A LITTLE BRIGHT SPOT- Finding one where I can!
Sorry for being away for so long. I'm still not really "feeling it" with regard to writing on the blog. That having been said, I was reading an article in the Washington Post Magazine today about the author's trepidation about having his car inspected, and it got me thinking about a recent experience that I had in the world of auto inspection. The experience was so positive, that it made my whole week. Here's the story:
I needed to renew the registration for my truck, which is my primary vehicle. In order to do this, I had to get an emissions test performed at the inspection station. Getting any sort of inspection done (emissions, safety, etc.) in the WWW is a pain in the ass, because there are so many people around here with so few inspection stations, that there is almost never a good time to go. Add to that situation the fact that I work in an area of Virginia where emissions testing is not required and no one has the equipment, and you have a formula for inconvenient day planning for me.
I have begun to resolve this situation by finding the most out-of-the-way inspection station that I can find, and by going there before they open so that I can get in first and get out as quickly and easily as possible. This has worked for me for about the past year. My designated inspection spot is a little mom and pop garage located right off of U.S. 1 in Woodbridge, and which doesn't have any advertising. In fact, their required "inspection station" signage is not even visible from the roadway. In short, no one goes there for inspections, and it is the perfect place for me to go, as opposed to, let's say, the gas station by the mall. The gas station by the mall has a two or three hour line every day, all day, without regard to whether it is the end of the month or not. The advantage of my chosen place is obvious.
So, like I said, I had to get an emissions inspection on my primary vehicle. I didn't really think it would be a problem, as my truck is relatively new and doesn't produce any visible smoke. My only two gripes with this unit have been that the emergency brake light stays on constantly, and that the "check engine" light would stay on intermittently, though not all the time. (BTW, both problems are well documented quirks of my type of truck, so I never really paid them much mind- hey, I read the forums.) I went at this particular emissions test with a little bit of trepidation, because the last time I got an emissions test, my secondary car failed miserably and was essentially knocked permanently out of service. Allow me to digress....
Right after I got my current job, we needed to get a third vehicle so that our live-in au pair could have something to drive. After literally looking to see if I could get a used Yugo, or some other silly-cheap car, I happened upon a government surplus auction website. Lo and behold, the County next to me was auctioning off a bunch of old Sheriff's Office cruisers. I bid on the oldest one, and won the auction for the seller's-premium-included cost of $326.00. This car is a 1992 Ford Crown Victoria, and it is complete with the Earl Scheib white-over-brown bogus paint job, the spotlight mount, odometer broken at 136943, the red-lens interior dome light, the cage marks on the backs of the seats, scotchlight on all of the interior door panels, and the oh-so-awesome visible sticker residue on the doors. When I got it, it had been sitting for a few months. Once I got it started, it ran pretty well. Once I got a new battery, it ran perfectly. Once I was convinced that it wouldn't blow up and that it was reliable, I started driving it full time. I let my live-in babysitter from Bosnia drive my pimped-out truck with the dubs, heated leather seats and other bling. I was thrilled that my "bluesmobile" was maybe the best cash/efficiency ratio purchase of all time. The only trouble with that car is that any repair (and I mean any repair) fails the cost-benefit analysis. OK, back to the story.
The failure of the emissions test on my hoop-dee meant that I had to spend a few hundred bucks in order to get a new registration, and the valid license plates that go along with it. being unwilling to do this, the failure put the bluesmobile on the sidelines for now. I walked into the shop that morning thinking that it would be nice to get a quick emissions pass and to get on the road. After waiting a minute for someone to show up at the shop, I was directed to the emissions bay by the manager, whom I had dealt with before. He hooked the truck up to the state-issued computer, and started with the tests. Long story short, that pesky check engine light intermittently goes on because when the environmental package fails, you're supposed to check the engine. My environmental package had failed. The computer analysis was able to pinpoint the problem right down to the cylinder and the valve. It was a small, yet gloriously expensive part that needed to be unscrewed and replaced. The rules of emissions testing are that the shop that tests you has to do the work to fix any deficiencies, and the shop guy said he could get the part and have me out in about four hours.
I was still reeling from the second (and this time unexpected) failure from this shop. Perhaps my off-the-beaten-trail inspection shop idea was stupid. I was also under time pressure. I needed to get the test passed quickly so that I could get my registration. I had to go to court. I had a bunch of stuff to do that couldn't wait for me to be four hours in an auto shop. Then something even more unexpected happened......
The manager guy, hearing that I needed to get to work, offered to drive me to work. I explained that my office is like 40 miles from the shop, and we both shared a little laugh about how that plan wouldn't work. Then, without even thinking about it, he pulled out his personal keyring, pulled off his car key, and told me to take his car, and to come back after I got off work. I asked him if he was sure, and he said that it would be "no problem". I thanked him profusely, shifted some gear from my truck to his passenger seat, and was about to take off, when he took my name and address for the shop's real (i.e., not the estimate) paperwork. And then I went to work.
It was strange to drive to work in a stranger's car. It was strange to drive back to the shop after work in a stranger's car. I filled it up with fuel at a nearby convenience store, and rolled back into the shop. My car was done, with a pass on the emissions test, with the check engine light (hopefully forever) out, and with a service bill significantly less than the original estimate. I paid the guy, and thanked him for his above-and-beyond the call of duty customer service. He just moved on to the next car.
I think that in my chosen professions, I have come to expect the worst in people. I see people on the worst days of their lives. In the fire department, I see people who are highly stressed, drunk, injured, or who have lost greatly. In the law, my job as the "good guy" makes me the "bad guy" for as many as fifty or sixty defendants in a day, and I am absolutely sure that I make some (deserving) people very unhappy every day that I set foot in court. But I also get to work every day with people who are highly stressed, drunk, injured, or who have lost greatly. In both places, people that I deal with do irrational things. People do mean and irrational things. If you read this blog, you know the drill. Additionally, the non-court aspects of my job offer a very broad opportunity to see a very negative and depressing side of life that, thankfully, most people don't get to see. In short, it is good to be reminded that there are good people out there. This was a shining example. It made me happy.
The little bright spot for that day was a very helpful, accommodating, generous and honest car mechanic, who went out of his way to do me a solid favor, even though he didn't know me. His name is Wang Chung (and no, I'm not kidding). If you want to know where his shop is, leave me a comment with enough info so that I can find you.
I'll try to get back into the writing groove. This helped.
DTXMATT12
I needed to renew the registration for my truck, which is my primary vehicle. In order to do this, I had to get an emissions test performed at the inspection station. Getting any sort of inspection done (emissions, safety, etc.) in the WWW is a pain in the ass, because there are so many people around here with so few inspection stations, that there is almost never a good time to go. Add to that situation the fact that I work in an area of Virginia where emissions testing is not required and no one has the equipment, and you have a formula for inconvenient day planning for me.
I have begun to resolve this situation by finding the most out-of-the-way inspection station that I can find, and by going there before they open so that I can get in first and get out as quickly and easily as possible. This has worked for me for about the past year. My designated inspection spot is a little mom and pop garage located right off of U.S. 1 in Woodbridge, and which doesn't have any advertising. In fact, their required "inspection station" signage is not even visible from the roadway. In short, no one goes there for inspections, and it is the perfect place for me to go, as opposed to, let's say, the gas station by the mall. The gas station by the mall has a two or three hour line every day, all day, without regard to whether it is the end of the month or not. The advantage of my chosen place is obvious.
So, like I said, I had to get an emissions inspection on my primary vehicle. I didn't really think it would be a problem, as my truck is relatively new and doesn't produce any visible smoke. My only two gripes with this unit have been that the emergency brake light stays on constantly, and that the "check engine" light would stay on intermittently, though not all the time. (BTW, both problems are well documented quirks of my type of truck, so I never really paid them much mind- hey, I read the forums.) I went at this particular emissions test with a little bit of trepidation, because the last time I got an emissions test, my secondary car failed miserably and was essentially knocked permanently out of service. Allow me to digress....
Right after I got my current job, we needed to get a third vehicle so that our live-in au pair could have something to drive. After literally looking to see if I could get a used Yugo, or some other silly-cheap car, I happened upon a government surplus auction website. Lo and behold, the County next to me was auctioning off a bunch of old Sheriff's Office cruisers. I bid on the oldest one, and won the auction for the seller's-premium-included cost of $326.00. This car is a 1992 Ford Crown Victoria, and it is complete with the Earl Scheib white-over-brown bogus paint job, the spotlight mount, odometer broken at 136943, the red-lens interior dome light, the cage marks on the backs of the seats, scotchlight on all of the interior door panels, and the oh-so-awesome visible sticker residue on the doors. When I got it, it had been sitting for a few months. Once I got it started, it ran pretty well. Once I got a new battery, it ran perfectly. Once I was convinced that it wouldn't blow up and that it was reliable, I started driving it full time. I let my live-in babysitter from Bosnia drive my pimped-out truck with the dubs, heated leather seats and other bling. I was thrilled that my "bluesmobile" was maybe the best cash/efficiency ratio purchase of all time. The only trouble with that car is that any repair (and I mean any repair) fails the cost-benefit analysis. OK, back to the story.
The failure of the emissions test on my hoop-dee meant that I had to spend a few hundred bucks in order to get a new registration, and the valid license plates that go along with it. being unwilling to do this, the failure put the bluesmobile on the sidelines for now. I walked into the shop that morning thinking that it would be nice to get a quick emissions pass and to get on the road. After waiting a minute for someone to show up at the shop, I was directed to the emissions bay by the manager, whom I had dealt with before. He hooked the truck up to the state-issued computer, and started with the tests. Long story short, that pesky check engine light intermittently goes on because when the environmental package fails, you're supposed to check the engine. My environmental package had failed. The computer analysis was able to pinpoint the problem right down to the cylinder and the valve. It was a small, yet gloriously expensive part that needed to be unscrewed and replaced. The rules of emissions testing are that the shop that tests you has to do the work to fix any deficiencies, and the shop guy said he could get the part and have me out in about four hours.
I was still reeling from the second (and this time unexpected) failure from this shop. Perhaps my off-the-beaten-trail inspection shop idea was stupid. I was also under time pressure. I needed to get the test passed quickly so that I could get my registration. I had to go to court. I had a bunch of stuff to do that couldn't wait for me to be four hours in an auto shop. Then something even more unexpected happened......
The manager guy, hearing that I needed to get to work, offered to drive me to work. I explained that my office is like 40 miles from the shop, and we both shared a little laugh about how that plan wouldn't work. Then, without even thinking about it, he pulled out his personal keyring, pulled off his car key, and told me to take his car, and to come back after I got off work. I asked him if he was sure, and he said that it would be "no problem". I thanked him profusely, shifted some gear from my truck to his passenger seat, and was about to take off, when he took my name and address for the shop's real (i.e., not the estimate) paperwork. And then I went to work.
It was strange to drive to work in a stranger's car. It was strange to drive back to the shop after work in a stranger's car. I filled it up with fuel at a nearby convenience store, and rolled back into the shop. My car was done, with a pass on the emissions test, with the check engine light (hopefully forever) out, and with a service bill significantly less than the original estimate. I paid the guy, and thanked him for his above-and-beyond the call of duty customer service. He just moved on to the next car.
I think that in my chosen professions, I have come to expect the worst in people. I see people on the worst days of their lives. In the fire department, I see people who are highly stressed, drunk, injured, or who have lost greatly. In the law, my job as the "good guy" makes me the "bad guy" for as many as fifty or sixty defendants in a day, and I am absolutely sure that I make some (deserving) people very unhappy every day that I set foot in court. But I also get to work every day with people who are highly stressed, drunk, injured, or who have lost greatly. In both places, people that I deal with do irrational things. People do mean and irrational things. If you read this blog, you know the drill. Additionally, the non-court aspects of my job offer a very broad opportunity to see a very negative and depressing side of life that, thankfully, most people don't get to see. In short, it is good to be reminded that there are good people out there. This was a shining example. It made me happy.
The little bright spot for that day was a very helpful, accommodating, generous and honest car mechanic, who went out of his way to do me a solid favor, even though he didn't know me. His name is Wang Chung (and no, I'm not kidding). If you want to know where his shop is, leave me a comment with enough info so that I can find you.
I'll try to get back into the writing groove. This helped.
DTXMATT12
posted by DTXMATT12 at 3:20 PM
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