As opposed to just screaming until my throat goes raw · 2:45pm Oct 25th, 2018
My car did me the courtesy of breaking down after I'd purchased the carpet.
(A completely mundane problem, with a fully normal solution, which was not going to let me get away without a disaster.)
It also displayed remarkable timing, having the engine die in mid-drive when it did. I was moving down a road which had no shoulder. None at all, no place of safety to try and glide into (hopefully before getting rammed from behind) -- except for a tiny portion near the on-ramp to the highway. And guess where the power gave out? I had just enough time to get over, and if I'd gone two feet further forward, the tow truck wouldn't have had the room to get me.
I had it towed home. I had no choice: mechanic not available, yard not available. So I'll have to arrange for a second tow, and that'll have to wait a few days: calling AAA too close together for the same vehicle -- not a good idea. I've already made sure that my mother can reach the calendar-nearest of her doctor's appointments, so that's taken care of. But it's all I can do for now.
I have very few delusions about an easy repair. The car either doesn't start, or starts and then dies as soon as it's put into gear. I can't even adjust its position within the parking spot. And to have it go out in mid-drive... it's probably the engine, right?
*sigh*
Also...
I said I've been using some of the Ko-Fi money to pay off outstanding debts with her local doctors. I also mentioned that one of those payments got lost. Well, I'd sent it off as a postal money order, because I didn't want the office to have any cashing delays. And I was also in that office a few days ago, after having paid the $5.95 to start the refund process: a lost money order means I get the money back -- eventually, as the process takes up to sixty days. (USPS has to search all of their records and make sure the cashed money order is in none of them. It takes a while.) This is my mother's pain doctor, I didn't want her closed out of that office, and I couldn't ask them to wait that long. So I paid them on the spot. Cash. And got a receipt.
Well, a few minutes ago, I got the post office's tracking results in the mail, received as a photocopy of the original. Because the money order was delivered on the 10th. Deposited and presumably cashed.
By the doctor's office. Rubber-stamped to their own account.
So it's not that they claimed to never receive what must have been a lost payment. It's that they received the payment and didn't record having done so.
I just got off the phone with them. They are going to try and track the money order into their bank. (I am prepared to show them the photocopy when we next visit, which will be in the middle of November.) If they can verify on their end, they will issue me a refund, as I have effectively paid twice. If they can't...
I could go for a walk. Use the time on foot to try and calm down. But the sheer amount of time required might end with me two states over.
I was going to try and work on a Triptych chapter today...
"So how was your day?"
"Please don't ask me that. I might have to tell you."
honestly and with all due respect, your life is god damn ridiculous!
it is like some horrible soul-crushing soap opera at this point, i would make a joke about it but with your luck anything i could say would only be giving fate ideas.
I really hope things get better soon.
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To give some tiny hope, I had my car shut off at a light and refused to turn on. It ended up being the battery terminal which was a less than 100$ repair.
Though with the way fate seems to be carrying a vendetta for you...
I hope you endure. As cruel as the world and circumstances are going. As ephemeral as well wishes might seem in the face of hard reality. Me and many others are hoping you pull through this turbulent time.
You and the post office have already proven that the money made it to the doctors, someone failed to notate it properly and its on THEIR heads to deal with it
Well, the day continues to improve. She just entered Raving Bitch mode after I took over on a phone call -- she couldn't make herself understood, so I explained matters to the other party and therefore I am Trying To Control Her Life -- and accordingly, I have now contacted a personal friend who was going to visit tonight and cancelled, because why should they be exposed to this? I have to deal with this. Everyone else gets the sanity option.
But on the bright side, she just stormed off to a friend's house so she could complain about me in person, so at least it's quiet.
4957881
Burdens shared are burdens lightened. If someone knows what’s going on and still wants to come over, let it be and allow the visit.
4957881
You seem to being generous in taking the burdens on this. To a fault, in the literal sense. When you’re saying things like you don’t get to have the sane option and are stretching your own finances past the breaking point to preserve her credit in case you die, it’s very worrying. I know I don’t really know you but please, please take care of yourself.
Just got a text message:
Which is okay, because that phone number has never contacted me before.
...I may just go to bed.
Oh, wait: the door just opened. She's back. The 'bed' option is now closed.
Well, back to screaming.
ETA: I should probably mention that the oven repairman never showed up. It was supposed to be between three and six yesterday. I waited until eight and then called it a night. Never even got a postponement notification.
Bring on Friday.
Sorry, Estee. Feel free to non-throat-damagingly scream here as much as you like, at least (well, within the site's limitations).
Oof. Here's hoping causes to scream are less densely packed in the future.
Saw a Medicaid help hotline ad on TV last night 1-800-371-0800
Also, are you on Unemployment or food stamps? You can get info online & not have to leave your house.
I’m so sorry Estee. You don’t deserve this.
Huh. Who knows, perhaps someone's embezzling.
What kind of car? does it make any abnormal noises when you start it, I am a auto tech and would like to help.
This is fucked and in no way your fault. Man, this really sucks. They better give you that refund for paying twice, what was probably not a small amount to start with. I wish your mom could be in a place to appreciate all the work you're doing for her. I know I do, at least in that weird internet way that you feel like you know someone well enough to be emotionally invested.
You really shouldn't have to deal with car bullshit on top of the shit sundae you've already been handed. This is just bad service. I'm sorry.
I hope this means we're done with the "I should give some of the donations back" nonsense.
4957903 When calling the landlord to say "The oven repair guy did not show" it helps to also tell him you got a rug for your chair so the guy in the appt. below won't complain about the noise. A little good news always makes the bad news easier.
I'd call your life Kafka-esque at this point, but honestly? Turning into a giant insect might actually be a step up.
4958057
Her car is a Toyota Previa -- and, unfortunately, it's a Previa which has already had major engine troubles at least twice this year, starting with a cracked cylinder head back in April or so, and then the replacement head also blew just this past month. (And which her mechanic apparently tried to blame on a gas-station attendant mistakenly filling up the tank with "premium" gasoline instead of regular, which is complete horseapples; I have never heard of an engine being damaged from running on a higher-octane fuel than it requires.)
Estee:
Actually... not necessarily. When you say
that could be due to a bad fuel pump or filter; the engine is getting just enough fuel to catch and start (sometimes), but not enough to keep going when a load is placed on it. Either of these should be (relatively) inexpensive fixes, I should think. (Though admittedly, I'm not sure how easy either of them are to get to on a Previa.)
4958170
Yea, that is a B.S. excuse. One of the big things I need to know is if it is an older mid engine model or a newer front engine model. Cranking and not starting and/or starting but not running long could be a fuel system problem, failing fuel pump, plugged fuel filter, and/or failing fuel pump relay. The fact that it does start and kind of run would almost eliminate a ignition problem for the most part. There still could be a failing crank sensor, but with the limited symptoms that were described I would lean towards a fuel problem.
4958176
Yeah, if it starts at all, at least the engine isn't physically locked up. Too many things it could be to diagnose over the internet, though.