unsolicited advice

[gotami]

I spent a little time in a lovely coffee shop yesterday morning. I was checking my email and trying to get assistance with my truck, which was being stubborn about oil related things. I sat down in one of the few tables that were open, I seemed to have stepped in at a peak moment in business. Thankfully a table in back has opened up, so I thought I had a very nice little hiding place because I had wall to two sides. I sat down with my chai, set up my laptop and made a phone call to the nice people at the Ford Dealership. Now, I'm not generally big on dealerships and I didn't even buy my truck there, but my dad had recommended them for getting my truck tuned up a while back and they were so nice and pleasant during that, I had chanced to use them again when my truck's check engine light kept coming on after I had it smogged. When I explained that problem to Al (the nice guy who seems to be the head of the service department) he had me bring my truck over and fixed the problem by putting a small cap back on a small valve. He charged me nothing for this, and I have since felt that calling him is a very viable option. So, I put in a call and had to leave a message as no one was picking up the phone in the service department at the time. This done I turned back to my chai and my computer, only to be interrupted by the guy at the table next to mine. Apparently he needed to weigh in on the subject. Of course, all he ended up telling me was that I was doing the right thing. Perhaps a validation someone else might have needed, but not one I was desperately looking for. I was here to be useful on my computer while not driving my truck around while the check oil light was persistently glaring at me. I know that this is the right thing to do. But this man, who told me himself that he is not a mechanic, talked to me in a very slow voice and imparted nothing of use. He mentioned the oil pump which was vaguely interesting, expect that from my observations all of the oil was at a very high point in my truck, which would suggest to me that the oil pump is working just fine as usually these things flow downward and not upward. My truck is not that talented. Still, this man explained that there is this device called a water pump and sometimes in vehicles there is also a pump, like the one for water, only it's for oil. Ah yes, the very rare and hard to find oil pump. Nope, never heard of one of those. Just the dumb pretty girl in desperate need of rescue here and clearly you're up for the job.

Okay, stopping the rant about one annoying old enough to be my father guy to mention that I have just been leered at by another one. I think that's happened at least three times today. Sometimes it's nice not to be seen. Nice to be ignored. Nice to be left the hell alone.

Have I mentioned that I'm recovering from disease and therefore am some what cranky?

Anyway, back to moron number whatever (if I actually kept count I would be in the thousands by now)... so, this guy kept talking really slowly and repeating himself and not being helpful in anyway for a good ten minutes I swear. All the while I am waiting for my call to be returned. Finally he decides that he needs to go to the bathroom and get on with his life. Information that has to be shared with me, of course. What would I ever do without that priceless gem? Then he proceeds to not move for another minute or two, while I'm still desperately trying to spend just a little time with my computer and he's still droning. I love that coffee shop, but that was scarring, tonight I sit in the shop's sister store and originator across town, unmolested. Then again, the nice barrista girl managed to completely forget about the lasagna that she was warming up for me so I finally had to go ask for it. Sigh.