Fiya$tone Blues Part I

So like I said, in the previous post... I spent a lot of money up in Charlotte. Nope, I didn't go out on the town and party and drink and all that. Like I said, I was just going up there to support Super shoe queen blogger S23 and Ms.Blackliterature. com's book club meeting. Got up there on 3/4 of a tank of gas and er'thang...

Naaah...

When we first got up there, maybe about 10 miles away from S23's house, I noticed a slight shake in my steering wheel. Then it got worse, where I noticed a shake/knocking... something concerning my right front tire.

No big deal, I thought. Sounds like a busted belt in the tire. Afterall, I did hit two potholes going 80 miles an hour in South Carolina. (Note to self: write a lettter to South Carolina DOT and let them know their highways SUCK, SUCK SUCK!! Fix the dayum streets!!).
I'd just ask S23 if there was a tire place around.

LadyLee: "S, is there a tire place around here somewhere."
S23: "Yes, there's a Fiya$tone up the street."

I felt like someone had kicked me in the gut. I immediately got sick to my stomach.

Man, Fiya$stone is NOT my friend. I've had major problems with Fiya$tone.

Now, some background. My Mama likes Fiya$tone, and has always gone there. So, I started going there when I got a car, and quickly figured out that I needed to leave them alone because I was being ripped off left and right.

And like clockwork... I have to deal with these fools every 6 years. It is eerie, but it is the truth.

12 years ago, I had a one person sit-in at the Fiya$tone in Union city. It was like they were holding my car hostage or something. I don't remember what was wrong with my car, but I would call and ask if it would be ready. They's say yes, and then I'd catch a bus there and it wasn't ready. After 3 days of this, I jumped up on the counter and sat there, and wasn't gonna move until I got my car. They thought I was joking, but after an hour of sitting there... uh, they got my car together. And as expected, they charged me some outrageous price for fixing my car.

6 years ago, when I moved back to ATL from N.O., I needed a new radiator. They kept my car for a dayum week. I ended up going off on them, especially since my ish was squeaking like crazy afterwards. Cost me 500 bucks. Shoulda been half that, but we talking about Fiya$tone here.

I vowed to never deal with them again. EVER.

Well, here I was, in Charlotte, 2 STATES away from my mechanic. And I had no choice but to fool with Fiya$tone. So I went on up there.

I had no choice. And I got angry about that, before I even walked up in the place.

I got there at about 4 p.m., and told them what I thought the problem was, and they said that they would look at it. But they told me that they would look at it by six, so that meant I had to sit in there for 2 dang hours. I know Fiya$tone. If you don't sit there and stare them down, they sort of forget about your car. So I sat there and worked on a crochet project that I'd brought with me.

Around 4:45 p.m., they said that I did have a busted belt in my tire, but I also had a messed up CV joint.

"I had the CV done 6 months ago. Some cone shaped thingy was replaced," I said.
"That's the CV boot, ma'am," the mechanic replied. "Your joint is busted."

**LadyLee squinting hard, eyeing him suspiciously.**

He proceeded to draw diagrams to convince me of the problem.

"Okay, well fix it," I ordered. "I gotta get back to Atlanta tonight.""We can't do that. It's too late. We can order the part and have it fixed tomorrow.""No, you don't understand," I replied. "Fix my car now."
"No."
**LadyLee nostrils flaring. LadyLee contemplating another sit-in.**

That's when I started straight tripping. Let's just say they started calling auto parts places. Everything was closed. I kept tripping. They got a little nervous then.

"Well, I need a rental car. I will just come back tomorrow. Ya'll better have my car fixed when I get back."

**crickets**

They laughed about that, because they thought I was joking. Another hard stare down ensued. The guy made a few calls. The rental car place was closed. (He called Ente.rprise. "You know, they'll pick you up, Ms. LadyLee!")

"Ent.erprise is closed, but there's an Av.is across the way." He pointed to the place, located in the shopping plaza.
"Well, call them."
"I wouldn't use them. Their cars break down."
"Sh**!"
"Well, I'm just telling you." He proceeds to tell me some long drawn out story about the place.
"So call somewhere else."
"Those are the only two."

I got quiet then, because I had to think. We had a long stare down. Hmm... Charlotte has only 2 car rental places in the WHOLE city.

"So," I said, as calmly as possible. "You mean to tell me there are no more car rental places in the city of Charlotte?"
"No," dude said.

My ears immediately got hot. He had to be joking. I went ahead and just assumed he was stupid. That way, I could refrain myself from lunging across the counter and strangling him.

"Dude, I have to go home, TONIGHT."

He got on the phone and started calling people. He got off the phone and smiled. I thought he had me a car. But he didn't.

He handed me a card. "I got you a free hotel room."

**LadyLee's nostrils flaring.**

I quickly racked my brain. Uh, I don't remember asking for no damn hotel room.

"You do have an airport here, don't you?" I asked, again trying to remain calm.
"Yes."
"And, they do have car rental places, don't they?"
He looked like a deer in the headlights after that.
"You got a phone book?"
He nodded.
"Give it to me."

By this time, I'd been fussing for an hour. I was mentally drained and HIGHLY pissed. They brought in other people to talk with me, because I guess there is nothing worse than an angry black woman talking crazy. One mechanic told me I could drive my car home, but the knocking around of the joint would annoy me. Another said that he wouldn't do that because I could mess up the axel and be stranded. There was ALOT of going back and forth. I even shed a few angry tears at one point.

I was so mad that I couldn't even stay in the place. I took the phone book outside, sat on a bench, and started making calls. Lo and behold, there WERE car rental places at the airport. (Gee, can you believe that?). S23 had driven up by then to come get me. Good thing she did, because I had a vision of myself picking up a chair and busting out a few windows.

I told them that I was leaving, and going back to ATL. I would drive back tomorrow and get my car.

Now, I'd said this a couple of times during our hour long bantering. They'd laughed hard at me about that ("That's CRAZY, Ms. LadyLee!"), which made me want to pick up a tire and throttle them all. But by that time, I was just done. I'd explained that if I was by myself, I would've taken the free hotel room, stayed overnight, and been cool with that. But I had other people with me that needed to go home, and that was that.

So, I went back to S23's place. Book club meeting was still going on... I sat on the couch and started crunching figures on little scrap receipts I had in my purse. To the casual observer it may have looked like I was scribbling down football plays, LOL. I went outside to decompress and to check my bank accounts over my cell phone, and move money around. The Ladybug Mocha , my blog mentor, came outside to make sure I hadn't thrown myself off a cliff, and she did a lot to calm my nerves. (Thanks, gal!).

So we headed for the rental car place at the airport later on. My goal was to rent a car, drop it off in the ATL, and get my sister to bring me back to Charlotte. No can do. If I returned the car in ATL, it would've been 200 dollars a day.

Okay, I haven't rented a car in about 6 years... I don't get this "200 dollars a day" bizness. Looked like I would have to rent a car and run it back up to Charlotte. Whatever. Just wanted to go home right about then.

So I rented the car, drove back to ATL, got home around midnight, and went to bed. I actually slept well that night, which was suprising.

Woke up the next morning, and started calling Fiya$tone as soon as they opened. Reiterated to them over and over that I needed my car fixed THAT day, and it better be ready when I got there. They told me that they would call me as soon as they got the part they needed. The plan was for me to leave ATL as soon as they got the part. It would take me 4 hours to get back up there... and they should have my car ready.

Right?

Right?

WRONG.

In the words of Atlien Nikki... "Those Bastids!!!!"

To be continued.