Flat Tire Is Flat
So when I got to work this morning, one of my coworkers, who was also just arriving, rushed up to my car. “You have a flat tire!” she said. And flat it was!
Now, you may have noticed that Smart cars are very small. But did you know that they are so small that they don’t come with a spare tire, because there is really nowhere to put it? So I called the “Smart Move Assistance” line – that’s the name of the roadside assistance that comes with your Smart car. The guy on the phone told me that since Smart cars don’t have spare tires, they’d have to call a tow truck driver to take me to the dealership to get it fixed or replaced. I was *supposed* to be going to Langley today to run a couple of focus groups, so I had a bit of a scramble calling a manager to get her to contact the attendees – the list of whom I had to find in my email on the web browser on my phone – to tell them *not* to go to Langley, since I wouldn’t be able to get there. Because *of course* this couldn’t happen on a day when I didn’t need to drive somewhere.
So the tow truck driver showed up and put my poor baby car onto his truck, like so:
I opted to go with the tow truck driver to the dealership, because I really didn’t have another way to get to the dealership to pick up my car ((I mean, I suppose I could have asked a coworker for a ride, but my coworkers are all very busy!)). Plus, since there was to have been a bit of spare time in between the two focus groups that I was intending to go to, I had some work in my bag that I could work on while I waited, so it didn’t really matter much if I was doing that at the dealership or in my office.
Now, the tow truck driver was an interesting fellow. First, he was freaked out that I was in such a “dangerous” area full of “crackheads” and “did you see all the hookers just over there?” I was at King George Boulevard ((of Broken Dreams)) and 72nd, which, for my readers who are not from Surrey ((i.e., all of my readers)), isn’t exactly the scariest part of town. I mean, I go there every day for work and have never felt the least bit scared ((Except that one time I decided to go to the nearby liquor store on a Friday evening. That time, I did think I was going to be murdered)). Also, there is a police station within spitting distance. But apparently he figured he arrived just in time to save my life. During the brief drive to the dealership, he managed to fit in several rants, including one about his ex-wife who is now engaged to his ex-best friend and one about Asian drivers ((Bitterness *and* racism! Together at last!)).
At the dealership, I learned that replacing one measly Smart car tire costs almost $300! WTF? That’s a lot of dollars! They did clean and vacuum my car, which is something that I’ve been meaning to do since forever. So procrastination FTW!
While I was there, I also asked about the cost of a Smart car bike rack, given that I’m seriously considering buying a bike. Would you believe that a bike rack for my Smart, including installation, costs nearly $1000?! ((This prompted me to do some Googling this evening and I discovered that you can buy a bike rack designed for Smart cars that you can install yourself. Will still probably run me several hundred, but not a thousand!)).
And to think just this morning I was thinking “I have no idea what to blog about today!” Be careful what you wish for, Bethy!
Comments |1|
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I think that somewhat compensates for how cheap the Smrt Car is. That bike rack price is INsaNE!!!
P.S. It never gets old. It just so never, never gets old. I think I laugh *every* time I think of it.