Well……SOMETIMES I Can't…... ;)

So………..here's the thing……..remember my THING with banks?

Well, I kind of have a thing with car dealerships/repair places, too.

They overwhelm me.  I don't get the terminology.  I don't care to…….I would drive my car until it stopped running if it were up to me.  Noises?  Don't hear them.  Red lights?  Don't see them.  Stops and starts, resistance?  Don't feel it.

Now this is not the RIGHT way to be, I am just explaining ME.  How I am.

Again.

Not the RIGHT way.

Also?  I get lost.  EVERY. SINGLE. DANG. TIME.

Why do I still go?

Oh the comfy couches, the coffee, the stillness, the peace, the wifi, it's just really a fabulous place to be.

Seriously.

So today………I WAS PREPARED.  Today was the day.  I was going to have an awesome car shop experience.

Yeah, not really.

It started off well.  Joe put my car keys on top of the coupon and paperwork that I was suppose to take. He had a list of things that needed to done written out.  He said NUMEROUS times….so you will have to look up the directions to get there, ok?  Ok?  Yeah, whatever.  Got it taken care of……..who CAN'T look up directions?  How condescending…………

Ummmmm.  So yeah.

It turns out I CAN look up directions………..just not the right ones.

I am driving up to Akron and I am thinking there is just not something right about it but maybe mapquest was taking me the back way………(like there is such a thing.  Yes, mapquest…..I would like to take the BACK way today)  Anyway, while nothing looked familiar I had utmost confidence in my directions and my ability to get there……because I LOOKED UP THE DIRECTIONS.

My confidence wained as I pulled into a COMPLETELY unfamiliar parking lot.

I COULD. NOT. BELIEVE. IT.

I got out of my car and went in and tried to explain to the girl that I was pretty sure that I was at the wrong place but that my husband made the appointment and reminded me to GET DIRECTIONS.  WHICH I DID…….using the coupon he left.  So maybe I was at the right place?

Wrong.

She referred me to another guy where I had to explain my story again and he was gracious enough to print out MORE directions to the rightful Vandevere where we always go.  You would have thought I would recognize the street name and realize that I was getting directions to the wrong place….but then YOU would be wrong, too :)

So I get BACK in the car and attempt to follow the directions………..one wrong veer later on those GODFORSAKEN highways in Akron and I am LOST.  The trip that according to MAPQUEST was supposed to take 9 minutes has now reached far beyond that estimate.

Throughout this whole ordeal I am calling/texting Liga and she sends me directions (even after I tell her that I am fine that I, miraculously, found the road I was suppose to take…..all roads seem to lead to 77 at some point….., she sends me directions.  Which turned out to be a BRILLIANT move on her part because I did INDEED get lost again).

I eventually make it to the RIGHT car shop and I succinctly explain why I was a tid bit late (yes, apparently it takes SOME PEOPLE over an hour to get from Canton to Akron).

And then comes the part of every visit that requires a great amount of dignity………..where I look that car shop man right in the eye and…….

Hand him the sheet of instructions from my husband.

What's even better is when he asks for clarification on some of the things and I just stare back.

Ummmmm……….what's on the sheet?  Then that.  WHATEVER IS ON THE SHEET.

Finally I am released to the couches and my diet coke and my computer.

It's awesome.  I fall under the car shop spell for over 2 hours as I catch up on e-mails and write a blog post.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and it's time to go.  I pay and then he asks me is there anything more I can help you with?

Ummmm, yes.

How do I get home?

Now it's his turn to stare at me……..where are you from?

I have to get back to Canton, I tell him.  He gives me directions and I am on my way.

And I actually am on the RIGHT way…….what a relief.

Then the phone rings.

Hmmmm……I pick it up.

It's Mike from the car shop.

I immediately say OH MY GOSH DID I LEAVE MY COMPUTER THERE?  MY PURSE?  WHAT DID I LEAVE THERE?

I hear a chuckle.

No, he says.  We just have the wrong paperwork, we need to exchange papers.

I say, Mike is there ANY WAY we can do this without me having to find you again because I don't think that I can.

Well, apparently, Mike is the NICEST car shop man in the world because he is bringing the papers to me.  It turns out that he has a funeral just south of Massillon today and if I still reside at the address on my paperwork then he can just bring them to the house.  I just need to leave the papers in the mailbox for him.  Oh and, he says, if you see a white Sedona pulling into the driveway don't be worried it's just him and he will just drop them in the mailbox.

Well, THANK YOU MIKE.

You have made a Vandevere shopper out of me for life!