All started well enough. I awoke early; got myself around; left the campground where I am staying; and almost immediately ventured out onto the Interstate that would lead me back into Raleigh. I knew, though, with half a tank of gasoline, it would probably be a wise thing to stop at the nearest gas station for fill up. As I also need a quarter of oil, I tracked down the nearest O'Reilly Auto Parts store, purchased an over-priced quart of motor oil, and was on my way.
The day before, I wasted far too much time searching out, not only a parking space that would not cost, but also a coffeeshop I could awaken fully to the day within. Today I decided a trip to a Panera Bread would be more in order. Coffee and pastries? Can't beat it.
Here is where my day assumed the harsh right turn of the Arkansas River.
My car began lurching: forward, stop; forward, stop; forward, stop. I feared it was on its last gasp of gasoline-fumed breath. I envisioned it collapsing into an immovable 'cow-in-the-middle-of-the-road/donkey-with-its-rump-nestled-into-the-earth' moment.
Thank the Lord I made it to a section of the road where I could stop, and park, and try not to burst into typical panic mode. This was a problem. Every problem carries solutions. Difficulties are meant to confront us with the challenges meant to stir the creative action within the human soul, to grow us into something better and more improved tomorrow than what we found resonant within our being today.
Okay. So what was the solution?
The previous week, when arriving in Tennessee at my stopping place, I considered the problems with my car (its idling would intermittently roar to life one moment, and collapse into a near death the next) and found a garage where I believed it would be taken and solved.
It was.
Then I arrived in North Carolina, where the same problems resurfaced with a vengeance. This needed to be fixed.
The garage in Tennessee, their work came with a warranty. I called the number I was given. The man listed for me several mechanics in the area who were under their certification to work on my car under warranty. I stopped at the first place on the list - less than two miles from where I sat parked - walked into the building expecting service.
I got nothing but obfuscation.
These guys made excuses, and I could tell they carried no intent to work on my car. Rather, the man was trying to pawn off the responsibility towards another garage - who likewise had no intent to work on my car.
I was incensed.
After traveling through Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and experiencing what must have been true genuine Southern hospitality, I arrive here in North Carolina where there is anything else but. If this had been a problem of a recent nature, absent the history from my visit to Tennessee, it might be possible to excuse the absence of any assistance of these peoples' part. There are, after all, instances where no one is available to attend to the work.
However, I consider the role of any business. If everyone is busy with work, do they refuse to attend to another customer? How long can a business continue that turns away paying customers?
Couple this with my combined frustration over a belief the problem was solved in Tennessee and my distance of over a thousand miles from my home state, I was quite upset.
I tried another garage - this time calling the number given to avoid a length trip for nothing. The man I talked to was friendly, but he was equally unhelpful. All he could tell me was his mechanic was on vacation, and he wouldn't return to work before Monday.
How a garage can operate without their mechanic is beyond me. But then, I am not a mechanic, so maybe their are some secretive mysterious rites of ascension this order of the mechanics operate underneath that prohibits them from closing their doors when no one is there to do the actual work. Go figure.
This man told me I should take it to a dealer. He gave me a number. I called the dealer. Half an hour later I drove it to the dealer's property, and six hours afterwards, nothing was resolved. My car still carried its problems. I was even more incensed. These people, they seemed as reluctant to resolve the issue as the others. They wasted my day, and showed a measure of incompetence in their profession that was mind-numbing.
They 'guessed' it was an electrical short;but they had no clue as to where said 'short' might be. I suppose I can now expect, the next place I go to eat, the cook to only 'guess' how to cook my food; or the doctor to 'guess' why my stomach is suffering from cramps (gotta be in the feet!); or the airplane pilot to 'guess' how to fly the big 747 into Chicago's airport.
I suppose such is to be expected in these new 'dark ages' days. No one desires to know the truth of how problems are fixed and solutions are used to resolve crises. They only look to wander about in the dark, hoping to run into the door leading out.
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