July 28, 2012

Grumpy Grouching


…sorry about the rant….


Home again loopdy loop.  Grumpy and Myrtle.


Himself:  Worked his tushes off then helped put together the BBQ.  He had fun.

Herself:   Got a lot done but not with the books.  Computer is dying.  Won’t open a browser or do a restart.  My C drive isn’t big enough to hold the photos, but I want to begin saving things before I have to buy a new computer.

Reading:   Still nothing.  I will when I get home from errands.

Balance:   Packing a food box for eldest G’son in Afghanistan.


It’s really good to have grumpy home at last.  For a while.  He isn’t made with much metal.  Most cars and trucks use massive amounts of plastic, and Grumpy is right up there with the best.

His fender is fixed.  I did the dent, and now it looks just like it did when we bought it.  Better actually.  Last time the folks that repainted the grill put it back together frowning. 

I’m a little burned out on these half assed repairs I get everywhere we take Grumpy.  Grumpy is a truck…and not a new truck.  He was a low end truck when he was new, but he isn’t a low end truck any more.  Most places we take him know he is a well loved old truck, but the back lot guys don’t.

We take Grumpy to a dealer because they usually give far better service.  We have changed dealers before when they treated him like a low end truck instead of the family favorite.  This dealer we use now has given us years of caring service until recently.  How about the time I took Grumpy in to have a rattle fixed and the mechanic told me to just turn the radio up.  The service writer was very apologetic.  Yes, I continually remind the him of that one.  Last time, after a thousand dollars of repairs, we got it back really dirty with grease dots here and there on the passenger side.  They wiped down the driver’s side.  They had to remove the dash but didn’t clean up after themselves there either.  Dirt and fingerprints everywhere, and greasy footprints on the new carpet. 

Yes, I shampooed them out.  Wiped it down.  Cleaned him up.

Grumpy’s home again now after his fender repair, but this time someone broke his emergency brake handle.  It was plastic.  Plastic breaks.  I understand this.  It just would have been nice if they had told us that they had broken it.

We have been to a Truck Junque Yard today out far, far, away in the hinterlands.  I wore the wrong shoes so G got all the fun buying a new emergency brake cable with handle…..boy, that was expensive.  Got two newer, unfrayed seatbelts also, plus a dimmer switch for Lessa’s Exploder.

Next week I will call and rant at the poor service writer.  Not today.  Today I practiced ranting at you and now will go out to play.

6 comments:

  1. I do hate car repair work. It's hard to find people who take pride in their work anymore. Poor Grumpy. Tell him I appreciate him. Our car is 9 years old and we usually keep cars until they breathe their last breath. Bob likes a newer car but we usually have one old car as well. Now that we're retired and have only one it's old but we have no plans for a new one. Love you Grumpy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well,I ranted and now it is your turn. I have had appliance repairs up the wazzho this past two years in this brand new house and I am sick of it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ranting by bloggers reassures me that other people have problems too, not just me! Hubby has one of the original Miata convertibles, one of the limited Merlots. I'll bet you and G could have fun making that thing look hot like Grumpy does. Us? Both of us seem to forget about the car as soon as we set our feet in the garage after an outing, and don't remember it (except for routine maintenance) until we open the door to climb in and go to our next venture. Yes, I think both our jalopies would love having you two care for them! Would you like to adopt them when we die?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lucky that you know what to do to take care of your vehicles. Most of us have to rely on the kindness of service repair shops. Reminds me of a claim where the owner had just picked up his newly repaired car. He made a stop on the way home and noticed his hood was not latched. He couldn't get his hood to latch. Called dealer and the guy who came out couldn't latch it either but expected the owner to DRIVE it down the road when the hood could fly up at any instant. You can bet I called the dealer and read them the riot act since we used them so often on car claims. They took my suggestion and had the car towed the 1/2 mile to the shop and fixed the latch.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm not very practical with cars but I do know they should be cared for. I was horrified to learn my SIL happily had her car valeted with never a thought of a service.
    Then she broke down in the sticks and undertood what I was saying.

    ReplyDelete
  6. How nice it is when you find a reputable repairman who won't leave your car looking like a dump truck if he repairs it.

    I hate messy men. Really hate them. They are the kind that leave greasy fingerprints everywhere without a care. OK to rant I think. Dianne

    ReplyDelete

postcards

Celebration of Life