My Car And My Boss

Life has been a little crazy for me lately.  A couple of months ago, my car started acting up.  After a couple of trips to the mechanic, it was diagnosed with transmission trouble. My car was having trouble with first gear. To avoid major (and extremely expensive) work, the mechanic showed me how to shift it manually, even though it is an automatic, which seemed to solve my issue.

Until last week.  I was driving to the grocery store, and when I tried to go after stopping at a red light, nothing happened.  My poor transmission finally gave out, and Ryan had to push my car to get up enough speed to bypass first gear so that I could get my car home. My ex is pretty good at fixing cars, and he offered to replace my transmission.  The only problem was that I didn't have the money to buy even a used transmission.  I was also getting sick, so last weekend, instead of worrying abut my car or playing free pyramid solitaire, I took some cold medicine and slept for almost 36 hours straight.  By Sunday night, I was feeling a little better, and knew that I needed to make a decision about my car.

I knew I would have to borrow the money to fix it, but I didn't want to ask anyone.  I know that it is my responsibility, not anyone else's, but when every cent I make goes towards bills, finding an extra $600 is impossible.  On Tuesday, my boss asked me what I was doing about my car, because he knew all the trouble I had been having. We talk every morning and are more friends than boss/employee. He even called around to the mechanics he knows to see how much it would cost to fix my transmission.  When I told him my ex would fix my car if I could come up with the $575 for the transmission, he told me to follow him to the atm, and he handed me the money.

I couldn't stop crying.  I told him that I couldn't ask him to do that, and he told me that I didn't ask, it was an emergency, and then asked if I planned on quitting.  I told him of course not, so he told me I can pay him back $25 a week until we're even.  Have I told you all how much I love this man?

So this weekend, my ex is going to put in my new transmission, and hopefully by Sunday morning I will have my car back.  I can not wait!

Car Repairs

A friend of mine called me today with car issues.  She took her car in for an oil change and now it's not running at all.  My ex looked at it, and says the motor is locked up.  Of course, it had to be something the mechanic did, and of course they claim they did nothing wrong.  The thing is, the car was running when they pulled it into the shop, and after they were done, it wouldn't even crank.  I went up there to see what was going on and offer whatever support I could, and eventually the mechanic pulled it back into the shop to check it out.

In my opinion, they should have to fix it free of charge since they obviously did something wrong.  They said they couldn't fix it until tomorrow, which leaves my friend without a vehicle.  Plus, they said they aren't going to do anything if they decide it's not their fault.  My poor friend is going to have to find a discount car rental place so she can at least get her daughter back and forth to school.  I know first hand how hard is it to be without a running vehicle, so I can sympathize with her.