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The saga of the flat tire, part 2
AAA guy showed up at PacMed... it only took like 15 mins from the time I called AAA! Go them! He was already working on the car when I got out to the parking lot... trying to fill the tire up with air, but we found it was leaking air through this huge gash. (By huge I mean like... 3/4 of an inch long).
He saw that I had a spare tire and I told him we'd had problems with it in the past, but he filled it with air and checked the gauge and said "How about this -- it's more of a pain to tow the car, so why don't we put the spare on, and I'll follow you down to Sears Auto, so if anything happens I can get the car?" I agreed, and off we went.
Got to Sears Auto okay. I told the guys at the counter what was up and they were like "okay," and so this one guy came out and checked the tires (he said the front two were great and the back two were awful, including the one that blew out). So after talking a bit I decided to just buy two new tires for the back. Now, here's what bugs me - I don't know crap about cars, so I let him talk me into having them also check the steering and alignment, etc. Overall the two tires, alignment and whatnot, parts and labor, cost me $250.
I don't feel particularly ripped off since I had figured on spending about $50-$100 per tire, but Eli thinks I was. Does anyone really know? The tires themselves cost $70 each, they're some sort of Michelin... Agility? Yeah.
Anyway, I gave 'em the keys and walked down the street to the Sears/OfficeMax/Starbucks plaza thingy. Despite it being in the middle of the industrial area, it was really quite nice! I ate lunch at starbucks and I shopped around OfficeMax for a while and picked up a few random things. Was fun, even. Went into Sears for a minute or two, and by then it had been an hour and change, so I walked back, and the car was ready, and yay! And I drove back up the hill to work and found street parking and here I am.
The odd thing is the way people acted the entire time... the AAA people on the phone were super-friendly, the tow truck guy was really nice, and even the tire guy did not seem like a tire guy - he looked more like he should have been working at a Gap or an art museum or something. I'm not kidding, it was really kind of strange. He asked about Eli's "Honk if you passed P-Chem" bumper sticker, and tried to make conversation and stuff. It was kind of weird. And even the cashier at OfficeMax was all friendly like "ahh, another southpaw! We lefties have to stick together," or something. I don't know, it's sort of weird, since I felt like I must be giving off a super-grumpy "flat tire" aura all day, yet people were super-friendly in return.
I guess that's good.
Now I'm gonna buckle down and do a ton of work since I lost half a day.
He saw that I had a spare tire and I told him we'd had problems with it in the past, but he filled it with air and checked the gauge and said "How about this -- it's more of a pain to tow the car, so why don't we put the spare on, and I'll follow you down to Sears Auto, so if anything happens I can get the car?" I agreed, and off we went.
Got to Sears Auto okay. I told the guys at the counter what was up and they were like "okay," and so this one guy came out and checked the tires (he said the front two were great and the back two were awful, including the one that blew out). So after talking a bit I decided to just buy two new tires for the back. Now, here's what bugs me - I don't know crap about cars, so I let him talk me into having them also check the steering and alignment, etc. Overall the two tires, alignment and whatnot, parts and labor, cost me $250.
I don't feel particularly ripped off since I had figured on spending about $50-$100 per tire, but Eli thinks I was. Does anyone really know? The tires themselves cost $70 each, they're some sort of Michelin... Agility? Yeah.
Anyway, I gave 'em the keys and walked down the street to the Sears/OfficeMax/Starbucks plaza thingy. Despite it being in the middle of the industrial area, it was really quite nice! I ate lunch at starbucks and I shopped around OfficeMax for a while and picked up a few random things. Was fun, even. Went into Sears for a minute or two, and by then it had been an hour and change, so I walked back, and the car was ready, and yay! And I drove back up the hill to work and found street parking and here I am.
The odd thing is the way people acted the entire time... the AAA people on the phone were super-friendly, the tow truck guy was really nice, and even the tire guy did not seem like a tire guy - he looked more like he should have been working at a Gap or an art museum or something. I'm not kidding, it was really kind of strange. He asked about Eli's "Honk if you passed P-Chem" bumper sticker, and tried to make conversation and stuff. It was kind of weird. And even the cashier at OfficeMax was all friendly like "ahh, another southpaw! We lefties have to stick together," or something. I don't know, it's sort of weird, since I felt like I must be giving off a super-grumpy "flat tire" aura all day, yet people were super-friendly in return.
I guess that's good.
Now I'm gonna buckle down and do a ton of work since I lost half a day.
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