princess b
12-10-05, 07:23 PM
Originally posted by Princess B on 04.01.2001 (or something like that)
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I love my car. It's great. It runs great, looks good (when it's clean), it's comfortable, fun to drive, and it's safe (two, count them, two spinouts on California's freeways have proven that).
<p>In spite of all these facts, I just cannot bring myself to take appropriate care of it.<p>I recently had some trouble getting it started. I took it to a shop, (dragging my feet the whole way) and I'm sure instantly became the butt of many of those mechanics' conversations regarding chicks and cars.<p>I had broken motor mounts (I had been told this months before, but the car was still running, so what difference did that make?), I had bad brakes, my transmission was really dirty, I had a bad throttle switch, timing belt tension spring was bad and, oh nevermind, you get the idea.<p>Don't get me wrong – I have no idea what any of the above list means, it's like trying to understand French (just as irritating too and that place smelled just about as bad).<p>I got a lecture about the importance of taking my car in for regular maintenance and blah blah blah.<p>I miss the days of having a male roommate who would just do stuff to it. I didn't know what he was doing to it and I didn't care. All I knew is I would go outside on the weekends and my car would be up on little ramp thingies and he would be under there all dirty and fixing stuff.<p>So, $750 later (thanks daddy!) I am facing the fact that I am a bad bad car owner. Not only that, I am a lame car owner – lame things happen to my car because of my lameness. And this recent field trip to the mechanic is only the latest. Consider this:<p>I have gone way in excess of 10,000 miles between oil changes. I know it's wrong, but again, the car still runs so what difference does it make?<p>The method which I use to deal with odd sounds that my car may make from time to time due to neglect? – Crank up the stereo. I have found the only thing this doesn't fix (so far) is the sound and feel of the brakes grinding because my brake pads have been worn completely down for the past month or so.<p>New tires? Whatever. My dad gets so mad at me that he ends up paying to get new tires on the car. They live in the mountains and he checks my tires every time I go to visit. He goes nuts when they are worn out and I've just driven up those mountain roads.<p>I once bought tires that had a lifetime warranty – all I had to do was take the car in every 5000 miles for rotation or balancing or something. Whatever it was, it was something I didn't do. Those tires lasted about 15,000 miles. I go through tires like I go through brake pads.<p>It's not just me. I swear. I work with a woman who actually knows a lot about cars. She is always telling me about stuff I should do to my car. She called in one morning telling me she would be late because her car had broken down. She said she thought the timing belt had broken. Turns out she had just run out of gas. It took a tow truck driver to figure that out. I'm sure she was that guy's story of the day.<p>Or how about Buffy? Her car was stolen. Or was it? There is some speculation (since they found it in the same parking lot in which she had left it) that she merely forgot where she had parked. Don't feel bad Buffy - the woman who ran out of gas and thought it was her timing belt – she actually did report her car stolen once, having forgotten that she had left it at work and gotten a ride home.<p>I ran over a traffic cone a few months ago. No big deal right? People do that all the time right? Except when I do it, the freaking thing ends up jammed in my wheel well and wrapped around my tire so I can't drive. Refusing to be some tow truck driver's story of the day, I called a friend (the same one who just recently had my car fixed) and he drove out and somehow pulled it out. I was gonna try to jack the car up and get it myself, but my trunk has been leaking lately so I think the jack is rusted or something – I just couldn't figure it out.<p>Maybe this would be different if it were more enjoyable to get work done on your car. I've been thinking about the fact that my shoes go in for maintenance more than my car does. I think that's because it's just more fun to take my shoes in for service. I go to the shoe department, have a seat on a comfy couch, my sales rep comes out, offers me a latte, and while my shoes are being worked on, I get to try on other shoes and walk around in them. I can try on clothes to match – even get a little shopping done.<p>How about if some of those mechanic guys clean up their places (and themselves)? How about a latte once in a while? How about instead of those disgusting greasy naugahyde chairs you've got going on in there, you go buy a couch from Z gallery?<p>And these places need a greeter or something. Some hot guy in a hotter suit to show us to the couch, bring us that latte, and generally just entertain us while we are waiting.<p>And how about putting out some magazines like GQ, Lucky, and In Style instead of Popular Mechanic, Motor Trend and Power Tools Weekly? And why can't we try on some new ones while you're working on our cars like we get to when they are working on our shoes? Can't you have some neato cars there for us to play with and test drive? I promise I will try not to run over any cones if you let me play with a cool Ferrari while you've got my car up on the rack.
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I love my car. It's great. It runs great, looks good (when it's clean), it's comfortable, fun to drive, and it's safe (two, count them, two spinouts on California's freeways have proven that).
<p>In spite of all these facts, I just cannot bring myself to take appropriate care of it.<p>I recently had some trouble getting it started. I took it to a shop, (dragging my feet the whole way) and I'm sure instantly became the butt of many of those mechanics' conversations regarding chicks and cars.<p>I had broken motor mounts (I had been told this months before, but the car was still running, so what difference did that make?), I had bad brakes, my transmission was really dirty, I had a bad throttle switch, timing belt tension spring was bad and, oh nevermind, you get the idea.<p>Don't get me wrong – I have no idea what any of the above list means, it's like trying to understand French (just as irritating too and that place smelled just about as bad).<p>I got a lecture about the importance of taking my car in for regular maintenance and blah blah blah.<p>I miss the days of having a male roommate who would just do stuff to it. I didn't know what he was doing to it and I didn't care. All I knew is I would go outside on the weekends and my car would be up on little ramp thingies and he would be under there all dirty and fixing stuff.<p>So, $750 later (thanks daddy!) I am facing the fact that I am a bad bad car owner. Not only that, I am a lame car owner – lame things happen to my car because of my lameness. And this recent field trip to the mechanic is only the latest. Consider this:<p>I have gone way in excess of 10,000 miles between oil changes. I know it's wrong, but again, the car still runs so what difference does it make?<p>The method which I use to deal with odd sounds that my car may make from time to time due to neglect? – Crank up the stereo. I have found the only thing this doesn't fix (so far) is the sound and feel of the brakes grinding because my brake pads have been worn completely down for the past month or so.<p>New tires? Whatever. My dad gets so mad at me that he ends up paying to get new tires on the car. They live in the mountains and he checks my tires every time I go to visit. He goes nuts when they are worn out and I've just driven up those mountain roads.<p>I once bought tires that had a lifetime warranty – all I had to do was take the car in every 5000 miles for rotation or balancing or something. Whatever it was, it was something I didn't do. Those tires lasted about 15,000 miles. I go through tires like I go through brake pads.<p>It's not just me. I swear. I work with a woman who actually knows a lot about cars. She is always telling me about stuff I should do to my car. She called in one morning telling me she would be late because her car had broken down. She said she thought the timing belt had broken. Turns out she had just run out of gas. It took a tow truck driver to figure that out. I'm sure she was that guy's story of the day.<p>Or how about Buffy? Her car was stolen. Or was it? There is some speculation (since they found it in the same parking lot in which she had left it) that she merely forgot where she had parked. Don't feel bad Buffy - the woman who ran out of gas and thought it was her timing belt – she actually did report her car stolen once, having forgotten that she had left it at work and gotten a ride home.<p>I ran over a traffic cone a few months ago. No big deal right? People do that all the time right? Except when I do it, the freaking thing ends up jammed in my wheel well and wrapped around my tire so I can't drive. Refusing to be some tow truck driver's story of the day, I called a friend (the same one who just recently had my car fixed) and he drove out and somehow pulled it out. I was gonna try to jack the car up and get it myself, but my trunk has been leaking lately so I think the jack is rusted or something – I just couldn't figure it out.<p>Maybe this would be different if it were more enjoyable to get work done on your car. I've been thinking about the fact that my shoes go in for maintenance more than my car does. I think that's because it's just more fun to take my shoes in for service. I go to the shoe department, have a seat on a comfy couch, my sales rep comes out, offers me a latte, and while my shoes are being worked on, I get to try on other shoes and walk around in them. I can try on clothes to match – even get a little shopping done.<p>How about if some of those mechanic guys clean up their places (and themselves)? How about a latte once in a while? How about instead of those disgusting greasy naugahyde chairs you've got going on in there, you go buy a couch from Z gallery?<p>And these places need a greeter or something. Some hot guy in a hotter suit to show us to the couch, bring us that latte, and generally just entertain us while we are waiting.<p>And how about putting out some magazines like GQ, Lucky, and In Style instead of Popular Mechanic, Motor Trend and Power Tools Weekly? And why can't we try on some new ones while you're working on our cars like we get to when they are working on our shoes? Can't you have some neato cars there for us to play with and test drive? I promise I will try not to run over any cones if you let me play with a cool Ferrari while you've got my car up on the rack.