Oh, We Got Trouble My Friends....

The rain was drizzling down as I walked to my car about 12:45 or so. I was going to get gas and a Diet Coke (yes, I'm back to the diet soda routine - a short lived resolution) to keep me going through the afternoon at the Shell station down the road. It's just around the corner. I'm not very good with distance, so I googled it and it's about 1.2 miles from my office. But there is a service road to several freeways, so it's not really "walking distance" per say. And if you have been following my previous blog, you know my work neighborhood. Enough said.

I had done quite a bit of work this morning and was pretty happy with my work load. I am converting flyers and marketing materials to our new "brand" that will roll out next month (hopefully). I was just about caught up and had a few things left on my plate for this afternoon to meet my goal for today. If I meet my goal for today, then I'm on track for my goal for the week. And if I'm on goal for the week, then I'm on goal for the month. I have a whole system......it's in a giant spreadsheet in fact! I have divided it by agent and flyers and the size of each folder (MB) and targeted goals and the tabs are color coded........oh I know, I know. But really it's an excel organizational masterpiece! I have a "master page" and a "tally page" and a.......Oh, lookit, I "click and drag" in a 10' x 10' box under fluorescent lighting for a living.....the highlight of my day is a fizzy caloric-free brown beverage in a plastic bottle....I have to make up my own "games" to keep myself occupied. Which reminds me......

I was going to get gas and a Diet Coke.... I was turning around the bend and dialing my cell phone at the same time (sorry Oprah) and I saw a cop car coming toward me in the opposite direction. Dialing and driving is quite illegal in these parts so I did the only logical thing I could do. I pulled into the nearest parking lot (a McDonald's) missing the cop by a hair and continued making my phone call. I turned off the car and sat there for about 10 minutes or so. I never even took off my seatbelt. I had a mission - Diet Coke and gas. This was just a detour. I turned the key to back out and heard weird clicks. The dashboard lit up. The usual suspects were there: the battery, the engine, the guy strapped happily in his seatbelt, the speedometer and gas meter all brightly lit. But there was a new member, a bright green flashing key that continued to blink at me. I froze. Turned the engine off. Tried again. A third time and then a fourth. Nothing but the icons.

Panic...panic....panic.....instant reaction? CALL DAD! Even if he's 2,000 miles away and can't POSSIBLY come to help me, he has been doing that for 33 or so years of my life and it's a habit hard to break. I dial....."Hello?" I hear. "Dad???", I whimper, "My car won't start." He calmly talks me through it...okay...are your lights on? No. What happens when you turn the key? What do you see? Do you have the manual with you? YES! Of course that pleather packet they hand you when you walk out of the dealership with all those shiny four-color books from the marketing department that probably added another $300-$500 to the cost of the car - YES, I HAVE THE MANUAL!! I dig through and find it. I'm fixated on this new green flashing key. I've never seen it before - although I've never had trouble with this car before. Dad guides me somehow from his calm office in Plano and I fumble through and try to find answers. I could ramble on, but our conclusion was I had an anti-theft situation and it wasn't reading my key. Which I gotta be honest, I never knew that was even a feature. It might have to be towed. I thanked Dad. Hung up and called David at his desk.

He immediately picked up. "Okay, here's the situation," I say, trying to sound a little more together than I had with Dad. I recap my story and David hangs up to call the Honda dealer/neighbor friend he knows. I call Joan for a ride back to the office. I hated to do it. If it wasn't raining and had time to walk back, I would have rather done that. But I was going to be late getting back from lunch otherwise. I made the call. She came gladly and sweetly and picked me up. On the way back to the office David calls back. "I don't think it's the key you were talking about", if that were the case, it would have turned over and then gone dead. I think it's the battery. You need to get someone to jump it for you." Now, to a "normal" person I suppose that wouldn't be a big deal, but my stomach dropped as I hung up the phone.

He clearly wasn't running to my rescue. I was going to have to handle it here. Ugh. I thanked Joan for about the billionth time and walked inside. I sat at my desk and pretended to work. I couldn't concentrate. I got up and went to the bathroom and God and I had a chat right there in stall number two. I needed the courage. I know, may sound dumb, but I HATED doing this. I got up the nerve and with shaky voice and crocodile tears just dying to come out, I went in to my favorite agent and said "Do you know how to jump a car?" I was at work, so I was trying to look professional, but I have a feeling that pitiful was all that was coming across. "Sure. What's the trouble? Outta juice?" I explained my situation yet again and he said, "Just get me a car I can use and I'll go. I can't use my BMW - the battery is in a strange place." So, he borrow Joan's car, went next door and borrowed a "jumper box thingy" and took me to my car. Nice as could be. Happy to do it. "You've saved me plenty of times. I'm happy to return the favor", he said nicely.

We got out at in the parking lot - still misty - he in his suit and everything. He showed me where to put the deals and the things and whatever - only thing I remember is "red to red". Just then another guy came over "Need any help?" "No, thanks we got it." He drove off. He got in the car and turned the knob. Nothing. My stomach sank. He got out and looked at the jumper box again. A second attempt. Nothing. "Oh well, thanks", I said, "I didn't know if that was the problem or not." "Well, I don't think this box is charged." "Oh, where's that guy when you need him now," I tried to joke. "Really, it's okay. I know you have a lot going on. I don't want to keep you." He tried one more time and the engine started. HURRAY! I drove it back to the parking lot and let it run for about 20 minutes.

I was feeling much better that afternoon thinking that it was just a battery and maybe I had left the lights on or something weird after all. That was probablyt all it was. But when I got in the car and turned on my lights, the dashboard went dark. No radio lights, no speedometer, nothing. Everything dimmed low. I turned the lights off and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Huh....I called Dad again. Explained the situation and he thought it might be the alternator. "Can I run out of battery while driving?" I asked. "Not sure," Dad said, "better drive home with your lights off." So, I drove home at dusk in the rain with no lights in the right lane going behind the slow traffic. Pulled into the street and David came out and looked at the car. "Not sure," he said. "Guess we'll have to send it in to the dealership."

As I'm writing this, I'm thinking perhaps I should have saved this story for when I had a conclusion, but wanted to blog it out while I was thinking about it. I did learn a few things today though. 1.) Your Dad is always your Dad and I am probably always gonna feel like a 16 year old girl from time to time - needing his help. I'm so glad he's just a phone call away. Even if it's just to hear "Do you have the manual?" 2.) I don't know why I'm so afraid to ask for help - people are always eager to give it and I'd help someone else in a second. But I'm definitely a chicken and I HATE days like today when I have to ask. 3.) David is TRULY the calmest, most laid-back, unaffected person I have ever met. "What's wrong?" he asks slightly confused, "You look so concerned." "You don't look concerned at all!" I say. "Well, there's not much we can do, is there? We'll have to get it fixed," and with that he turns around to finish taking care of dinner for Evan. And with that I head downstairs to blog it all out - to vent - to rant - even exaggerate a little and get it all out - this day that I have had. This day of trouble and chaos that to David wasn't all that much trouble at all. Just another thing to deal with when the time comes. I hope some of that calm rubs off on me one day - I hope I can capture just a ounce of what he has in that regard. But for now, I'll be thankful just to be near it. And those three lessons made today worth it all!