Sweet Gummi Mary! Can I not have one single day of joy over my 8-months-awaited tire repair?
First cat out of the bag, I looked at the receipt for T-Hoe's tire repair that Farmer H had left on the kitchen counter overnight. The repair cost $15 at the Devil's Playground automotive department. That's reasonable enough. As I looked at the itemization on that bill, I noticed that they'd listed the air pressure in each tire.
32 POUNDS
What in the NOT-HEAVEN? T-Hoe's tires should be inflated to 35 pounds of air. Not 32. In fact, the problem was only with that left rear tire. So the Devil's Minions had gone to the three good tires, and DEFLATED them!
When I got to the garage, and looked at that left rear tire, it seemed a little flat on the bottom. Huh. Supposedly it had 32 pounds of air in it. Upon starting T-Hoe, the dashboard computer tattletale showed that all tires had 32 pounds, except that one, which had 30! When it drops to 29, I get a warning light showing a flat tire.
I called Farmer H, to inform him that the tire he'd gotten fixed had again lost two pounds of air overnight. Just letting him know that I was on the way to town, to put more air in my tire.
Farmer H got all surly with me, and actually said,
"What do you want me to do, TAKE IT BACK?"
Um. Yes. Isn't that what most people would do, who paid to have a tire fixed, with no fixing?
For all I know, the Devil's Minions just TOLD Farmer H they had fixed the tire. After all, he said they couldn't find anything wrong with it, and then SAID it was a tack, without showing him the tack.
Anyhoo...when I left, the weather was bright and sunny. I didn't even put on my jacket. Yet when I got out at the Gas Station Chicken Store to steal some FREE AIR, I almost got hypothermia. Seems the temperature was 24 degrees. The wind had to be at least 20 mph. I dug a coat off the bottom of the floor behind the driver's seat. That's the good thing about being a retired teacher who doesn't care about cleaning out her car. Always a "duty" coat laying around.
Oh, and besides letting air out of perfectly good tires, the Devil's Minions had moved my trash bag! It's a big black trash bag that I keep up front, on the passenger side, to put junk mail in. That saves the step of carrying it inside the Mansion to throw away. I have to top laying where I just grab it, toss in the mail, and forget about it until the bag is full enough to justify putting it in the dumpster. Only NOW, that bag was folded down all flat. I couldn't reach the top or put anything inside unless I got out and walked around to the passenger side.
Farmer H said the Devil's Minions probably did that when they vacuumed. WHAT? He took it for a tire repair! Nobody asked for vacuuming. Or letting the air out of perfectly good tires! SHEESH! I'm lucky they didn't take my duty coat!
Anyhoo...I put more air in that bad tire. We'll see how much it loses overnight. Farmer H might as well face it. He's going to have to take that tire to somebody who will actually fix it, and stand over their shoulder while they do so.
5 comments:
That will be punishment--having Farmer H standing over them while they repair the tire, while he's spinning tales of his storage unit sales...
Sioux,
They shall rue the day they cheated Farmer H out of $15! Because his wife is mad as NOT-HEAVEN, and she's not gonna take it anymore!
When I parked T-Hoe in the garage after yesterday's air-getting trip, the bad tire had 41 pounds of air. I would have let some out, but I figured it's probably going to lose it on its own.
This morning, that tire had 38 pounds of air. Granted, it WAS 24 degrees in the garage, and 16 degrees out driving around town. As the tires warmed up, the others read 33, and the bad one 39. Then 40. And when I was coming up the gravel road toward the Mansion, it was 41. So I'll have to watch it a couple more days.
You don't think Farmer H went in the garage with his air compressor, and inflated it a couple pounds before I got up, do you...
Seems I sang Farmer H's praises too soon. Shame on him. I think you should go with him next time he takes T-Hoe for a fixin' and both of you stand over the mechanics while they do the job. Then make sure they inflate ALL the tyres correctly.
Back in the day when I worked at Walmart, I was always amused when the automotive department would page the customer back to that department. They would, without fail, use the same phrasing for anything : "Customer Name's assistance is needed in the automotive department." In my mind's eye I would picture the mechanic escorting the customer into the garage bay to have them hold a tool in place to facilitate the repair. Maybe they needed your assistance?
River,
Technically, the bad repair wasn't Farmer H's fault, but his reaction to my info was NOT APPROPRIATE!
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Kathy,
Heh, heh! Farmer H could have done it correctly. I think they couldn't find anything, because they didn't submerse the tire, and only sprayed water on sections, according to Farmer H. So they decided to SAY they found something, and be done with it. We'll see how it holds up.
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