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The Day I Had to Buy a New Car Battery
By briantologist | February 2, 2010
We were dropping Henry at school, and Erin was gonna drop me at the coffee shop afterward. I work there frequently, exercising my limitless freedom as a telecommuter by purchasing sandwiches I can’t afford. We stopped in the bus zone, put the blinkers on, and stood around in the snow as Henry made little snowballs and threw them at close objects. (He frequently missed. That’s our boy.)
The doors opened, we brought him in and kissed him goodbye, and our beloved car made this strange, feeble clicking noise when Erin cranked it. Once, twice, four times. I had the presence of mind to admit how fucking ludicrous it was for to ask if she’d let me try, as though the special automotive healing portion of my Y chromosome would make the difference. It did not. I called AAA, and thanks Mom and Dad for the membership; I hope to someday repay you by not needing to occasionally beg for money.
Erin took the bus home because there was no point in her sitting there freezing. I sat there and froze. Texted my mechanic and told him the car was coming. Waited more. My toes had some feeling left in them when the tow truck showed up, and a guy whose voice sounded like Marsellus Wallace figured out it was a weak battery in about 4 seconds. Jumped the car, followed me to AutoZone (I know, right?), started taking my old battery out as I went in to get a new one. (Swapping out a battery is one of a few automotive measures I can confidently handle on my own, but whatever.) We were done in under 10 minutes. I gave him 5 bucks and felt like a chump because I didn’t have anything more.
That car sure started the fuck up right quick, though. I’ll tell you that much. That battery started the SHIT outta that car. POW!
P.S. — I hereby apologize to Andy Maggio, the greatest mechanic I’ve ever used, for the false alarm. Seriously though, I cannot emphasize this enough: If you live in Chicago, particularly on the north side, get your car fixed at Maggio Auto on Damen and Wilson. He’s totally nice, really funny, and absolutely will not jack you around.
Topics: Baffled Mutterings, Chicago, General Irritants, NaBloPoMo | 3 Comments »
February 4th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Always a pleasure to see a post from you, but I had to comment…Andy is my mechanic as well, and he couldn’t be nicer, an absolute pleasure to do business with. He’s the greatest.
February 4th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
It is a really, REALLY valuable thing to have a good mechanic that you know you can trust, no matter where you live.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Totally. We were lucky enough to have a great one in Tulsa, too. (For the record, if you need an auto repair in Tulsa, look up Z Automotive. John’s a hell of a guy.)