Ahhhh

This morning, my cell phone rang. It was the infamous dude from the car dealer - you know the one who didn't want to bother me with technical details. It seems that my car was ready. On Friday. WTF????? Didn't I get the message from them, he 'innocently' asked. Uhm, no I did not.

I called him on Friday. Not once, but about 5 times trying to get an update. I left him voice mail messages. He claims to have been surprised by my message when he got to work this morning. The story is that he was 'ill' on Friday and went home early. (Inconsistency #1 - He sounded fine when he left me a voice mail message asking me to 'call him back'. Wouldn't you mention an alternative contact if you were going to leave early because you felt like cr@p?)

His went on to claim that "Tom" called me to let me know my car was ready. I asked him what number they called because my cell phone never rang nor did my home number. He assured me that when I got to work, I would find the message from them about my car. I guess he didn't count on technology biting him in the behind. (Inconsistency #2 - We have this fancy thing called a 'call log' which records the time, date and name of every missed call. The last call from them was on Wednesday at 1:32 pm) I let him know that I specifically asked them to contact me on cell phone and that I wasn't at work for the past 3 days because I didn't have a car to get to and from work with.

He pretty much knew at that point he was busted and quickly made his exit off the phone. I wanted to wring his neck but I had to get ready for work. I decided to run over at lunch and pick up the keys. Of course, Mr. Inconsistency was no where to be found. I paid the bill (I did ask them to do some non-warranty work) and left.

I do have to admit that it stayed in 6th gear the entire time I was on the highway - yeah! I guess the brakes had been messed up for a long time because they definitely feel different - very smooth! The clunking noise that they claimed they couldn't find? I heard it at least 4 times on my way home and I still claim it is not normal. Did I mention that they fixed my tire? I knew there was a slow leak in one of my tires and apparently they put a plug in to fix the problem. However, they charged me $10 to do this and I have a tire hazard warranty from Dobb's. So they did me a $10 favor and never asked me if I wanted it fixed or not. It is obvious that the tires are not OEM equipment and have been replaced recently, but not one word was ever said to me about the issue.

It wasn't all bad news, I noticed that they used one of the coupons that I received in the mail. I looked through the remaining coupons and figured out that they used the "Student, Military, Senior Citizen" coupon. I'm not sure which one he classified me as, but I guess that was $45 less than I had to spend. I will never use this dealer again (psst, it rhymes with 'you lose'). Time to start shopping!

Rumbling

As much as I want to blame my recent yearning on my inner child, I think it is more likely the beginning of a mid-life crisis. Over the past few days, I have encountered various forms of loud, rumbling muscle cars. Some new, some are classics, but the ones that catch my attention all have one thing in common - these puppies *growl* when you step on the gas.

I guess my love affair with grumbling engines started years ago. My dad had a growling truck that you could hear blocks away. It sounded so cool when you stepped on the gas (not that he was a stompin' on the gas kind of driver). I loved borrowing the truck just because of the way it sounded!

I know that the noise just attracts more attention to yourself - which isn't always a good thing. But, yet I want one! I know that to be cool, the growler probably won't have 4 doors, which is kind of a necessity. But I still feel the need! I know that trunk space might not be the most important feature, still I might be willing to overlook that fact for the sheer noise factor!

Mr. Monkeygirl claims that if I buy a muscle car, I will be driving his truck. Of course my counter is "she who makes the car payments, wins!" I know this is impractical. I know there is nothing wrong with my current car. I know as soon as I drive it once in the ice and snow, I will regret it. I know I shouldn't even think about it.

But a girl can have a *growling* dream - right??