DMV: 0, Car Dealership: 1

If you'd told me that my trip to the DMV was going to be much quicker and more painless than the trip to the car dealership to get a new key fob, I'd have told you that you were a few papayas short of a fruit stand. If you'd told me that on Wednesday, after the fiasco with the insurance, I would have thought you were, well, a fruit stand short of a fruit stand. Just goes to show what I know, because you would have been right.

Anyway, the shiny foster car did not come with a key fob (the originals were malfunctioning, wouldn't stay programmed). But I can't live in the dark ages - unlocking your car with a key is so last century. And, besides the convenience of not having to fumble with the key in the rain, it is safer to be able to unlock your car and get in it quickly in a dark parking lot. Not that I frequent dark parking lots, but just in case (though anyone coming after you would have amble time to grab you as you tried to maneuver yourself into the car - sports cars are not exactly known for making you look graceful. On the flip side, though, no one could shove me into the car and over to the passenger's side even with my permission and a tub of Crisco, let alone if I were struggling, so at least they'd have to use their own car for a kidnapping and I'd leave all sorts of forensic evidence).

So Wednesday I call the dealership and set up an appointment. They say it'll take about an hour (lie #1 - the programming actually took 10 minutes). So I take the car in Thursday, and get there about 10 to 12 for my noon appointment. All seems to be going well and after taking a turn around the showroom to drool over look at the new Corvettes (hey, I'm eventually going to have to buy myself a new car!) I settle down with my knitting to wait. At about 1 o'clock I decide to ask how it's going. After a bit of huffing they go and 'check' and tell me that they are tricky to program, it will take a little longer, blah, blah, blah (lies #2 - they weren't even working on it, #3 - they are not, as evidenced later, hard to program at all, and #4 - it's going to be a lot longer). I'm cranky, but what can I do? I go back to wait. Somewhere between 1:30 and 1:45 the guy comes back to tell me... they didn't have a fob. They sent a guy out to get one, though, and he should be back in about 30 minutes, then 15 minutes to program, and I'd be out of there. I believe my reaction at this point was stunned silence. I go back to knitting, because if I don't keep my hands moving I'm going to shove that knitting needle somewhere unpleasant. At 2:30 I once again go up to the counter. I swear the customer service rep shrinks back as he sees me approaching. He goes and gets the guy who originally checked me in, who comes back and tells me they have it, blah, blah, it'll only be a few more minutes (which, actually, was true). I went off on him, a little. Why didn't they just tell me they didn't have any when I got there? Why did they jerk me around like that? I would have simply come back later. They tried to say it was the fault of the person who made the appointment, not getting on there before my appointment, but that doesn't absolve them of the fact that they had to know, when I got there, they couldn't do it. For crying out loud, I would have at least run out and gotten lunch if I'd known it was going to be three bloody hours before I could leave. I was a little hungry at this point.

He was nice (ish) and knocked $20 off the price of the labor, though that doesn't come close to my salary for the extra two hours I sat there (one of which I consider my lunch break and my free time, I was willing to sacrifice that from the start). I'm half-tempted to write a nasty letter, but they know where I live. And (the paranoid side of me says) could even have a copy of my keys (though I know that doesn't really happen, I'm not usually so lazy as to not take the car key off the ring, but, geez, it was only supposed to be a short-term thing and I was there! I thought it was going to be Jiffy-Lube-like, not replace-a-transmission-like!

But I have remote keyless entry now. Yay. :D

And, oh my god - NaNo starts tomorrow! I won't be able to post a proper poll until after work, and no one looks at LJ on a Friday night. Harrumph. Maybe I can convince Mr. Smeddley to post it for me when he gets home... Or I just need to get that G1 phone from T-mobile...

I was wrong, I can do polls!

[Poll #1288710]