Car shopping, week 1
My boss at Blue Star tells me this afternoon after our staff meeting, "This isn't my way of trying to push you out of working here... but I don't have any shifts for you next week. I mean, you're the one with the most limited schedule, and we also don't need as many servers on the floor." *sigh*
I feel like I've been constantly on the go this week and the idea of a less frantic next week is appealing, but winter is around the corner and the only thing that's going to keep me sane is having a LOT of work to keep me busy. And making money. I was kind of counting on doubling up the jobs..... Hmm.. He did tell me he wants to keep me on, so I simply asked that I get at least one shift a week. I think that's fair. I've been getting a crapload of hours at the Rose so it's not like I'm destitute, I was just hoping to juggle the two jobs and get a little more balance to my days that way (I only work nights at the Rose).
Anyway, I worked a 14 hour day Monday, 10 hours on Tuesday, and closed at the Rose again last night. I also met my friend Dean for coffee in the morning (he's in town from Turkey) and then went car shopping with Jade all afternoon, and for another 4 hours today.
Car shopping is exhausting.
There are 5 bajillion vehicles on the market and despite my best research efforts it's still mind-boggling. I just want to be able to tell someone what I want and my price range, and have it magically appear before me. The other fun thing is car salesmen. Half of them can't even be bothered looking me in the eye, the other half perfunctorily answer my questions but go to no effort otherwise. I WANT A CAR. Am I mistaken in my belief that it's their job to try and SELL said cars?? As far as I'm concerned they should be jumping at the chance to make a sale. Convince me that your cars are the best, seriously, I'm extremely susceptible to suggestion. Extremely.
But the ONLY salesman who even remotely went out of his way to attempt to sell me a car was a gentleman named John who we met at our last stop this afternoon. He works at a Toyota dealership. I took the Matrix out for a spin, and was bored senseless. "Yeah, you've got a bit of fire, I kind of figured you'd be after something with a bit more personality." So he walked us through the entire lot and pointed out a bunch of vehicles in my price range that he thought I might like. I ended up driving a 2007 Volvo V50, which wasn't even on my list of options, but it was a sweet ride. Super gutsy, lots of space, really comfortable. But it's older than I'd like, fuel consumption is average, not great, and apparently repairs on it can get pricey.
I like the Subaru Impreza, and heaven knows the AWD would be glorious during the long, horrid winter, but with the tsunami in Japan there's almost no new stock available. They had one, used 2010 model with the specifications I wanted. I liked it, but don't think I loved it.
The Mazda 3 Sport is super sexy and was fun to drive. I liked the console and all the sweet options. I found visibility kind of frustrating, but it was punchy and felt good. It's pricier than I'd like, but I can finance it for the price/month that works for me. It just means I'll be paying it off for the next 8 years. Ouch. Apparently the fuel consumption isn't great on it. Not terrible, but not great, although I think that's going to be the price to pay (literally) for a better engine.
My head is about to explode, with all these manuals and numbers... and even with the Mazda 3 Sport I still have about 15 different options for packages and add ons, etc. etc.
Phew.
So Tuesday I got finished work at the Diner a little earlier than expected, so I took Bad Jack home to our freshly vacated car port, and vacuumed him out. Now he's all shiny and clean and lovely, ready to be inspected and passed on to a new owner. Except while I was cleaning, the Shop Vac I was using was spewing out this chalky white powder, which stuck to all the vinyl, the windows, and the frame of the car. Argh. Then while mopping up the annoying chalky dust I ripped a previous wound on my finger open and it insisted on bleeding excessively for ages. And while my finger was bleeding I had a sudden realization and practically ran to the bathroom to confirm that my finger wasn't the only thing bleeding excessively. So Annoying. And then to top it all off, a cold sore the size of Texas appeared out of nowhere, taking up residence on most of my lower lip, and a good area of real estate underneath it as well. I can't believe I lived 29 years cold sore free, it makes me VIOLENTLY ANGRY every single time I get one now.
Tuesday was NOT my friend.
Maclean gets back into town in about an hour. I haven't done the paperwork at the Rose, or anything at all for Business Edge. I feel overwhelmed and underproductive.
This was a boring post.
I feel like I've been constantly on the go this week and the idea of a less frantic next week is appealing, but winter is around the corner and the only thing that's going to keep me sane is having a LOT of work to keep me busy. And making money. I was kind of counting on doubling up the jobs..... Hmm.. He did tell me he wants to keep me on, so I simply asked that I get at least one shift a week. I think that's fair. I've been getting a crapload of hours at the Rose so it's not like I'm destitute, I was just hoping to juggle the two jobs and get a little more balance to my days that way (I only work nights at the Rose).
Anyway, I worked a 14 hour day Monday, 10 hours on Tuesday, and closed at the Rose again last night. I also met my friend Dean for coffee in the morning (he's in town from Turkey) and then went car shopping with Jade all afternoon, and for another 4 hours today.
Car shopping is exhausting.
There are 5 bajillion vehicles on the market and despite my best research efforts it's still mind-boggling. I just want to be able to tell someone what I want and my price range, and have it magically appear before me. The other fun thing is car salesmen. Half of them can't even be bothered looking me in the eye, the other half perfunctorily answer my questions but go to no effort otherwise. I WANT A CAR. Am I mistaken in my belief that it's their job to try and SELL said cars?? As far as I'm concerned they should be jumping at the chance to make a sale. Convince me that your cars are the best, seriously, I'm extremely susceptible to suggestion. Extremely.
But the ONLY salesman who even remotely went out of his way to attempt to sell me a car was a gentleman named John who we met at our last stop this afternoon. He works at a Toyota dealership. I took the Matrix out for a spin, and was bored senseless. "Yeah, you've got a bit of fire, I kind of figured you'd be after something with a bit more personality." So he walked us through the entire lot and pointed out a bunch of vehicles in my price range that he thought I might like. I ended up driving a 2007 Volvo V50, which wasn't even on my list of options, but it was a sweet ride. Super gutsy, lots of space, really comfortable. But it's older than I'd like, fuel consumption is average, not great, and apparently repairs on it can get pricey.
I like the Subaru Impreza, and heaven knows the AWD would be glorious during the long, horrid winter, but with the tsunami in Japan there's almost no new stock available. They had one, used 2010 model with the specifications I wanted. I liked it, but don't think I loved it.
The Mazda 3 Sport is super sexy and was fun to drive. I liked the console and all the sweet options. I found visibility kind of frustrating, but it was punchy and felt good. It's pricier than I'd like, but I can finance it for the price/month that works for me. It just means I'll be paying it off for the next 8 years. Ouch. Apparently the fuel consumption isn't great on it. Not terrible, but not great, although I think that's going to be the price to pay (literally) for a better engine.
My head is about to explode, with all these manuals and numbers... and even with the Mazda 3 Sport I still have about 15 different options for packages and add ons, etc. etc.
Phew.
So Tuesday I got finished work at the Diner a little earlier than expected, so I took Bad Jack home to our freshly vacated car port, and vacuumed him out. Now he's all shiny and clean and lovely, ready to be inspected and passed on to a new owner. Except while I was cleaning, the Shop Vac I was using was spewing out this chalky white powder, which stuck to all the vinyl, the windows, and the frame of the car. Argh. Then while mopping up the annoying chalky dust I ripped a previous wound on my finger open and it insisted on bleeding excessively for ages. And while my finger was bleeding I had a sudden realization and practically ran to the bathroom to confirm that my finger wasn't the only thing bleeding excessively. So Annoying. And then to top it all off, a cold sore the size of Texas appeared out of nowhere, taking up residence on most of my lower lip, and a good area of real estate underneath it as well. I can't believe I lived 29 years cold sore free, it makes me VIOLENTLY ANGRY every single time I get one now.
Tuesday was NOT my friend.
Maclean gets back into town in about an hour. I haven't done the paperwork at the Rose, or anything at all for Business Edge. I feel overwhelmed and underproductive.
This was a boring post.