1) Sear. i had a Sears washer. we'd had it for years. we finally decided we needed a dryer and had the space for one, went to the nearest Sears, which was about 45 minutes away. paid for the dryer. paid extra for Saturday delivery. got a call to schedule same delivery. no one shows up. the hubs calls, and is informed that they don't deliver on Saturday. hubs explains that we paid extra for Saturday delivery. why did we pay extra for something that doesn't exist? hubs drives the 45 minutes, presents all of our paperwork, and gets money back on the spot. we go to a local home improvement store on Sunday. they delivered my dryer the next day.
2) Jiffy Lube- i took the hubs truck in for an oil change. they call me out to recommend an insane list of things to be done for the 25,000 mile service, showing me all of the problems that had to be taken care of that had been neglected. all of which we had already done, a few months earlier during the 25,000 mile service. last time i went to Jiffy Lube.
3) Firestone. they had been our maintenance center of choice. we had taken both cars there for all repair work. our Transport van needed new struts. okay, made sense for the age and mileage of the vehicle. but then the same vehicle needed new struts a year later. now this is sounding fishy. so i take it somewhere else. where i am informed that the ORIGINAL struts are still on the vehicle. oh yeah, that was a long and fun fight, since we had the paperwork proving that Firestone had supposedly replaced said struts a year before, but the original struts were still on the van. it involved district and regional managers, neither of which could explain how, when we had been charged to replace the struts, and it was recommended that the struts be replaced again, that it just so happened that the factory installed struts were still on the vehicle.
4) buying my very first car that will be mine, all mine, without having to share with the children! first time i ever got to pick my paint color and my interior colors. i already sort of knew what i wanted, and i was paying. with cash money. that i had earned all by myself. the hubs wanted me to look at the Taurus, which he didn't think i would like, but he wanted me to see all of my options. the salesman showed us the car, then left to get the keys. the hubs and i were amusing ourselves looking at other cars. in fact we were looking at a version of the car that i ultimately bought somewhere else. it was the Sports model with a spoiler, and really UGLY red and black leather seats. we were kidding and joking and teasing about the butt-ugly seats. so the salesman comes back with the keys, keeps trying to address the hubs, and the hubs keeps pointing at me, saying "talk to her, it's her car, and she's paying for it." couldn't be more obvious. so we've examined the Taurus, and it was bigger than i wanted (which is what the hubs thought). and we are walking back towards the building. and i say to the hubs "oh and look at those butt ugly seats!" pointing. teasing again, and all was fine, until the salesman stated "look young lady, if that is the car your husband chooses to buy, you will take those seats and you WILL like them and be grateful that he bought you a car!"
i looked at the hubs, and told him i was done now, we were leaving. the salesman kept at him, trying to sell, while the hubs kept telling him that the salesman had just insulted the car buyer (me). finally, when we reached the building, and the salesman kept trying to push brochures into his hand and doing the whole fast talk thing, i pulled my checkbook out of my purse, tapped the salesman on the arm, told him that i had been prepared to buy for cash right then and there, but hey, what did i know, i was just a young lady who didn't know what she wanted, so i would take my money and buy elsewhere. i did, the next day. oh, and as to the young lady thing? at that point, i was 53.
