once upon a monday morning....

as the attendant turned the key in the ignition, with the screams of the car alarm assaulting my ears, i couldn't help but think, "i can't believe this is happening." people have car trouble all the time, i know. especially if you buy a used car. (or even a brand-new kia!) but my car, is a gem. sure it's got some dents and yeah, i busted the tail-light myself, but that was not my fault. i mean i hit something, but i did not want to be on the road in that time and place anyway. that however, is another story altogether.

but how often, does a garage attendant set off an alarm that you didn't even know you had while trying to adjust a battery terminal during a routine oil change? these guys at jiffy lube do more than just change your oil, they kinda poke around and check a bunch of things every three thousand miles. well, they noticed one of my battery terminals wasn't sitting down properly - i guess it had been that way for awhile because later on we found a bent penny jammed in there as band-aid to the problem i guess.

as for the alarm, i'm not stupid, i did suspect that the car had had one installed at one time. there's a small red light on top of the steering wheel. but the people who sold it to me never mentioned any alarm, certainly never gave me any means to shut on off if it sounded - so i assumed it had been disabled before i got it. and in the nearly two years i've owned the car, nothing happened to prove i was wrong about that.

ok you're wondering what's the big deal about a car alarm going off? yeah it kills your ears for a minute but then it stops right? well...this one had a kill switch. it completely disables your ignition. so there i was, at jiffy lube, and i couldn't start my car. and everytime anyone tried - and trust me these guys tried everything to try to turn if off, the thing would go off again. starts with a clicking that becomes gradually louder and then there's horns blaring with a screaming banshee for accompaniment. ouch. the other customers kept glancing my way, wondering why the hell i didn't turn the thing off. or at least why did we keep setting it off again.

so the very kind elderly black guy, leonard, who's the main attendant, said what you need to do is take it to an alarm shop. they'll get in and disable the wires. i protested in my squeaky voice (it gets higher when i don't know what to do), that how am i going to take my car anywhere if i can't turn it on? (tow trucks are way expensive and i need to get to work that day too!) did he know anyone he could call, i asked? (don't mechanics all know each other?) someone who could come here and fix it. hmm, leonard thought, let me see. let me talk to my guys.

it turns out that the garage next door, a midas, has a guy filling in that day for someone else. his forte is electrical stuff, isn't that something? he looks at it, does a lot of cursing (he hates alarms, just buy a club he says) and i try to innocently protest that i had nothing to do with putting the alarm there. he just looks at me. the jiffy lube guys push the car outside, on the road in front of the midas,and he gets work.

i wait outside, sitting on the curb. he's under the dashboard pulling out all sorts of wires while i sip my free jiffy lube coffee. it takes him almost an hour. the car starts! yay!!! i smile at him but now he just drives the car back into the garage. he says we still have two problems. the first one is the battery terminal still needs to be fixed. secondly, all those wires he pulled out, would take him hours to reconnect. however, he says, we can just replace the panel of the dashboard and pretend like none of this happened. the car starts, i should not have issues. this makes me nervous but he sounds like he knows what he's talking about. anyway what choice do i have? i gotta get to work.

eventually, he saves my day, and doesn't charge me much either, on account of my "great personality". ha! i guess he didn't hear me on the phone, refusing to be cheered up by my bestest. hehe. what a day! remember, when you buy a used car, even if it's a wonderfully preserved toyota, just check to see if there's an alarm there. if so, remember to get the switch for it.

oh yeah, and i called the used dealership where i bought the car, to chew them out. guess what, they are no longer in business!