I had to take my car in for her 15,000 mile maintenance the other morning. I took a book to read while I waited, but sometimes people watching is much more interesting and that morning was no exception. There were quite a few proud Ford owners waiting in the dealership's customer lounge for their cars. As I sat there I noticed a few things. Maybe this is not that interesting for anyone else, but as it is my blog and you are choosing to read it, then you'll just have to endure today's entry.
The first thing I noticed is the different characteristics shown by the different generations of customers. Mr. 20-something had his Starbucks in hand while sitting at one of the computers provided for customer use, surfing the Internet. Mr. Mid-life-crisis looked like he was taking time off work, whether for vacation or just to bring his car in, I don't know. Either way, he seemed to be enjoying his time off, lounging on the leather sofa in his polo shirt, khaki shorts and tennis shoes, watching TV and glancing at a golf magazine he found among all the other Sports Illustrated and car magazines provided to entertain waiting customers. Then there was Grandpa who looked obviously used to sitting and staring off into no where, patiently waiting for his car, drinking stale coffee from a cheap Styrofoam cup provided by the dealership in the customer waiting area. Watching them it was interesting to see that if I had to describe to a blind person what each of these individuals was doing, they would be able to tell generally how old they are. These 3 weren't the only one's waiting, but all the others fit into one of these three categories.
As I was observing this I noticed something that I had never really thought about before. I was the only woman. There was another girl there, but she was only about 9 or 10 and came in with her dad. Now, I'm not about to spout off some women's lib gibberish or anything like that. I just thought it was interesting. I am a single woman and have always been. If there is something that needs to be done I do it. I have to. There isn't anyone else to do it with or do it for me. Quite often if not most of the time I wish there was. It gets lonely sometimes. Plus, sometimes it is just frustrating to have to make all the decisions on my own all the time. But I do have to admit that there is a sense of satisfaction knowing that I can do it all on my own.
But back to my observation. Is it common knowledge that when in a relationship, the men take care of the cars? Or is it something that each couple makes a conscious decision about who will take care of the cars? Are there women out there who do it themselves and whose husbands/boyfriends/significant others (whatever) don't mind or prefer it that way? Or are there couples out there who each have a car and take care of theirs themselves? Why am I asking this, you may ask? Just curious. Does it matter? No, not really. It was just something I noticed that morning and wondered about. I've heard about couples where this very thing is a problem... wives taking care of the cars and husbands feeling obsolete.
So if you haven't noticed, I sometimes have these odd things come to my mind that I wonder about. This time I just thought I'd blog about it.
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Once when Dad was traveling to Nevada all the time the brakes went out on the car. The mechanic told me I was imagining things, or something to that effect. I asked a male friend of ours from the ward to come with me. They listened to him and proceeded to fix what I had told them was wrong, even though my friend had never driven the car. So that is why Dad does all the car stuff if at all possible!
In our house I deal with car stuff for two reasons 1) Bryan works full time and since I work from home, its easier for me to get to the mechanic and b) I am ruthless when it comes to eeking out a deal (Bryan accepts whatever they say to him. ugh).
But truth be told, I really hate doing it. I do sort of wish it was his job.
I have taken our car in a few times to get the oil changed, but now, Adam usually does it. Mostly because they treat me like an idiot when I'm there and even though I know just as much as my not-so-handy husband, they treat him differently. Plus, I have plenty of other's things to take care of, so I figure I can give him a few chores now and then.
My husband does the cars, the garbage, and the lawn. Everything else is usually my job (well except he earns the paychecks). I agree, they treat women differently at car repair places, and dealers for that matter. When we bought our last car I could have pretty much not been there, the salesman never really said anything to me. Annoying.
Connie, when I bought my Mustang I took my Dad with me so they wouldn't try to pull one over on me. The salesman spoke to him most of the time when he was talking car stuff and me when he was making small talk. He even knew that I was the one buying the car. The funny thing was that my Dad never really said anything. He was just there. I knew what I was talking about, the right questions to ask and what I wanted. I had done my research. But I knew they would treat me differently so I took him along.
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