Tabitha leased a new car about three months ago. Her first scheduled maintenance was scheduled for the first of December. She wasn’t able to make that appointment so she rescheduled it for the following Saturday. Her day off.
The day came for when she was to go to the dealership for her appointment. Tabitha and her mom Betty in the past would go out to lunch after the appointment. Everything has always gone fine and no problems and the wait time has never been more than about an hour. Then they drive down the road a few miles to the diner where they have lunch. So, there they were on the way to the dealership, talking and laughing and having a good time. Arriving about fifteen minutes early for the appointment.
They head over to the desk where the service representative is and let him know they are here for the first maintenance appointment. Tabitha got a voicemail a few days ago about a recall, the service rep said they would take care of the recall. It was for the thermostat and had to be replaced and it would take about an hour and a half. Tabitha thought, no problem, we will just watch the television in the waiting area. Time should go by quickly. Her mom brought along a crossword puzzle to work on, and she would play a game on her phone while they wait.
One hour and half go by and the car isn’t done. She figures, they seem busy, so it may just be an extra few minutes. That’s fine, they are pretty good about not keeping people waiting too long when there isn’t a problem. They people that were waiting before them were starting to leave and a few others arrived for their appointments. Tabitha kept thinking they would be called and they could head to the diner for lunch. Nope! Still waiting, Betty goes back to working on her puzzle, and she starts another game on her phone.
Two hours have gone by and still no word. Have they lost my car? Taking it for a joy ride? Maybe they took the car out to get some lunch. OMG! Did they misplace my keys and are trying to make a new one?! Did they lose the paperwork? Tabitha’s patience was getting thin. But she has always brought her car here for maintenance, they would have told her if something was wrong. So, she took a deep breath and watched some television and played a game on her phone.
Three hours had gone by, when she leaned over to her mom and quietly said, ” We could have walked to the diner, had our lunch, and walked back and probably still would be waiting.” Her mom chuckled and nodded in agreement.
She was about to go up to the service desk and ask how much longer it would be, because she noticed that some of the people that came in after them have had their car worked on and left. She leaned over to her mom and said that it wasn’t fair that they were leaving before they were, her mom told her that we don’t know why they were here and it could have just been something that didn’t take long. Tabitha shrugged and went back to playing her game.
Time check? Almost three and a half hours. They overheard the service rep say that they were busy with inspections today and that they appreciated the customer being patient because he was waiting a long time too. She checked out the window by the door they came in and a red car was pulled up by the service valet. Thinking it was her car, she got excited because she was hungry and wanted to get out of there. When she realized it wasn’t her car, she frowned and sat back down.
About ten minutes after the gentleman left, the service rep called their name. They walked to the service desk, her mom signed for the work that was done today and they headed to the door relieved that they could finally leave.
When they both were in the car, Tabitha started the car and turned to her mom and said, “that was a three hour tour.” They both laughed and when they got to the diner, they joked about hoping that their food wouldn’t take three hours. Their lunch didn’t take long to arrive. They left full and were heading home. And no, it didn’t take them three hours to get home.
(sorry I couldn’t resist that last line 🙂 )
Maceys Journey 