One Day This Will Be Funny

This portion of my life is going to be great... one day.

When I have put enough distance between myself and the current Now, it will be a great story of endurance, survival, and belly laughs. At the moment, however, it is definitely an "I'm too pretty for this!" tale.

Some of you remember that my dear Chrysler LeBaron died last Friday. Since then, my friends Hunter and Laura have been schlepping me everywhere -- car dealerships, work, etc. For some reason, they love me that much. But even the best of friends don't deserve what they endured with me yesterday.

First, Laura picked me up for work. This meant that she left the house about 45 minutes earlier than she normally needed to. I taught class, and afterward was approached by a student asking if he could give his speech that he missed on Friday.

You might remember this guy. It was the same one who told me he missed turning in an assignment because "he couldn't get out of bed." And yes, you'd be right if you guessed he slept in this time, too. I refrained from telling him that even with my car breaking down on the way in to campus, *I* still made it on time.

After class, I visited my vehicle and put a note in the window explaining it was broken down and I was arranging for a tow (fingers crossed that it's still there). I then went online to reserve a rental car. My first choice -- Hertz -- was out of vehicles for the day, so Kayak.com suggested Enterprise. I booked the car, Hunter came to get me, and we headed to the airport to pick up my compact.

When we got there, we discovered Kayak interprets location loosely. When I said I wanted a car at the airport, the website took that to mean "within 10 miles of the airport," which is really not the same thing if you're on foot. Luckily I wasn't, so Hunter I went to the office several miles away.

Where they did not have a car ready for me.

Nor did they two hours later, when they promised to.

Or an hour after that. Or that.

In fact, Enterprise didn't have a car for me until 5:45 p.m., though my reservation was for noon. And when I climbed into the Yaris (aka "The Most Poorly Designed Car Ever"), I was choked by cigarette fumes... which is why I didn't notice the "check engine" light till I got home.


I called today at 10 a.m. to complain, and the branch manager assured me she'd call when they had another car to trade me. It's now 5 p.m., and I haven't heard back.

Oh, and did I mention that the car that I had hoped to test drive -- the one I would've test driven had I a vehicle when I'd arranged for one -- was sold an HOUR before I got the keys to the rental?

I am waaaaaaay too pretty for this.