Statuses

How do you spell the plural of status?

 

You add an es. I didn't know this. Writers don't know how to spell everything and anyway, I always got an A in creative spelling in school. That and lunch. Also, creative spelling wasn't a real class. No, really. I made it up just now.

Anyway, I have some statuses to explain. I'm working at a new call center.

Why?

Clearly, she has never worked in a call center.

The new clutch that I put in my car so that it wouldn't breakdown went out. Thanks Firestone! (And by thanks, I mean the opposite sarcastically.)

But the great news is that Firestone was able to do a temporary fix until the parts came in from Kia. I drove my car less than ten miles on this temp fix when one of hoses to my radiator got a pin hole.

Firestone math: repairs = more repairs

Firestone = +*&%$

Thankfully, I only lost my job... and $300.00 in additional repairs. And don't get me wrong. They wanted to charge me more. A lot more. But I knew something was wrong when I got the car back from the initial clutch install. For one thing the clutch pedal was as soft as butter.

Four weeks prior to getting stranded and losing my job because I didn't have transportation:

Me: Why is my clutch so soft?

Firestone: They get hard before they go out. It's soft because it's a great clutch.

Me: It wasn't hard before. It was just firm. Also, why is my car running so rough? It sounds like crap.

Firestone: You're clutch was bad so your engine wasn't working properly.

Me: Are you sure. No, seriously, because that doesn't sound right at all. I really can't afford for this to go wrong because my job is 40 miles away. That's why I'm putting it in now. So, I'm not stranded later.

Firestone: It's fine. (In that condescending way men speak when a woman is being too female.)

Four weeks after the clutch was installed.

Firestone: You need this cylinder and that cylinder. It'll cost about $500.00

Me: If these parts were worn enough to go out exactly 30 days from the date of install, then the damage should have been obvious and they should have been replaced with the rest of the clutch.

Logic fail.

I also, insisted they determine why my car was running rough and fix it. Of course, now the cylinders and the hoses have been replaced. And in all fairness the pinhole-hoses might have been coincidence. Then again my  air-conditioner hasn't been working right since I got it back. But that too might just be coincidence.

To finish up the story,  I asked them to put to box up "broken/worn" parts. I had every intention of getting them checked out. Despite making myself very, very clear on this the staff "forgot" and threw them out.

But even though this happened, I'm going to insist on this for every future repair. You see, I'm not a auto expert, but I can use Google like a fiend. I bet I could even take photos of the replaced items and get people who know about cars to tell me how serious and eminent the repair was. I'm not saying you should do this...

Wait, I am saying you should do this. Yeah, totally. If you go in to get an oil change and you come back with a tie rod need replaced say something like a tie rod... (Please note, I didn't pull this scenario out of a hat. It was a complaint I read about Firestone after I had my car repaired.)

"Well, I guess I don't have a choice. But box that part up. I'm going to have it check out to see what might have caused it to break."

Anyway, my clutch pedal is the way it was before they got their hands on my car.  I've wondered if I called and asked "Why is my pedal firm... not soft, not hard, firm, if they'd tell that's because the clutch is bad? And that's how I went from one call center to the next, which in itself is a small miracle.

Most importantly, the call center I work at now, is actually a decent place to work. So it all worked out. Kind of.

So that's my statuses. Misuse intentional.