Recently my family had the joy of having both of our cars need servicing. First, our ’13 Prius was hit by a deer, and ended up in a body shop. Yay.

At the time, our other car, an ’07 Prius, had been sitting for a couple months because it needed a deep cleaning after we used it to move a lot of stuff from an old garage that animals had gotten into. So, I gritted my teeth, and finally took the time to clean out the ’07. Exhausted after hours of mucking it out, I headed inside to tell my mom it was drivable again. (I’m 29, but I live with my mom to help take care of my autistic brother.) In need of groceries, she headed out to drive it to the store. She came back 30 seconds later. The brakes were squeaking, and the fan was making a horrid noise. Double yay…

Now, the local dealership advertises that it has the BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE of all of the Toyota dealerships in the state. And while we had had a few small issues with the receptionists, the service guys had always been great. So when my mom dropped off my baby, I had no reservations about them. I just hoped it wouldn’t cost too much.

Right away the service guy said that the squeaking breaks were due to rusty brake rotors, and driving the car would wear off the rust. He said though, that he could remove the rust for us and would also look for the source of the noisy fan.

My mom took a shuttle home and waited. Soon, the service guy called. He said both rotors needed to be replaced for over $400. Also, rodents had chewed through the oxygen sensor wiring, and that would cost $330. Along with a thorough routine maintenance for $700 that should have been done at 90k miles, (my car was just over 100k). Oh, and my filters were dirty, adding $60. In total, he wanted to charge us over $1500. My mom, panicking about bad brakes, gave him the go ahead.

A few minutes later, when I became available, (we work from home), she told me about the huge cost of fixing my car. While rodents had chewed through all kinds of things in the past, and my air filters did need to be changed quite regularly, this all seemed a bit fishy to me. So I called him back up and asked him to explain it all in detail. He didn’t know why they had missed this big maintenance package the 2-3 previous times I took my car there. He also couldn’t answer my other questions very well. I was a bit pointed, but I stayed on topic and didn’t make any accusations. (I didn’t know much about cars. Maybe he wasn’t trying to scam us. And having dealt with bullies for many years, I refuse to be one of “those people”.)

Finally, I asked him to change the air filters, but to not do anything else. I wanted a second opinion. He said he was going to stop all work right now. I again said that I did want him to at least change the air filters. Then he hung up on me mid-sentence. So much for good customer service.

My mom called back to schedule their free shuttle service, and upon asking, was told the only work that had been done was taking the wheels off and then putting them back on again. Well, when I picked it up, they charged me $114 for a brake inspection, removing leaves from the fan, and for a whole list of regular maintenance, (oil change, fluid top offs etc.), that I never asked them to do. I probably shouldn’t have paid before questioning it, but I only glanced at the paperwork at the checkout counter and was mainly focused on getting the hell out of there. I saw the brake inspection, etc., and paid without questioning it too much. (I know, my fault.)

That night I looked up rusty brake rotors. While I don’t know much about cars, (I’m more of a techie), I’m smart and a fast study. I wanted to make sure that whatever was wrong with my car, I understood it fully. It turns out brake rotors get rusty VERY easily, and this is almost NEVER a problem. They can make noise when rusty, but the rust wears off, and they stop squeaking afterward. What can cause big problems if they are rusty are the brake pistons. I was very glad that no piston problems had been found.

The next day I took it to a national chain mechanic that’s not affiliated with any car brand. They looked at it and told me that the rotors were rusty, but it wasn’t a problem. The rust would wear off normally in around 500 miles. Also, the filters did need to be changed, which didn’t surprise me. However, the big problem was that a bolt was sticking in the right brake caliper which housed the piston. They said that it might just be a sticky bolt, but it might be a problem with the piston itself. They wouldn’t know until it was taken apart. I asked how much it would cost me if I needed to replace the whole caliper. He said that he didn’t want to freak me out if it was just the bolt. That really put me at ease.

After sitting nervously for a while, going back and forth between NAR on my phone, and Judge Judy on their TV, he came back with the good news. It was just the bolt. Thank the Gods. At that point, I realized he hadn’t said anything about the rodent-damaged oxygen sensor, so I asked him to take a look at that. He replied that if there was any kind of damage to the oxygen sensor, the engine light would go on, and resetting it would not get it to go off. The engine light was off, and there was no problem with my oxygen sensor. I thanked the guy, paid $175, and got my car back. With the bolt replaced, the brakes had stopped squeaking. It was never the rusty rotors in the first place!

Now I’m angry. While yes, the air filters did need to be changed for $70, the rotors and the oxygen sensor were just a +$700 scam. And on top of that, the jerk of a service guy at the dealership missed the real problem! The stuck bolt! If it had been the piston, and not just the bolt, missing that problem could have destroyed my brakes.

As for the $700 regular maintenance, the dealership had pretty little flyers printed about it. So I talked to my old dealership before I moved here, because I moved to this city around the 90k mark, and thought maybe they had done the work. It turns out they were servicing me at 90k, and they had never heard of such a thing.

After a bit more googling, I’ve found out that regular extra maintenance at every 30k is quite common, but dealerships tend to try and add lots of extras that aren’t needed. I haven’t found a manual, (and I lost mine a long time ago), but Google says it should be around a couple hundred dollars, not the $700 advertised by the dealership. Good to know that it’s not just one guy at the dealership who is scamming people. Everyone is in on it!

The end to this story is that a couple weeks after getting “my precious” finally fixed up, it got hit by a deer. Just like our other car did. Apparently, there is a lot of deer hunting in this one area we have to drive through, and it results in lots of deer running into cars randomly. Triple yay… Now we have a rental and are waiting to hear whether my car is totaled. After this whole brouhaha, I’ve reaffirmed just how much I love humans. We’re such a kind, compassionate, and honest species.

Librarian to microfilm patron:

I am sorry for the error. I was on vacation last month. Someone must have failed to send us the paperwork. If you come down on Friday, our clerk in charge of interlibrary loans is off. I did not find the film to make it available. She works on Saturday. I will tell her to put the film at Magazine Service Desk. It may not be available on Friday.

Mature reply from the patron:

I will cry and stomp my feet if it was sent back to Nashville!

As of 11:00 Friday it was not at the Magazine Desk.

Back-story? This patron requested this in January. The library replied that the film was on loan, and check back later. Patron was sent an email about it. Patron took matters in their own hands and called the lending library and was told that when the library locates the microfilm they will send it up to us.

A month later, microfilm arrives on my desk. No patron request found. I wrote the library, and they told me that they talked directly to the patron. (Instead of going through the library, and re-requesting the film, which would’ve been nice so we would know what was going on.)

I forwarded the information to the librarian, who, after a series of correspondence, sent the above emails to me. I was off on that Friday (which the librarian distinctly told the patron in the email), which resulted in the reply.

This is taken verbatim from actual emails – I just copied them to protect all parties involved.

Why? Don’t ask me….I was tempted to send the film back and tell the patron that it somehow was sent back without my knowledge when I read their email.

I live alone, and am partly disabled. My neighbour often helped me out with gardening, and other jobs too difficult for me to do myself. She would always  speak to me any time I was outside, asking if I’m alright and need help with anything.

She sometimes mentioned her Christian beliefs and being a member of a rather fundamentalist church, but I didn’t comment.

I’m talking to her one day, when she suddenly changes the subject.

Neighbour: *staring hard at me* “What religion are you? What do you believe?”

Me: “I’m an atheist. I don’t have any religious beliefs, but I am completely tolerant of other people’s religious beliefs. As far as I’m concerned, anyone can believe whatever they want to.”

She turns and walks quickly away from me.

This *Christian* woman  no longer helps me or speaks to me.

I’m working in our busy deli with my hands full of dishes for the kitchen, when my skirt knocks a bag of freeze dried strawberries off a shelf. A little boy is standing near me and his mother a little further away.

Mother: “Help that lady and pick those up.”

Little boy (picking them up and looking at me very solemnly): “You did it, it was your fault”

Me (sincerely, while trying to keep a straight face): “Yes I did, and thank you so much for your help”

(Note: This takes place in 2012, when people were a lot less knowledgeable, and tactful, of the trans community.)

I am finishing up a typical shift as a cashier at (popular burger place) when my manager comes out of her office with a bemused look on her face.

Manager: Hey, (my name). I have an odd question for you.

Me: Ok.

Manager: You’re a guy, right?

Me: Last I checked.

Manager: And you’ve….. always been one, right?

Me: Pretty sure.

Manager: I thought so. (Laughing) I just got a call from a customer. She were looking to get a sex change operation, and wanted me to ask you where you got yours.

Me: …What?

Manager: Yeah, she said she saw you earlier today and whoever had done it had to be really good as she could hardly tell. She refused to believe me when I told her I was pretty sure you were born that way. But, she got the idea stuck in my head and I had to make sure.

She then walked away chuckling to herself. It was probably the strangest question I’ve ever been asked anywhere I work. If the person who called reads this, I hope you found someone to do the operation for you.