300 Posts, 15,000 Hits, and a White Elephant - But No New Car

This is my 300th post.

This is a pig and boots.

My blog has had over 15,000 hits.

This is one teapot, two napkins, and three tea cups.

This is my new teapot up close.

I did not get my new car today.

This was going to be a good day, and it started out that way. Early this morning around 9:00 a.m. (that's definitely early for me on a Saturday) HWNSNBP, my box man, and I moseyed on over to the the Rescue Squad White Elephant Sale. The line to get in was long, but the wait was not and as soon as we got through the door I headed for the tables while he located a box. There was bumping, jostling, grabbing, clinking, and the electricity of organized chaos. I managed to grab my self all of these treasures above for a whopping $5, including the tablecloth in the second picture. Pretty good, eh!

Then we were supposed to go and pick up our new car. That was slightly delayed by the dealership calling to say that it wasn't quite ready. So, we came home and got some housecleaning done (HWNSNBP took the bathrooms by default) and then headed over to the dealership.

We test drove the car and noticed that the front windshield was a little blurry, but we were assured by the salesman that it was probably just some wax or grease from the prep and he would take care of it before we left. Then we went inside and signed over our van to them and signed all the paperwork for the new car, got the run through of the manuals, and proceeded outside to get the last word on all the internal bells and whistles.

Just as we were about to drive away we remembered the windshield. So HWNSNBP went back in and got the salesman to come out with his bottle of window cleaner and a soft cloth. It was then becoming apparent to us that it was not just wax or grease on the window but rather something else. What - we were not sure. So the salesman took the car over to the prep garage to have it checked out.

While we were standing there, outside in 50º weather (me WITHOUT A COAT - who knew this was going to happen) another salesman was showing another couple another car when he inadvertently ran over the woman's foot. (Something they had never had happen before!) I am not making this up.

I decided, after another 10 mins. to go back inside and wait. This did not bode well. Should I tell you now that last week when we were test driving another car a hose popped off the radiator as we parked in front of the dealership. (Something that they had never had happen before.) I had said to HWNSNBP that that was a sign - but what do I know!

The salesman drove back up with our new car and proceeded to tell us that there was a defect in the windshield. Wait for it...............SOMETHING THAT THEY HAD NEVER HAD HAPPEN BEFORE!

It would be easy enough to fix - just pop out the defective one and pop in a new one. Only problem .... today is Saturday and they wouldn't be able to do it until Monday. But as it turns out, that was not the only problem. Remember, we had signed over our van to them and no longer had transportation home. The rental place across the street was closed and they said that they couldn't give us a dealer car because that's not done anymore.

I must say that I was not a happy-camper during this. I told HWNSNBP that I had managed over the last three months to control myself through my cancer diagnosis, surgery and recovery, but this was going to put me over the edge. I could feel the tears welling up. It was a silly thing, I know, but a let down and a definite inconvenience. We had now been at the dealership for more than 2 hours for something that should have taken 30 mins.

Finally it was decided that we would be provided with a dealer car and that they would deliver my new car to me at work on Monday. How embarassing. To show up at work on Monday with, not my new car which I had bragged about, but a dealer car and then to have them come and deliver it there. That wasn't going to happen. We'll go back to the dealership after work on Monday .................if they have it ready. And they better have it ready or they'll be seeing and hearing something else they've never seen before.

The salesman said not to worry, that they'd be making it up to us. I told him that Tuesday is my birthday and they'd better come up with something good!