Getting my car serviced - 2 years on

It’s that time of year and NOT finding peace in odd places.

The same view as I wait to know the damage so the same picture

This Monday I missed my deadline for my Monday post, due to the need to lie in a darkened room after 2 new tyres, a new light and MOT. I decided to revamp a previous post due to a number of reasons, including comparing the difference in two years of how people behave whilst waiting for their cars.

The relevant bits of the previous post are in italics

…. here I am sitting here in my local BMX/Mini garage, mine's a Mini. Its not that local it took me half an hour to get here. Via a number of unexpected roadworks and traffic lights. When I booked the service I was pleasantly surprised that it was just brake fluid, thinking I needed a full service, but I will let you know the full damage in a couple of hours.

One big difference this year when I arrived I knew and had ordered my new rear light casing. I cannot put the cost in black and white it’ll become real 😁. If you hit a brick wall, however gently and slowly you can expect some repercussions. The offending light got through the MOT last year, but showed signs of water leaking in. Decision made and newly washed car looks so much better.

The staff at the garage are all always incredibly welcoming and efficient, in a genuine non sugary way. There is ample decent tea, coffee and chocolate on tap plus fresh fruit available as you wait, after 3 hours I consumed a banana.

The waiting area is well designed. Bright very clean with a mixture of soft sofas and tables with chairs with ample power points. There is even a large viewing area into the service area. I wrote last time

I cannot say sitting here is an unpleasant activity, even if it's likely to be for 2 hours. Ok, it's on an industrial estate backing onto the A1(M), a very busy road. Yet it is surprisingly peaceful and calm. A slight annoyance is the radio playing, loud enough to hear but not loud enough to hear what they are actually saying.

What a change two years make. This time the radio and tv noise was drowned out, by being aandwiched between two males talking extremely loudly on their head sets continuously. One I was able to completely block out. The other was so loud for the full four hours it was impossible to block him out entirely. He only took one break to go to the toilet.

The man was probably in his late 60s early 70s, a senior executive of an international company with a slight Australian accent. His company was designing a membrane of some sort that had an end of life. Terms he repeated during his first conversation over and over again. They had received a number of grants from £100k to £200k, nowhere enough for full development.

He moved on to another conversation, loudly discussing how a female senior executive was not up to the job and advising/instructing the person on the other end of the phone what to do about her. This appeared to be recurrent theme in his conversations, to the point I nearly asked him how had he got so far being so sexist. Annoyance possibly more than reality as I did occasionally mange to ignore him.

He was briefly interrupted to be told his car had failed its MOT, I smiled wickedly. He hardly stopped his conversation but took the details of a local company that could get the offending part. Resulting in his next brief loud conversation - his vintage BMW is booked in next Monday.

He continued with work conversations. I learnt he could not got to a business meeting next week in Chicago because he is having an operation on his nose to clear his sinuses. The following conversation was going through a presentation on the computer in front of him and rip it apart slide by slide. Next was the million pound deals the company were doing that needed attention.

My hearing is not great yet I could hear every word. However much I tried he kept breaking into my thoughts. Despite these interruptions of thought I managed to write a decent first couple of pages for my idea for a novel. I am amazed. Starting to write the beginning of anything is my biggest stumbling block. I keep everything in my head for months. It was the same with professional reports I wrote them at the last minute. Now I have no deadlines things rumble around forever. Except when trying to block arrogant, smug, self entitled idiots (the clean word) out, maybe I should have shaken his hand and thanked him on the way out.

Why am I so troubled by this arrogant man?

1. Everyone was waiting there to get their cars back. We were all equal. If we all started shouting on our phones the noise would unbearable.

2. If he is such a big player in whatever world he inhabits - I suspect he is by his Paul Smith trainers yes I noticed and his chic scruffy appearance - he had no idea who I was. I could have been a journalist, a relative of one of his executives who knew the woman not up to the job in his opinion or even a Substacker looking for a subject for a post. I could even have been a competitor.

3. If he was so very important, why was he using someone else’s office to conduct his business. Surely one of his minions could have taken his car for its MOT. He could then have continued working in his own space uninterrupted.

PS One woman started doing exercises to her computer. At least she had the manners to have headphones firmly in place and it was amusing.

Time to sign off now. Got my health check through for the car, very efficient. I am still sitting here. It's ok except 4 new tyres hey ho. They have passed it for the MOT, but my tyre man tomorrow. They are cleaning it inside & out. Anyone who has been in my car will be surprised that he said it would only take 25 minutes. Until next time.

This time I arrived at 10.15 thinking I would leave by 12.15. I got home at 16.00, with a much lighter wallet. Two tyres needed replacing or else it failed the MOT, unlike last time when it was advisory. Fair play to the garage it was clear on the film. Not just a puncture but a slash in each tyre. No time to go to my usual tyre man. The cost of two garage tyres was equal to all four at my tyre man, which he changed 6 months later - on his advice.

I still cannot fault the garage staff I left laughing, there’s no pint crying into spilt rubber. I know you can’t anyway 😂🐇

Prompts

Think of a time when someone annoyed you with their overly loud conversation? How much can you remember? How did it make you feel?

Think of a back story for the person/s involved

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