Let me start by saying: follow your gut. If it feels weird or the vibe isn't right, go home.
So LaVaughn and I decided to go Christmas shopping in Poplar Bluff earlier today because we've been putting it off for weeks. I woke up a little before 11, which was horrible, but I decided to make the best of it. Took a shower, got the glider food ready, made coffee, set up the new internet... the usual. After we ate and LaVaughn took a shower, we headed on our way.
It was very gloomy today. Cloudy, foggy, misty rain and the temperature was uncomfortable. We took highway 34 which ended up being a bad idea because about 10ft of road was washed out and jagged. Naturally I didn't get over far enough and BAM! Flat tire... yay! Luckily there was a road just a few feet down the road, which we pulled into.
Got out, got the donut out of the trunk and then struggled with getting the jack unscrewed. Broke my nail, clawed my and got filthy in the process. After freeing the jack from it's unnatural hold, we began to jack the car up. Things were going well, we were making great time, got the lug nuts broke off then all of a sudden the jack snapped sideways and broke. We tried for 30 minutes to fix the jack, but it was to no avail.
A lady and her husband stopped and asked if we needed help, but things were going good at the time and we didn't need any help. Then one more guy stopped, but again, we were well on track. After the jack broke only ONE other car stopped in the hour that we were sitting there and they didn't even carry a jack.
That's when I swallowed my pride and called my ex-boss. Well, it was really her husband that I wanted because he has a tow service. This was at like 5:10 and she said he was on his way home from work and she would have him call me as soon as he walked it. Well 30 minutes passed and nothing, so I called back, but he still wasn't there. Waited 15 more minutes and called a roadside tow place in Silva and they were more than happy to help.
Like the owner was in Poplar Bluff at the time, but he said if he didn't have someone down at the shop he would find someone to send over as soon as possible. Like 10 minutes later I get a call from another guy and he said he was just a few minutes away. I'm so glad we ended up calling someone, because our donut was almost flat. After the guy was done I asked him how much and he replied with, "Whatever sounds good to you." I replied with, "How much do you normally charge?" and his response was, "Oh I'm not charging you that!"
After going back and forth for a couple seconds I finally got him to take $20.
Back to the other guy real quick... the guy that's married to a lady I worked for, for 2 1/2 years. The guy that I've known since 2nd grade, the guy that used to drive my bus. Well when I called to tell him that I found a local guy he was like, "Well that's 30 miles from me, so it's probably best you found someone closer." Wanna know why he said that? Because even though I didn't need a tow and literally just needed to borrow a jack that he could've driven over in his truck or his wife's car, he was still gonna charge me over a dollar mile both ways to lend a and to someone he's known for 25 years.
Needless to say I found a new tow/roadside company.
I'm just thankful we weren't on 67 and it wasn't freezing cold or raining heavily. Thank God we were able to get help at a steal and make it home safe and sound. Now I gotta take the car somewhere tomorrow to get a tire and then hopefully go Christmas shopping.
Here are some random pictures I took a little bit ago of the decorations in the kitchen. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment