Shot of the Day #194: Ugh

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

You never know when auto-disaster is going to strike, especially when you drive this jalopy. The Golf has been a constant in our LA lives since we got it in 2002 when we first moved out, and the sucker has been pretty good to us, for the most part. Sure the training is bad, the transmission has been shot since 05 and it smells like a Zombie Queef (that's mostly my fault), but its been getting me from Point A to Point B for a long time and was just a matter of time till it shit the bed.

TRUTH: I HATE getting oil changes. Always feel like they are scamming me; when I go in for a simple 5-point change, I usually leave hating my life because i spent 100 + bucks on shit I dont even know for sure was broken. So I try to avoid like the Swine Flu. Yesterday it was "that time" so i went to Jiffy Lube and the nice Asian guy, also named Joe, sold me the Brooklyn Bridge and I walked out grumbling again, but hell...at least it's done right?

WRONG.

CUT TO: Today, post meeting with a possible editor for the new project at Umami Burger (the only highlight of the day, really) I went to the parking lot and tried to start the golf....and it wouldnt turn over. FUCK. Thankfully AAA came to the rescue-thank god I renewed the membership-and the driver determined it was the fuel pump that was out. Ok...fine....now take me to an auto replair place that wont bend me over Marcellus Wallace style, please. The driver didn't get the joke.

When I arrived at the shop, the familiar sights, sounds and smells of being in an auto garage flooded back; I had practically grown up in a shop at my Dad's store, so the smell of oil, rubber and metal was quite inviting. (Wow. That coule be taken in a VERY different light) but I was still very nervous, waiting for the short European gent to stick it in and twist. I was dreading the outcome.

Guess what? There is such thing as honest auto folks, because after he showed me that the fine fuck's at Jiffy Lube FORGOT TO PLUG IN MY FUEL PUMP (i think they are trying to kill me, maybe not a WT2 fan), he fixed that up, fixed a hole in my tire I didnt know I had AND evaluated my training and gave me a free esrtimate, saying "Com een any tim, I fix, no ploblem". So what I thought was going to be a thousand dollar problem ended up being a totally FREE conclusion. Now, sure...this might be a "Drug Dealer" type catch ("First one's free kid") but damn if it didn't take a huge weight off my shoulders, thinking I'd have to break the bank to fix the car.

So Monday wasn't THAT bad, all things considered.

Joe