There's a New Buggy on the Block

(And looks like a new driver, to boot!)

We all went out yesterday and found the teenager a car of his own. He has been saving his money since he started working and had quite a bit in the bank. (He'll owe us a few of his paychecks, regardless.) The rules were, if he wasn't going to take the hub's old VW, it was up to him to get his own. The teenager chose the latter. We drove out to used-car central in Madison, TN--about 45 minutes from here. He and the hub had spied a couple of cars on Sunday when they went out looking; but this dealer wasn't open. And, so we returned yesterday afternoon.

Of course, the teenager had his eye on a couple of sporty cars; but the dealer talked him out of them (yea!!) and he went for the 1992 Honda Accord. (It reminds me of my first car--1970s Toyota Corolla sedan.) It's a perfect little first car. It's a four-cylinder so he can't go too fast, which I like, a lot! He's so proud of it. Now if we can get his license!

We went online yesterday and made an appointment for his driving test. I set it up in Columbia, TN, which is about 30 miles away. The one in Franklin is in a little trailer (I kid you not) and has to deal with all the growth out here. The one in Columbia is brand new and huge for a tiny town--you do the math! So I make the appointment for 11, and we leave here at 10:30, plenty of time to get there--IF I DROVE!! The teenager drove the speed limit (GRRRRR--hehe) and of course, we were five minutes late. Would they take him? Of course not. The bureaucratic DMV Queen Be-yotches that they are--you know the type--said, "Nope, he's late, ain't gonna happen--NEXT!" It just demoralized the teenager. I wanted to reach around and strangle the woman.

I'm a nice person, you know that; but I do not deal well with rude, obnoxious and "got you in the palm of my hand and I want to watch you squirm" types. Nope, I don't deal well with them at all. I wonder how they sleep at night. Maybe they thrive on that type of menial power, I just don't know. When I tried to get a straight answer out of her, she couldn't give it to me. Even her side kick said "Can't I just get him through?" and she still said no. I asked, politely, if I could make another appointment for later in the day. Nope. We would have to take a number and wait and then took great pride in saying "he will not get in before 2." When I inquired a little more about how she came about that time frame --if there were other appointments or if there were just "numbers" in front of us she got all flustered. I wouldn't drop it because I know how it is when you stay up all night worrying about your driving test only to find out you can't take it??? So I keep asking if I can just make another appointmentt so we could leave and come back at the designated time and she didn't get it. I asked very clearly again, "can I M-A-K-E an A-P-P-O-I-N-T-M-E-N-T? --at which time she had to walk over (as SLOW as she could, of course, because she is the Queen) to some other Better than Tho and ask, very LOUDLY and POINTING at us, if we could make an appointment because we were FIVE MINUTES LATE or would we just have to wait. Ready? You can NOT make an appointment at the DMV. You have to go home and get on the computer and make one and then come back. Now, tell me, does that make any sense what so ever? Huh? Nuh uh, that just ain't right. I don't know about you, but I don't do waiting in line with a number for three hours very well. Just add that little diddy to my list of "Uh uh, ain't gonna do its." Life is too short. I will come back another day. I can think of a million other things to do for three hours than be at the DMV with the rest of the cattle run. Some people don't have a choice, I do, for another week until my son goes back to school. I chose not to give that thing any more satisfaction.

Phew (rant off, as Mr. English would say), so we're off tomorrow to try again at the one in Franklin. Wish us luck. I may just have to open a can of Whoopass if someone crosses me there! hehe. (Yea, big talker, Rosa!) That's more like me above.