Ellemental

So I’ve had my new car for a month. I’ve driven it about 900 miles. Over those miles I’ve tested and used just about all of the bells and whistles. Except the air conditioner. I haven’t actually turned that on yet, with the FREAKIN FRIGID temperatures we’re having but…..uh, where was I?

The car accessories. So everything works great, and the only problems I had was that the cruise control buttons on the steering wheel are in the same place that the radio control buttons used to be in my old car. Another side note – did I ever tell you that my old car had radio control buttons on the steering wheel and a passenger seat that knew if someone was sitting on it for airbag deployment purposes but did NOT have air conditioning? *ahem*

Anyhow. No problems with any of the accessories or controls. All good. All worked. Then on Tuesday on my way home from work, the windshield wiper fluid declined to work. Fine. I topped off the fluid when I got home (and it didn’t take much…). Next morning on my way to work, still no flow. So yesterday I called the dealership. They told me to bring it right in. I did. I checked it one more time in the parking lot, and it still wasn’t working.

I didn’t even get settled in my chair in the waiting room before they called me to tell me that there was nothing wrong with it – it worked just fine for the mechanic. And thank goodness he had two OTHER mechanics AND the receptionist right there beside him as witnesses. I was speechless. Dumbfounded. Feeling Like a Fool.

The mechanic, who had decided that he was dealing with a speechless, dumbfounded fool, asked me gently, “were you pressing the button?”

YES! YES I WAS PRESSING THE BUTTON! I have had the car for a month. I’ve used the windshield wipers and fluid in the past month. They worked fine!

“Ok, well, I’m going to back your car out of the garage into the parking lot, then I want you to get in and try it out before you leave.”

Dear Lord. It would have been humiliating enough if it had just been the two of us, but it was the end of the day, and EVERYONE was there. So yes, I got in the car, and of course it worked. The mechanic tried to explain the problem as perhaps the fluid holes froze, or perhaps a small piece of something happened to lodge in both holes at the same time and just happened to dislodge themselves in the 3 minutes between the time I tested the fluid one more time in the parking lot and he got in to test them out.

In other words, he thinks I’m an idiot.