Ninja Truck has disgraced the family. He went to a shop. This is uncool.
Even less cool is the series of phone calls I received from the mechanic over the next two days.
Him: MannyRee? Hi, uh...it looks like you'll need about $4000 to fix your truck.
Me: Uh...I could buy three of my trucks with that much money. What's going on? I just needed an alignment.
Him: Well....you have a tail light out.
Me: No I don't.
Him: Yes, it doesn't work...we can replace the bulb for you.
Me: Have fun with that, because you have to take the door off and use four different screwdrivers and then once you get the bulbs in, you realize that there is a wiring problem.
Him: Oh. That sucks. I don't do wiring. But you also have a power steering leak.
Me: Ok. But what about an alignment?
Him: You need new tie rods.
Me: Those are new tie rods. Alignment?
Him: You need new ball joints.
Me: Those are new ball joints.
Him: Well, they don't fit the control arm. You need a new control arm.
Me: Can you tell if the control arm is forged or stamped?
Him: ...
Me: If it's forged, maybe we could tack weld the ball joints. The stamped control arms are more uniform.
Him: MY computer didn't tell me that.
Me: Put my truck back together, I'm coming to get him.
I don't know an awful lot about cars, but when the shop mechanic argues with me based on what his shop computer told him -- it's time to find a garage mechanic. Like my brother. Yay, for brother! He gets to spend more time under Ninja Truck, which is basically his birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. (Don't tell him, though, I want to see the look of excitement on his face when I surprise him.)
I went to the shop to surprise the mechanic yesterday, and boy was he happy about it. I made him show me everything he was talking about and he was so glad for that opportunity. I'm sure he appreciates the more "hands-on" customers. When I called later, the guy on the phone told me I was close to winning the Most Annoying Customer Ever Award. They are scoring big points up there, let me tell ya. I think they quoted the $4000 just to get rid of me. I don't understand why it's such a big deal that I want to understand exactly why they want to charge me more than my truck is worth to fix it. If this isn't a time to ask questions, I don't know what is.
Anyway, Ninja Truck is on his way home, and I have about two weeks to fix him before school starts again. And he can forget about a new air conditioner, because he is being all high maintenance and I'm feeling used. When school starts, we get to start the whole other type of stress, so the truck is going to have to suck it up until next summer.
