And In The Boneheaded Moves Department…
On the rapidly sublimating mental “blog about this” list is what happened to me Friday.
I drove Deb’s our pickup to Woburn to get computer parts. It was made more interesting by the fact it’s a new supplier. My sales guy recently left his employer of 9 1/2 years for this new place. Since he was the best thing about my supplier, I had to at least give the new place a try. I am most impressed, and he’s happier than I have ever seen him.
So I drive the 40 miles there in our only running and reliable vehicle, which only needs an oil change and inspection sticker (as far as I know all the Sentra needs is the battery jumped and tolerance for cold on the part of the people in it), rather than what is likely to be another several hundred dollars in work as the van seems to.* I wore my heavy coat, which will be the topic of another post sometime Real Soon Now, all the way there.
I stepped out of the truck, tossed the keys in my coat pocket, decided the coat really was way too warm, took it off, tossed it into the truck, locked and closed the door.
Doh!
My rep wasn’t there, but someone else looked up the order, and they had it in the lobby on a cart so fast it made my head spin. They also had the form for sales tax. I’d e-mailed my rep the tax number in case, but then I had also stuck the tax certificate in the checkbook in the briefcase in the truck.
Doh.
We went through my order, I filled out the check, and then it sat and waited while we tried to get into the truck.
It’s well protected.
About the time I started trying to figure out how to break in, preferably without damaging a window much, my sales guy and a friend of his got back from lunch. He thought he had a slim jim, but didn’t, so tried to make one, but couldn’t get it to catch. Clothes hanger didn’t work. I think the last time I had to break into a car and did so successfully may have been my first car, around 1979 or 1980. I am probably forgetting additional incidents. I’m far better at getting into a locked house if needed; more possibilities involved.
Normally I keep a spare car key in my pocket. I have so many keys, my office keys are on their own ring, which I keep in my pocket where it’s handy inside the building. My office has keys to the outer door, three inner doors, the building door, and my client in the building’s door. I had a spare key to the van and Sentra there, but I gave Deb the spare van key, and had not yet gotten around to making copies of the the van and truck keys. (Subsequntly, I stopped at the hardware store, which makes more reliable keys than Home Depot, and was able to get van keys, but they lacked the blank for the truck.)
That was the excitement for the day at the parts place. Deb isn’t on the phone a whole lot, but ended up being when I tried to call to tell her what was happening and see if she had advice on breaking in. Also, one possibility was to have her get the key code from the dealer for the truck, then we could get a key made at the Chevy dealer down the street from where I was. Eventually I remembered I could e-mail from the phone, so I amused her by e-mailing “get off the phone!”
Ultimately my sales guy used his AAA membership to call and have them come unlock it. They were fast getting there, and had a tool made for the vehicle. The service guy was there, done and gone within a minute, after suggesting that the best thing is to always have a spare key. Indeed.
I was mortified, but everyone was amazingly helpful. While we waited for the service guy, I got the grand tour and some detail on the history of the company. They have impressive warehouse space and inventory, plus nice office space, overall larger than the two other suppliers combined. They have some great industry connections, and a far better variety of items than the place the sales guy left.
So I am most pleased with the new supplier, but what a boneheaded move, tossing the keys back in the car and locking them in so nonchalantly.
* I am increasingly pondering the idea of getting rid of the van with no further work, getting rid of the Sentra, and finding some other used vehicle that will hold us all and have a chance of being reliable. This is because I expect the van to cost at least $2000 in additional work in the next year or so. Thus, do I take the 2k and get a car, even if I have to all but give the van away, or do I shovel more money into the van because if it can be made to work right, it’s roomy and has a decent body and could last a few more years with only another transmission or two. The van currently sounds like something was not reconnected properly when the brakes were fixed, or the sound is an artifact of other problems. It also sounds like it needs struts and springs all around, or the undercarriage is on its way out, or the steering system is bad, or some combination of the above. And the transmission is either well on its way out, or is being affected by those other things. Ugh.
Cars suck. And that’s all I have to say about that!
Posted by Sharon on 02/21 at 04:36 PMDoh. I pulled a similar bonehead with the house shortly after we moved in.
As for the van, find a shop that does free estimates (or cheap ones) that you can trust, and then decide once you know the numbers. If it’s cheaper to get a reliable used car, I’d go for it. The peace of mind is worth other minor inconveniences (like being cramped).
Also, who knows what else you’d need to fix after the first major repair job. Some cars have a way of falling apart in stages once they get to a certain point…
Look around, there are some really good deals if you’re careful.
Posted by caltechgirl on 02/21 at 05:12 PM
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