Day in the Life of an Idiot

 Just to keep everyone up-to-date on the Turbo Tim's malarky, here's the latest:

If you are only just now tuning in, the tl:dr is: I got ripped off by my (former!) car mechanic.

Yesterday, I did not get around to blasting Tim's on social media, but I will. (Don't worry. I have a plan.) Instead, I spent most of my Tim Spoons, as we shall call them, writing up my complaint to the Better Business Bureau. If you've never visited their complaint page (which I had not), you actually have to chose what kind of complaint you're making. I started with what is essentially the option of "I just wanna complain," but then decided that, in fact, I want the BBB to persue a resolution/restitution. 

Because the longer I thought about everything, the madder I got.

The "I want action" form allows you to upload pictures, etc., and so I gave the BBB all the things--a picture of Tim's bill showing the work they claimed to have done, Troy's bill showing the work they did, Tim's "back channel" notation claiming they only did the rear wheel bearins and that the "growling persisted," and, finally, images of Troy's work. This and my little write up of the issue must have impressed someone at the BBB, because I got a note by 5 pm the same day saying that they had assigned me a case number and were beginning the process by reaching out to Tim's. 

The thing that I am having trouble letting go is the front guy (Sean)'s claim that, from the start, all they had promised to do were the rear wheel bearings. It wasn't until I was retelling this story for the third time that I realized that if you just look at Tim's line item on the bill, it says, and I quote, "wheel bearings [both sides.] " If you were just reading that bill and were someone who did not know anything about the story so far, would you not assume that meant ALL FOUR wheel bearings, actually? It does not say "rear wheel bearings [both sides]" or "front wheel bearings [both sides]," it says "wheel bearings [both sides.]"

Troy's bill, meanwhile says, "Front wheel bearing [left side.]"

And guess what? If you multiply what Troy charged us for the part by 4,  you get what Tim's charged us (supposedly for two.) Like, EXACTLY, Troy charged us $300 for a singular wheel bearing. Tim's bill for "wheel bearings [both sides]" was $1.200. Last time I checked 3x4=12.

I am livid.

And, like, I am trying to let it go. But, you know how these things are, right?They flit around in your backbrain and then pop up at the weirdest times. I was just sitting around at dinner listening to a podcast and all of a sudden I say to Shawn, "And another thing! What kind of mechanic only replaces the rear wheel bearings, hears a horrible grinding noise, and then DOESN'T TELL THE CLIENT before she drives off???" 

Tim's also always has these huge lists of things they recommend next that they attach to their bill. Guess what was NOT on our bill? Any notation that they thought further work on a wheel bearing was needed. No "grinding noise ought to be checked into."

/rant

I really need to stop obsessing on this because here's the thing: I know they ripped me off.  I am just circling around further proof.

So what else has been happening? Well, after I used up all my Tim Spoons on my BBB complaint, I spent some time trying to get ko-fi to work for me. I do think that as I told profiterole_reads that the problem is that I'm currently unwilling to sign up for the secondary app, Stripe. I may be moved to change my opinion on this, but, as I noted in comments, my family is often very loathe to connect our bank account directly to various apps. Like, am also half-way signed up for Venmo, but got stalled out when they were like, "What's your routing number???" My brain just went "Absolutely none of your business, is what it is!"  I feel icky enough that, long ago, I connected PayPal to my bank account. Like, Musk already owns PayPal so that doesn't feel great.  But, a person does want Some Way to be able to accept payments for things, especially since I was, for a long time, doing manscript critique work for hire. 

The good news/bad news is that someone else was able "buy me a coffee" on kofi, so I guess it does work if you're willing to use some other method other than credit card??? (I don't actually know how that person was able to get through, but I have to presume.)

I don't know. I should probably bite the bullet and just connect to Stripe. The thing is, ko-fi is what Kal1ban at the Mona Lisa Overpod directs people to, and I mean... it should probably work for the people who want to use it. Ugh. I'll sit down with Shawn this weekend (provided there isn't another snow emergency) and try to figure it all out. 

Anyway. 

Yeah, other than that I have the most "married" plans for Valentine's day, ever, which is that Friday night is already date night for Shawn and me. So, our big romantic plan for tonight is.... (wait for it!).... more of the same! We're going to order our usual pizza and watch some trash science fiction. Maybe we will bust out and watch two films and have some popcorn.

Hold me back!

How about you all? Any plans? Any non-plans?

 I have to get up out of the warm blanket and go fetch some kitty food from Menard's. I just don't want to. Did I mention that my blanket it electric? And i had to squeeze my car into a parking space halfway up the block?  

Just another five minutes, then I'll get up.

So, what do I have to report? The most my family did for Valentine's Day was exchange a card or two. Mason had robotics until almost 5:30 pm, which meant I had time to start our "fake" naan recipe.  So, we had a favorite meal, something we call "Indian Butter Chicken" (because that might be what it's called on the box that contains the sauce I make), rice, and naan.  Then, because Mason is a teenager, somewhere around 7:30 pm, he says, "Uh... so, I'm supposed to bring some ingredients to Chinese tomorrow, because we're making dumplings again."  But AT LEAST he remembered to bring them with him this morning. The night before, he'd stayed up late to do some art-type project for AP Human Geology and then promptly forgot it at home. Luckily, I could text him a picture of it, so his teacher would know that it was, in fact, done on time, even if it didn't make it in on time.  

Because today is payday, we're hoping to all go out to Tavern on Grand tonight for fish.  Mason has to be at robotics again, because the wrap day (or whatever they call the day that they have to shrink wrap their robot) is coming up early next week. But, Shawn and I are thinking about hitting Roseville Library to browse the shelves and hang out until he's ready to join us.  When you think about it, that's pretty romantic. Looking for books together at the library?  HOT, am I right???

Also, I have to laugh at myself. You know how I've ALWAYS claimed that the reason I've been unable to write is because I can't write unless I have a contract?  THIS APPEARS TO _ACTUALLY_ BE TRUE, much to my chagrin.  I have an apocalypse story due the first of April, and, yesterday, I wrote almost 2,000 words on it. What the hell, brain. What the H.E.L.L.

One of my pen pals died. I recently acquired a pen pal in Duluth. Normally, I don't like to have pen pals that I don't know that close. (Like, you live in Minneapolis and we've met or we're on social media together and you want to be my pen pal? SURE!) However, this woman took Friend Books. Friendship Books are a very weird aspect of the pen pal subculture, that are fascinating, but also a burden. I've written about what they are here before, but a quick look at Wikipedia might help you understand how they work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_book The point is, I started conversing with this person, mostly so that I had someone to whom I could pass on Friendship Books when I got a bunch of them from the two other pen pals who tend to pass them on to me.  The other day, I got a letter from her daughter. This woman had some 60 pen pals by her own reckoning, but so that might explain the brevity of this note. But, it simply said, "I know you exchanged letters with my mom. I'm sorry to tell you that she and a friend were involved in a head-on collision and died instantly."

But I can't find any information about it. No obit was included. I mean, there's no reason not to believe this, but, wow, what a shock.

Anyway, my eldest cat is staring at me. I'd better get up and fetch her food from the store or she will guilt me wit that amber-eyed stare of hers.