DMGI'm just going to rant for a bit.
Halloween, my car has a rock thrown through the back window.
I have this fixed, and and my local insurance rep tells me that the cost of the rental car is not covered at all. He is wrong, and I now have to submit my bill to get reimbursed.
(Also, while my back window is being replaced, I ask the mechanic to check the battery and alternator, as the car's been slow to turn over. He reports that the contacts were just dirty, cleans them and charges me $60 for the labor. This will come up again later.)
Nov. 6, my car window is broken again. I wisely decide to deal directly with State Farm Insurance, bypassing my local agent. Everything's covered, including the rental car, and they greenlight $2200 in repairs and cleaning for my Jetta.
Two days after taking the car in to be fixed, the mechanic tells me that the car will be ready that night. I leave work early, drop off my rental car, and go to pick up my car. It is, in fact, not ready to be picked up, and will not be for another week. I go back to Enterprise and get another rental car.
In the meantime, I have to move into my new place, using a tiny rental car, and requiring my parents' help. They can't help but try to run things. So Instead of them helping me move, I help them move me. Stress, stress, stress.
Small irritation: I wait around for three hours on the 13th for a tech to come set up my cable modem. The tech does not show.
When my car is finally ready, I double check with the mechanic: I pay my $250 deductible, and they bill State Farm, right? Well, under normal circumstances, yes. But State Farm has decided to mail me a check. Which has not arrived yet. So the car is ready, but I can't pick it up, because I don't have $2200 lying around. The check arrives two days later.
When I drop off the rental car, State Farm declines to cover any of the cost, since I "already dropped off the rental that's attached to this incident." I'm still trying to straighten this out.
When I do get my car back, the cleaners have missed a spot. It still smells like egg inside.
In the meantime, I've started swimming again, which is great. But it starts another sinus infection. I wait a few days, but when the infection moves into my chest, I go to the doctor, who prescribes Biaxin, an antibiotic. The cure may be worse than the disease: I'm hungry all the time, but food is disgusting for a good 8 hours after I take the pills. After three days of this, I'm just taking it on faith that this will get me healthy faster than just waiting would have.
After work today, my car had trouble starting. Battery's weak. But it does turn over, and I go to pick up a friend for a dinner party in Encino, after calling the host and verrifying that he has jumper cables so we won't get stranded. The only spot remotely near her place is in front of a fire hydrant, but (famous last words) I'm just going to be a minute. Of course, once I've parked, the car will not start again. We take her car to dinner.
So, four days after picking up my car from the shop, and just three weeks after both the battery and alternator were specifically checked, my car will not start. Battery's completely dead. When we get back from dinner, we try to push the car to a new spot, but cannot because I'm parallel parked, and I'm not strong enough to push the car up away from the curb. So, I am now stuck parked in front of a fire hydrant. I may be ticketed overnight, and there's nothing I can do. The note I left on my car reads: "Battery is dead. Please have mercy."
When I get home, the lightbulb in my bedroom lamp burns out. Since I just moved in, I have no spares. But my phone is now charging.
So tomorrow, I get to call AAA to get a jump for my car, then deal with the dealership and have a new battery put in. And if they can fix my car quickly, I get to go argue with my insurance agent and get all my reimbursements straightened out. So yeah, I'm calling in sick. I'm cleaning up this mess once and for all.