Dec 21, 2005 20:38
Well a short trip 2 miles up the road to the land of wal-mart to get a simple oil change turned into a test of my willpower not to maim the employees and generally wreak havock among the masses. One thing to know about me first is I have been working on cars for half of my life, I used to help my dad change out engines and general maintence has never been an issue with me. Hell I would rather have changed the oil out myself to make sure it was done right at the house, but it is cold (December, hello) and I have no garage, and some jackass took a bunch of my tools.
Anyway, we arrive at the store at about 3:45 go inside, get all signed up, give them my cell number in case of any trouble, the key to the car, and go to take care of a few other things we needed to get, like engine restorer that I use every time that I change the oil (precautionary measure). well after about 20 minutes there was apparently a bomb threat to the store, so they had to evacute everyone and so out we went. We decided to walk over to best buy, not to far away, and wandered around there for about half an hour until the store was opened back up. so we wandered back to the automotive section after doing a bit more shopping to regrab the things we had to leave behind when we were evacuated.
We get to the auto center and find that our car is the only one left outside of the garage. All the cars that were around ours before were in the garage being worked on, so I asked what the hold up was...they could not find the key. Which as it turned out was in the ignition. So...then they cannot start it, which it has a few problems, but anyone who knows anything about cars could figure it out...hell a breain dead lab monkey could figure it out, alas, we were not dealing with anything that smart. they finnaly get it, but tell us it will be at least a half hour becuase of the problem from earlier and they are a very limited staff. Though I wonder why they did not call me to ask for the key when they lost it, instead of shunting us to the back to the line.
well, we wander over to McDonalds and split a 10 piece nugget becasue we were nibbly, then wander some more and finnaly come back about 45 minutes later and loe and behold the car is actually in the shop...so we wander for another 10 minutes or so and when we get back to the auto dept a little after 6:30 they say it is all finished...Thank you sooooo much.
We checked out, with the few things including the engine restorer and head over to the nearest gas station to fill it up and let me add the heat (cold weather and december again) and to add the restoring stuff. I always check the oil right after it is changed just to make sure it is done right and oddly enough, it was still almost black and sludgy and burnt smelling...so guess where we had to go back too....ACK.
Go back in, go to customer service, they call the manager and we have to wander back to talk to the auto people again...which would not be so bad but these people are grotesque...hell the man looked like he had not seen a toothbrush in 7 or 8 years *cringe* then he proceeds to attemt to convince us that if you do not change your oil often enough it will still be black and smell even when it is new...when I said we had just done it 3 months ago he said that was how it was on his truck...bullshit. as I said, I work on cars all the damned time and have never seen fresh oil that fucked up.
Well finnaly the manager told them outright to fix it, so we waited while a spot opened up in the garage and they brought it in and looked at it and said that valvoline (my choice brand) was always darker and that was the problem...yeah but it is not sludgy and gritty...so after arguing for a good 10 minutes they finnaly changed it, while I stood there and glowered and watched to make sure no one did anything spiteful. Eric then grabbed the reciept again so I could get some more auto stuff before we left and I met him outside within 5 minutes...it was a few minutes till 8 by that point.
And I now know I have more willpower that I had originally thought. I would like to thank my lover for helping me not get arrested by being able to be civil to people who were acting like he did not know his ass from a hole in the ground when it came to cars. I would like to thank him for not allowing me to drag someone over the counter and smash their head in for acting like I know nothing about cars, but thankfully it is all done now.
And tommarow, I get to recheck all the stuff to make sure they did not leave any loose bolts to be assholes...oh dear lord help them if they did, becuase I would love to pull someones still beating heart out after this...no, kandlin is safe, he is my snuggly that keeps me sane, but employees of the waltons...yeah I could shitslap a few of them right now.