Am I just being fussy, or do others hate taking their cars in for service, too?
It doesn’t much matter whether your wait-time is long or short — it’s far from fun.
Here are my pet peeves (how many agree?):
- Boring choice of reading material. Haven’t the-powers-that-be ever heard that women take their cars in for service, too? How many women do you know who enjoy reading magazines about electronics, mechanics, building trades, etc.?
- The ever-present blaring TV. Everybody’s afraid to change the channel that’s on when they arrive, or to turn it down; and what’s with the pompous guy who commandeers the remote and acts like he’s in his own den?
- Cramped quarters. No, I don’t like sitting side-by-side with a perfect stranger!
- Stuffy air. The place is invariably too hot or too cold, and you can’t find a good fan to save your life.
- The smells. Yep, I’m talking about what looks like week-old popcorn and day-old coffee. Do they really expect us to make our own food and drinks? If I wanted to wait on people, I’d get a job where at least I’d get paid to do it!
Now what makes the wait particularly irritating are the other customers. You know who I’m talking about:
- The chatterbox. This is the guy or gal who can’t shut up! They chat with other customers and the salespeople; they haul out their cell phones and give the rest of us a glimpse into their lives that we’d rather not see.
- Hospital Holly. The person who should have stayed home, in bed. Instead, they drag themselves to the dealership, sigh and moan about their ailments, use half a box of Kleenex, and make sure the rest of us get what they’ve got.
- Daddy-with-the-kids. Does he really expect any woman waiting for her car to help him babysit? He drags in 3 or 4 toddlers — one at least with a full diaper — then parks himself behind a magazine while the kids run wild through the showroom, leave gooey fingerprints everywhere, cry and scream uncontrollably, or spill juice on the carpet.
- Miss Thrift. Hear that ripping sound? This one helps herself to coupons from the magazines. Who said those things were free?
- Office Ollie. He busts out his laptop and proceeds to conduct high-powered business, spreading out dozens of file folders and papers over several surrounding seats. On second thought, he’s probably just trying to avoid having strangers sit next to him!
- Slick Mick the pickup guy. He thinks any female would be delighted at his attentions and does his darnedest to snag a date for the weekend.
I’m positive there are others. Which ones creep you out?
I’ve discovered the only way to service my car: use the fix-it man near work. I drop off the car and keys at 8am, walk six blocks to work and return at 5:45pm for pick up. win-win
How lucky you are! That’s one aggravating thing about working from a home office — and with all the rain we’ve been having lately, hiking to town is NOT on my fun list!
The blaring inescapable TV is what gets me, and esp. at my doctor’s office. If you wear earplugs or iPod you might not hear them call your name, so you can’t avoid it. But I figure as a writer, there’s all this material in front of me, so I take a pad and record observations!
My thoughts exactly — that’s where the blog came from, ha!