I took my car in for an oil change on 11/21/09 on a used car I recently purchased. I also asked the manager to check the heater as my heat was not working in my car. He came back 15 minutes later and informed me I had a badly leaking water pump, an oil leak on the valve gasket cover, and my thermostat needed replacing.
A total estimate of repairs and labor of $479.97. I became very upset as I am moving cross country in less than two weeks, a fact the manager knew. I informed them I had to come up with the money and would be back.
I then took the car to another mechanic who informed me all the statements done by the first mechanic were FALSE. My water pump not only had no leaks, but had no fluids in it, a fact I was not informed of. My oil is NOT leaking, there was a spot of oil on my manifold. And my thermostat is NOT broken, a knob inside was damaged, easily repaired by a screwdriver.
This jerk had me almost in tears worried I would have to postpone my move so I could afford repairs I didn’t need. I feel he did this because I’m female and I would get it fixed before my trip.
I will NEVER go back there and I am informing everyone I know to not enter this business either.
Being female does NOT make me stupid. I wish more mechanics would realize this.
I was hit by a car today.
The driver did a rolling stop through a red light, looking to her left for on-coming traffic as she turned right. Had she looked both ways — you know, the way every mother tells every child to do when crossing a street — she’d hve seen me in the crosswalk. She was at a red light. I had the right of way.
Had the car hit me this hard, serious damage would have been done... to the vehicle.
The best part of the story is that after hitting me — not hard; I was more scared than scarred — she pulled over… and proceeded to yell at me for having gotten in her way.
Seriously.
As a constant pedestrian, I know from first-hand experience that these kind of man-meets-metal throwdowns happen far too often and, for the most part, only avoid turning into tragedy because the person not tooling around in a ton or more of metal is on the alert.
With that in mind, it might be time to draw up a Pedestrian Bill Of Rights.
I propose that pedestrians should have the following rights:
"I know I shouldn't... but I sometimes talk with my mouth full."
Baby's got second-hand butts.
"Ha!" said the pedestrian. "The joke's on you... I needed a shower!"
Nothing annoys me more than people who walk through the world with no concept of how valuable other people’s time is. And by other people, I mean ME.
When I’m patrolling the supermarket’s parking lot, looking for a spot, and someone strolls in front of my car as if I have all day, that really burns me up.
At least do the courtesy shuffle! You know, when you put a little pep in your step when walking in front of a paused driver so that they might, I don’t know, actually get on with their day! How rude!
They are lucky vehicular manslaughter is frowned upon.
