Highlights.

So, I finally plunged ahead and decided to face the cranky service adviser at the dealership I’ve been going to for over seven years and schedule an appointment for my overdue oil change. You remember me telling you about him? The one who, when I asked when my car would be done after 75 minutes had passed, argued with me that it always takes this long and I pointed out that I’ve always done the oil changes on my lunch hour and haven’t had a problem before and then he said “whatever” and walked out on me? Yeah. I don’t hold grudges.

So there I am, Wednesday, being brave and calling there, and wouldn’t you know, The Ass who was an ass three months ago answered the phone with an annoyed, loud, obnoxious “SERVICE!” Apparently, he’s still an ass. So I hung up on his ass without saying one word.

I was gonna go there only because I really like the Mazda mechanic they have, but to deal with The Ass? I think not.

So I called a dealer who is closer to my work, all scared I was gonna get yelled at again, but the lady who answered the phone sounded like she’d been waiting for my call all day and for a second I was scared I’d accidentally called a phone sex line. She was THAT nice. Not that I would know, understand, but I’ve heard things about things. Anyway, so I asked if they could service my car for the same “family” price the other dealer had been giving me for seven years, without any hesitation, she said “Sure, when do you want to come in?” And I almost asked, don’t I get more foreplay??

I ended up going in that day and, wow, even though they have construction going on and they’re set up in trailers, I felt like I was an honored guest. I was offered water by no less than three people, one of the employees came over and handed me the remote to the TV (even though I was reading a Glamour magazine). I was fairly certain that if I’d decided to take a nap, a pillow and blanket might have appeared from somewhere. You know how I love to nap while waiting for my car! Well, turns out, they CAN do an oil change in less than an hour. 35 minutes to be exact, and i require at least 40 minutes for a decent nap.

There was a minor hiccup somewhere in the communication, because I told them to check and top off all fluids that were low. When I popped the hood after the appointment just outside of their garage to double-check their work, I noted that they had not topped off the antifreeze container, which was well below the “low” line. What was funny about that was, everyone in line of sight came running and wanted to know what was wrong. Let’s just say it got taken care of in quick order.

The other highlight of the week was that I finally got up the nerve to go to the dentist and get my teeth cleaned. Overdue for that, too. The last cleaning I had was a deep scaling on all four quadrants and if that doesn’t sound scary, I don’t know what does. Basically the hygienist goes below the gumline and removes all build-up that is keeping the gums from getting all cozy with the teeth. It was scary, bloody and I had four half moon crescents dented into both of my palms afterward from my fingernails. So I was scared to go again because I really didn’t want to do another deep scaling.

Of course, not going is just the opposite of what a person should do. As with anything in life, the longer you wait, the worse it gets… best to just face the thing and get it over with. Fortunately, the news wasn’t too bad.

I’m facing some more scary stuff at work. Office politics reared its ugly head while my boss was out on vacation last week over things that I would normally brush off and be over already. But given the tenuous and fragile relationship we barely re-established just before she left, and the manner in which these things were handled while she was out, I’ve been a nervous, fretting mess with a gnawing worry monster in my gut all weekend, hoping that she sees and understands my side of things.

AND just to top it all off, I got my hair trimmed on Saturday. Always a big deal to me, even though the same woman has been cutting my hair since August of 2005, I always fret just a bit that she’ll cut it crooked or cut too much. But, as usual, she cut it straight and snipped just the right amount off. I’d show you a picture, but if you’re anything like Tony, you wouldn’t even notice that any hair is gone. Interestingly, she noticed right away at how much healthier my hair felt to her and asked me what I was doing to it. When I explained my baking soda/water and apple cider vinegar/aloe vera/rosemary regiment, she stood there with her mouth hanging open and then called the other hairstylists over to check it out. I think my hair was stroked by at least three people on Saturday.

Yes, I know how that sounds. And, yes, it was exactly like that.