Of ladies and mechanics!

The challenges single ladies go through are enormous to say the least. Do not get me wrong, it is fantastic to be in this stage. Looking forward to the next stage, whenever it may come; Just being you; Eating cake for supper and not feeling guilty, because of-course you have hidden the guilt so far in, you convince yourself you do not feel it!

Being single allows you to sleep over at your girlfriends house without worrying about anyone or what may go wrong at home. There is no one to walk outside with bathroom slippers and proceed to get into the house with them; or leave the toilet seat up! You can book that hair appointment or mani/padi for after hours without even blinking, your only irritation being that your salonist keeps worrying about her people. That reminds me I have to look for my kind in such situations, sensitivity is key.

old-lady-car-repairSo back to the enormous challenges I was talking about. My car has a problem, it is a tiny problem, except it has refused to go away. It makes a cracking sound when the car is turned, I am told it is the CV Joint that has a problem. Now I should give up I know, just throw in the towel and admit, as someone advised me, a car cannot be 100% ok. This, especially after several visits to my mechanic and several thousands out of my pocket, later! It is not loud, neither does it pose any danger, mechanics words not mine, but for some reason I just can’t let it go. The sound coming from that car just irritates the hell out of me.

So this CV Joint has been changed and rechanged and rechanged again. I respect my mechanic, mostly because he is my dad’s mechanic. If you knew my dad, you would understand why I am for this mechanic. Not just anyone touches my dad’s stuff! However, I recently discovered why my car is not getting the same treatment as my fathers, because he knows all about cars, he knows his stuff. Me, I am just a girl, a single one at that, I go to the garage alone when I cannot find an escort somewhere to act as my wing man.

Mechanics can smell frailty from a far. It does not matter whether you are tough talking, heel slinging, serious faced, as they come. They know when you do not know your stuff and they go in for the kill. So it has been a year of trying to repair this small noise emanating from my car without luck. The other day I decided to seek a second opinion, now my car is packed at home with a busted gear box, and a dangling sign reading Kshs. 40,000 in repairs plus replacements. My main mechanic is of course thinking, you thought I was the devil, right? So as it sits there, I have come of age and I have learnt lessons.

Lesson 1. Everybody thinks their mechanic is the best...especially if it’s a man, same reason as above, mechanics know that men know their stuff so they cannot mess; or if it’s a lady with a man as their wing-man. ”That is why I wanted you to go to my mechanic, he is the best. He can paint the sky blue and fly to the moon. He part-times as God himself.” Seriously if I hear these words from anyone again I will scream!

Lesson 2. It is not about the mechanic. It is about their perception of you. Well, I’ll admit there are good and bad mechanics. I am talking of mechanics worth their salt. Everyone’s mechanic may be good, but if you do not know what they are talking about, they will talk the money out of your pocket, quite literally.

Lesson 3. If you are not sure ask. Let not your Mechanic convince you to repair or pay for or buy things you do not understand. Most probably that is not what you came to repair, that is not what you came to fix, and unless you have confirmed that it is life/car threatening and needs to be repaired like yesterday, step back and take a breather.

Lesson 4. A trip to the mechanic does not have to turn to a full blown service. Just as I have mentioned above, not everything needs to be done just because the mechanic thinks it should be done. Sweetly say…”oh, that also needs work? I had not planned for that, but if you could just get back to why I came here, I will be back another day.”

Lesson 5. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Not everything they say is car threatening is. Ladies like panicking, and mechanics sure do know what to say to make us go there. The other day a car passed by the office making some high pitched noise that could be heard from miles away. I have seen men drive cars that are so badly beaten and run down, the parts are literally hanging on to each other for dear life. Okay, that may be bad, but really what I am trying to say is, if your car is nowhere near 0.0000001 of that, do not fret. Ladies know how to maintain their rides and so big words from mechanics should be met with an ‘oh really’!

Lesson 6. Everybody wants to help, but do they really? Going to the garage is no fun, no one likes it. I would pay good money to have someone do that for me. When you vent out about how your mechanic is not giving you good service and all you get is the ‘you should have gone to my mechanic’ phrase, do you not ask yourself a series of questions. ”Why are you not offering to take the car to your mechanic for me? Okay, why then do we not go together? Oh your busy; okay, when will you not be busy? Oh you will let me know?” Lovely, ain’t it? Me thinks the reason you fear is because you are afraid you will have the bill pawned off on you, you know, like a date where the man is always expected to pay…ehe! The things men run away from these days! So read there, unless you want to get down and dirty quite literally, just keep your mechanic to yourself and let me vent, when I finish we all go home!

Lesson 7. ‘Gari ni spareparts (A car is its spare-parts). If they are not available locally, you are in problems.
I think with that, it is time I sold my car and pass on its problems to the lowest bidder, any takers?

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''Take it with a pinch of salt and a huge smile...it's never that serious! If it gets too serious I blog about it!''