8/10/2009

Saturday Fun

This past weekend was a busy one here at the cabin. Because Honey had to work Saturday, I kept the pickup to run some errands for him. After giving the windows a little spit-shine so I could see out, I wandered on down to town. The day was warm and beautiful! It was one of those kinds of days where you just felt good to be alive.

There was a bit of a rush to get the truck parts. Most of the good parts places around here close at noon on Saturdays, so I decided to head for the most important place first. We needed a plug for the truck’s headlight. A couple of nice officers had pointed this out to Honey, and encourage him to get right on it.

The plug is usually a dealer only part, and the chances of finding a GM (Government Motors) parts department open on Saturday was slim to none. But I figured I’d give it a try.

Goodness gracious, when I pulled into the dealership two salesmen about fell all over themselves to meet me at the pickup before I even came to a complete stop! By the time I turned off the ignition, they had already assessed my ride and was offering me a used pickup that was sure to be just what I needed. Now granted, our pickup is old and has some unique quirks – like a broken door handle on the driver’s side. (To open the driver’s door, we have to roll the window down and reach out to open it from the outside.) I don’t normally give it a lot of thought. But I could tell by the way those two fellas were pushing that Chevy truck on me, they had noticed. They informed me that the parts department wasn’t open, but one even offered to look under the hood to see if he could do something. I thought ‘now isn’t that nice!’ I knew he couldn’t do anything, but I popped the hood just to see how far he’d go to try and get a sale. Isn’t that awful of me? I guess I was in one of those funny moods or something. I didn’t want a new truck. I told him that I didn’t want a new truck. But, bless his heart, he was going to sell me a new truck.

The young man looked under the hood, assessed the engine, and told me that he couldn’t get to the plug. But, nothing doing, I needed to come on inside and he’d give me some information about that new truck. By that time, I was feeling a little sorry for the guy, so I went inside and let him put the information on the back of his business card.

As I sat at his desk located on the showroom floor, I watched several of the other salesmen try to move a Corvette outside to put on the showcase ramp out front. The Vet was beautiful! But just so happens, it wouldn’t start. I almost started laughing when they opened the hood to charge the battery, and the battery wasn’t there. They were scratching their heads while my young salesman was calling over to them to tell them that the battery was in the trunk. They ignored him and continued to prod around to find the battery. My salesman finally gave up and let them figure it out on their own. It was easy to see that being new, and young to boot, didn’t give him a lot of respect in their little group. Right then I decided that if Honey wanted to buy that Chevy truck – I’d make real sure this salesman was going to get credit for the sale.

As it turned out, Honey did go by and take a real hard look at the truck, but decided that we’re not willing to acquire any more debt, especially for a truck that was older than ours. We still have a couple of small business loans that we’re trying to pay off, and our goal it to become completely debt free. I do give those folks credit though – that new paint job on the old truck sure looked sharp!

While I was talking with the salesman, I brought up the “Cash for Clunkers” program that everyone is talking about. Honey’s folks had told us that down in Claremont the dealerships were taking in these used cars that were newer than anything we drive and smashing them up – right there at the dealership! Perfectly good cars & truck were being destroyed! I told the salesman what I had heard and asked him if his dealership participated in the program. He said yes, and went on to tell me that the cars that are traded in HAVE to be demolished because that is the requirement of the government.

How is it that perfectly good vehicles were being demolished while they were trying to pawn off a pickup that was full of bond-o and given a shinny new paint job? The “Clunkers” were newer and more cost effective than the used stuff they were trying to sell! I guess that’s our government at work. Waste! When you have a little time, drive over to a local dealership that’s doing the “Cash for Clunkers” program and see our government waste program in action. Just when you think there may be some hope for our country – you crawl out from under the bed and see this! And we’re supposed to trust them with our medical care???

Ya’ll have a good day, and may the Lord bless you.

2 comments:

Queen Of Her Castle said...

I watched a couple of You Tube videos on them destroying cars for this program.

What a waste! The cars I saw were three times better than what I drive every day, and here they are trashing it as a "clunker".

It's amazing.

~Becky

Lee Ann said...

Isn't it terrible?! I can't wait to see how the new medical plan is going to dispose of our people 'clunkers'.

If it wasn't for the hope in Jesus and the rapture, I would probably be getting real concerned about now. Dear Lord, come quickly!