to know what's going on. I tell him that this is starting to be VERY inconvenient and that we have gone from a few hours to now a few days. He apologizes, informs me that he didn't even know I was there (again, WTF?!) and escorts me out to the car.

Here's where it gets interesting.

The first thing I do since I'm carting everything around with me but the kitchen sink (backpack with laptop, printer, cooler for food, purse, breast pump) is to go to the rear and try to open the trunk so I can put everything in it.

Would you believe that the trunk STILL DID NOT OPEN?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

And even more unbelievable, that guy actually tried to act like they had fixed it and he didn't understand why it wouldn't open.

I got so angry in the next moment that I can't remember exactly what I said to this guy, but it must have been pretty good because the next thing I know, he's escorting me to the Enterprise rental car office next door to put me in a rental car for the night. It's still undetermined exactly how long they will be paying for this rental since they CLAIM they will have the trunk fixed tomorrow, but I called my boss and he said that regardless of when they decide to stop paying for the car, he wants me to keep the rental car and my company will pay for it until Monday when all the repairs have been made.

And to add insult to injury, I get a van that has a quarter of a tank in it. I guess it was better than the alternative...a NEON.

Ugh. Those &%#$ #*$(%)@ *#%&%.

Anyway, we'll see what happens tomorrow when B is supposed to call me.

What can I say? I donated blood today, pumped FOUR TIMES at the office, worked an ungodly day, was tired, hungry, thirsty, missing the princess, and thoroughly irritated that instead of getting home around 5 like I hoped, I didn't get home until 6. Oh, and let's not forget that the Dallas Metroplex is under a winter weather advisory today and tonight, so not only was I dying to go home, I was freezing in my little Old Navy t-shirt and sweatshirt!!

One thing I can say is that those jerks at Huffine's are SO LUCKY that we were dealing with my company car and not my personal car or they really would have understood the meaning of the witching hour.

On a good note, we finally have conquered the milk debacle at school. After playing with the quantities and bottles all week, I finally discovered that the best thing that works (for now) is to send four four-ounce bottles with McKenna. I did that today, and she drank ALL of her milk and school did not toss any of it down the drain. Plus, I produced so much milk this week, I was seriously considering changing my name to Bessie and painting black and white spots on me. Every one of her boxes in the freezer is completely stocked, and pumping is not over yet for the day since the princess is snoring in her crib. She was so sleepy when we came home from dinner out that we just put her right in her crib without changing her since she is wearing a long-sleeved sweatshirt and warm pants anyway.

But I'm sure now that I have a plan for the milk bottles to send to school, McKenna will hit a growth spurt or something next week and throw me all out of whack again! Hey, keeps me on my toes.

Anyway, that's the scoop from today.

I HATE those men at Huffine's. Jerks!