(no subject)
Sometimes the worst part of being a textbook Gemini is the ability to simultaneously experience "Fight" AND "Flight" instinct.
So yes. I scraped up enough money and finally tracked down a competent mechanic to fix the ignition problem with my 1989 Saab Turbo. It's our second car, bought only as a work vehicle for me. I spent 800 dollars on it. The ignition broke, and the vehicle is un-startable, so my brother and I pushed it up and parked it off the street in front of our shitty little garage. It has been sitting there for a few months.
In the beginning of December, I knew that B was coming back from D.C. and I asked the mechanic across the street to take a look at it. He forgot three times, which basically burned up about two and a half weeks. Then he finally DID look at it and said he needed to order a part. After a week and a half of searching with no success, he gave up on it. But he DID find a guy in Minneapolis who works on nothing but Saabs, so he gave me the guy's number. This all brings me to last Thursday.
Last Thursday I called AAA and arranged to have my ailing Saab towed to the newfound mechanic, who was expecting the vehicle that day. Guy shows up, confirms the destination address with me, and we talk about what it's going to take to get it fixed. Basically just guy bullshit while he strapped up the car. But I DID mention that the mechanic ran a little shop, and that he was expecting the car.
Now, the car doesn't run. It needs to be dropped in a location where my mechanic can do his dirty work. Any sane and competent human being would enter the Mechanic's shop, speak to him about the expected vehicle, and ask him where he wanted it. I think. I don't know for certain, because all too often I just don't seem to understand the way the REST of the world function.
Fast forward to Monday.
I call the shop to see how progress is going on my vehicle, and to get a ball-park estimate. The mechanic never received the car. He said he spotted a black Saab down the street, and briefly wondered about it, but got distracted on a project. This disturbs me. So after I get off of work, I drive across town to the mechanic and begin the search. Tow-truck driver (who shall heretofore be referred to as "Retard") dropped the car a block away from the mechanic. On a city street. With all the voodoo parking restrictions inherent to a Twin Cities city street. Retard never talked to the mechanic, who was there all day, and dropped my car on a city street a block away from the shop.
I call AAA. I explain what happened, and they offer to have another tow company come out and tow the vehicle the BLOCK it needs to go to get into mechanic's workspace. Problem is, they insist that I have to leave work to drive across town (during morning rush-hour, mind you), because the person who holds the AAA card HAS TO BE THERE when tow-truck arrives. This "solution" will cost me more money in lost wages than the 40 bucks it would take for my mechanic to call a different tow-company and move it into his shop. I call mechanic and tell him to go ahead... arrange for the tow, and I'll try to get the money out of AAA at a later date. I consider the matter closed and wait for a call saying my vehicle is ready.
This Morning.
Mechanic calls. My car is gone. He went out yesterday and took a look at it to see what he was going to need, and yesterday there were no tickets, warnings, or citations on my vehicle. There was no Snow Emergency. Neither of us had any clue what had happened. So I called B and gave her a mission: try to find car.
She calls me back a little later. My car has been towed by the city of Minneapolis, because RETARD DROPPED IT MORE THAN 12 INCHES FROM THE CURB. Yes, believe it. So now I'm the proud owner of an impounded 89 Saab Turbo that doesn't start. The city wants $138 dollars for the ticket and towing fee. Oh yeah, and the tabs expired while it was in my driveway, so I can't get it out until the registration is current. 40 bucks. Oh, and it doesn't run... so I need to have it towed BACK to the mechanic, who will have to charge me about $250 dollars to fix the original ailment. Oh, and the city impound lot charges $15 dollars a day as a "storage fee".
You can see where my dilemma lies. I don't, and will not in the near future have the money to pay for all of these things. I only paid $800 bucks for the car. I don't WANT to have to deal with any of this. I want the car to rot in the city impound lot until they auction it. What am I out, really? Before all this, I didn't have a working second car. Now, I don't have a working second car. Just forget about it and get on with life, right?
It makes more financial sense to just give up on the car. But I am really... fucking... pissed. I want to track down the tow-truck driver and beat him into a bloody pulp. I want AAA to buy me a new used car. I want this kind of shit to quit happening to me/us. B and I can't have jobs at the same time, apparently, without a second vehicle. Which leaves me with all the bills, and nothing left over to buy a second car. I just feel like I'm spiraling, and I can't work any harder. I just want to lash out, or go to sleep until the world passes. Both at the same time. Fight and Flight all rolled into one.
Fuck.
-Vajra -
So yes. I scraped up enough money and finally tracked down a competent mechanic to fix the ignition problem with my 1989 Saab Turbo. It's our second car, bought only as a work vehicle for me. I spent 800 dollars on it. The ignition broke, and the vehicle is un-startable, so my brother and I pushed it up and parked it off the street in front of our shitty little garage. It has been sitting there for a few months.
In the beginning of December, I knew that B was coming back from D.C. and I asked the mechanic across the street to take a look at it. He forgot three times, which basically burned up about two and a half weeks. Then he finally DID look at it and said he needed to order a part. After a week and a half of searching with no success, he gave up on it. But he DID find a guy in Minneapolis who works on nothing but Saabs, so he gave me the guy's number. This all brings me to last Thursday.
Last Thursday I called AAA and arranged to have my ailing Saab towed to the newfound mechanic, who was expecting the vehicle that day. Guy shows up, confirms the destination address with me, and we talk about what it's going to take to get it fixed. Basically just guy bullshit while he strapped up the car. But I DID mention that the mechanic ran a little shop, and that he was expecting the car.
Now, the car doesn't run. It needs to be dropped in a location where my mechanic can do his dirty work. Any sane and competent human being would enter the Mechanic's shop, speak to him about the expected vehicle, and ask him where he wanted it. I think. I don't know for certain, because all too often I just don't seem to understand the way the REST of the world function.
Fast forward to Monday.
I call the shop to see how progress is going on my vehicle, and to get a ball-park estimate. The mechanic never received the car. He said he spotted a black Saab down the street, and briefly wondered about it, but got distracted on a project. This disturbs me. So after I get off of work, I drive across town to the mechanic and begin the search. Tow-truck driver (who shall heretofore be referred to as "Retard") dropped the car a block away from the mechanic. On a city street. With all the voodoo parking restrictions inherent to a Twin Cities city street. Retard never talked to the mechanic, who was there all day, and dropped my car on a city street a block away from the shop.
I call AAA. I explain what happened, and they offer to have another tow company come out and tow the vehicle the BLOCK it needs to go to get into mechanic's workspace. Problem is, they insist that I have to leave work to drive across town (during morning rush-hour, mind you), because the person who holds the AAA card HAS TO BE THERE when tow-truck arrives. This "solution" will cost me more money in lost wages than the 40 bucks it would take for my mechanic to call a different tow-company and move it into his shop. I call mechanic and tell him to go ahead... arrange for the tow, and I'll try to get the money out of AAA at a later date. I consider the matter closed and wait for a call saying my vehicle is ready.
This Morning.
Mechanic calls. My car is gone. He went out yesterday and took a look at it to see what he was going to need, and yesterday there were no tickets, warnings, or citations on my vehicle. There was no Snow Emergency. Neither of us had any clue what had happened. So I called B and gave her a mission: try to find car.
She calls me back a little later. My car has been towed by the city of Minneapolis, because RETARD DROPPED IT MORE THAN 12 INCHES FROM THE CURB. Yes, believe it. So now I'm the proud owner of an impounded 89 Saab Turbo that doesn't start. The city wants $138 dollars for the ticket and towing fee. Oh yeah, and the tabs expired while it was in my driveway, so I can't get it out until the registration is current. 40 bucks. Oh, and it doesn't run... so I need to have it towed BACK to the mechanic, who will have to charge me about $250 dollars to fix the original ailment. Oh, and the city impound lot charges $15 dollars a day as a "storage fee".
You can see where my dilemma lies. I don't, and will not in the near future have the money to pay for all of these things. I only paid $800 bucks for the car. I don't WANT to have to deal with any of this. I want the car to rot in the city impound lot until they auction it. What am I out, really? Before all this, I didn't have a working second car. Now, I don't have a working second car. Just forget about it and get on with life, right?
It makes more financial sense to just give up on the car. But I am really... fucking... pissed. I want to track down the tow-truck driver and beat him into a bloody pulp. I want AAA to buy me a new used car. I want this kind of shit to quit happening to me/us. B and I can't have jobs at the same time, apparently, without a second vehicle. Which leaves me with all the bills, and nothing left over to buy a second car. I just feel like I'm spiraling, and I can't work any harder. I just want to lash out, or go to sleep until the world passes. Both at the same time. Fight and Flight all rolled into one.
Fuck.
-Vajra -