1:02 pmThe Price of Being Female
Jon went in Saturday to the tire place to have new tires put on his car. His tires were bad; completely bald. Metal sticking out of them, in fact. So new tires were bought and paid for, and an alignment was also paid for. But the tire place was too busy to do the alignment on Saturday. Jon was told to bring the car back in on Monday morning, when they could get to it promptly.
Monday morning, of course, was Jon’s first day at his new job. So he and I switched cars for the day and I was instructed to take his car in for the alignment. It was already paid for, I just had to take it in and let them do their thing. Simple, right?
Not exactly.
Because if you’re me, you know that I always, always do poorly in these types of situations. Service people see me coming from miles away. I am that girl. The girl who doesn’t know that it shouldn’t cost $400 for a certain $6 repair. (It didn’t help, either, that until about 3 years ago, I perpetually looked like a 16 year old.) I have overpaid for almost everything I have ever tried to do on my own. But hey, this time would be different because it was already paid for! All I had to do was drive the car into the stall and sit in the waiting room until it was finished. Very simple. Even for a dumb girl.
But about 20 minutes into my wait, the man comes out to me with a picture showing me the helter-skelter un-alignment of my husband’s wheels. He sighs, like what he is about to tell me is really hard to get out… like the car may have terminal cancer. He shows me the picture, because girls do better with pictures than big words.
He tells me that the “toe” is off by .45 degrees, and that it will be an easy adjustment.
Okay… I’m still waiting for the bad news…
But see this right front wheel? Well, the “camber” is off by a lot. And, because you have ovaries instead of testicles, the only way to fix the camber is to buy an additional ”bolt retro-fit kit”… for $65.
Excuse me?
I said, because you have breasts, it will cost extra to fix. Here, let me show you on a different picture.
He takes me over to a large poster hanging on the wall. It is a picture of a bolt. Ohhhh, riiiight, a bolt… see before when you said bolt I was thinking of something totally different, but now that I’m looking at the picture of the bolt, I totally get it.
I told him to take his manly “bolt retro-fit kit” and shove it up his man-butt.
Not really. But I was thinking it. Dang it, I was not going to come in here for something that should have been a free repair and leave spending a bunch of money. I said, “You know what, this is my husband’s car. If he wants to bring it back in later to have that done — and if it in fact still needs to be done once a man starts driving it again — then he can come in and have it done. ”
Okay, I didn’t exactly say that either. But I said something passive-aggressive and emptied all of the free popcorn from the popcorn machine into my purse. I did not give them any money for anything.
When I got home and showed Jon the picture of the horrible state of his right front camber and told him what happened he said, “Man, that looks bad. You should have had them do it.”
What a dumb girl. Of course I should have…
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This sounds suspiciously like Les Schwab to me. They’re the ones that said my bald tires were going to kill me & the kids. Very sensitive.
Even my paranoid Dad said they were fine. And my husband. And Stephanie’s Stu.
You did good, stealing the popcorn & waiting. Because, really? How are you supposed to know?
Comment by Lisa Milton — February 5, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
Oh, you did the right thing. I don’t even mess with the car stuff anymore, I leave it up to Dave. Although Dave knows less about cars than I do. I changed the alternator in my car once when I was 23. MY ALTERNATOR. (That’s what you do when you have a whole weekend, very little money and you HAVE to get to work on Monday - you ride the bus to go buy a refurbished alternator and a book about how to do it and you do it.)
Comment by Leslie — February 5, 2008 @ 3:56 pm
I empathize with you. When I went to have my hair done two weeks ago I was charged an extra $35 for a gloss after my shampoo. While I was under the sink having my head massaged they never once mentioned that this was going to cost extra and it wasn’t until I checked out that my $85 dollar doo was bumped to $120, but like an idiot I didn’t want to complain so I walked out with tha sick feeling in my stomach knowing I had just gotten screwed! I’m a total sucker, and yes I know I should have gone back and demanded my money but again it goes back to me being a sucker! =)
Comment by Diana — February 6, 2008 @ 5:27 am
@MamaMilton- It was actually Big O tires… but I think there is just some code among tire companies that they take advantage of unsuspecting women!
@Diana- Your hair DID look very glossy the other night, though. Glossier than usual. I was going to say something… but then I said something about you looking all thin and lovely instead…
@Leslie- I’m so impressed! Car skills?? Who knew? Chalk it up to your many talents, chick!
Comment by admin — February 6, 2008 @ 6:11 am
That’s nothing compared to my first car buying experience. You were there, you know!
Comment by Sam — February 6, 2008 @ 6:37 am