Yeah, I got my car back.

And I did not even have to kill any one this time.

I just walked back to Smith and Smith to fetch my car they promised will be done by 2.  I went at quarter past to give them some wiggle room, since I am (or was) a nice guy.

When I arrived there, my car was not in front any more.  That’s a good sign, it means they started at least, right?  So I started looking around but could not find my car in the yard.  So I went in.

Turns out they did start, but now they have to wait for the glue to set or something to that effect.  Will be ready at 3:15, “we promise”.  Where have I heard that before?

Will it kill them to just pick up the f@#$ing phone and let me know that there is no point in me wasting 20 minutes walking there and back just to hear another excuse?

So, to apologise, the receptionists offered to phone me a taxi.  For two block, no thanks.  I will wait longer for the taxi than I would walk.  ”Can we drop the car off at your office?”  Sure, but my office is unmarked.  So I tried giving directions.  And 4 minutes later gave up.  Do you have a map I can show you where it is?  The only one they had was in the phone book and the scale was way to small to convey enough information.

So I will be walking back there at 4:30.  And I will be leaving my pocket knife in my office because I don’t want to go to jail.

A few weeks ago I noticed a crack on my windscreen.  It has probably been there for a while since it was close to edge on the passenger side, in a spot I rarely look at in close detail.

The crack was still relatively small, less than 2cm across.  Because of the helpful ads on TV which explains that the crack can grow when you drive over a bump, I decided to rather take it in to be repaired before it becomes a problem.

So the wife made an appointment and took the car in expecting it to be the end of that.  But alas, when we got it back, the crack was considerably larger than before, about 4cm.  Obviously that means the entire windscreen needs to be replaced.  Maybe they had a bump somewhere on the property and “accidentally” drove over it? Who knows?

In any case, that means we need to make another appointment.  I have been reminded about the appointment for this morning almost every day for the last week, so I did not forget.

I parked right in front of reception.  A friendly receptionist verified my appointment, and took down my contact details so they can inform me when its done.  I planned to take it home over lunch, so they wrote on the order “Pick-up at 12:30” giving them ample time to complete it.  So I walked to my office feeling that the car was in good hands.

When I arrived back there at 12:30 my car was in front of the shop.  Wow, that means I won’t have to go looking for it.  And I was a bit worried about re-sticking all me stickers on the inside, but they managed that as well.  They even included the…  Wait, why is the crack still there?

The receptionist was friendly again, obviously unaware that I started fuming internally.  And unaware that nothing at all has been done to my car.  So she went to investigate.  Apparently they have a trainee there today, so things are going a bit slowly.  So why the hell did someone not phone me?

They told me my car is next on the list.  So when will it be done?  Maybe two o’clock.

I just hope for their sake it has not started raining by then.