Tire-d Out

Ugh. What a long day.

For months, I've needed new tires. I had one with a slow leak, one with a not-so-slow leak (that's already been treated with Fix-A-Flat once), one with a nail embedded in it, and one that's just plain worn down. Add that to a phenomenally unbalanced state, and I was a disaster on wheels just waiting to happen.

Monday, I checked around on the internet, trying to decide who had the best deals on tires. This morning, I got up early to do a little more calling around, and to take my car in.

Turns out, evil Wal-Mart had the cheapest tires. Have I ever mentioned that I hate Wal-Mart? Well, I do. Damn them and their low prices. As much as I hate the place, I can't afford not to go there.

A side note: We live on the border between two suburbs. Thus, there are two Wal-Marts within a reasonably close distance of our apartment. One is in the nice suburb, where we live, one is in the 'burb just to the northeast of us, which is... um... well... a little white trashy. There are no trailer parks in our suburb. There are plenty of them in the 'burb next door.

I got Cory up early so that he could drive me over to the "nice" Wal-Mart, then drop me off back at home on his way to work. The plan, as we saw it, was that I'd drop off the car, come home, catch a quick catnap, shower, dress, and pick my car up on Cory's lunch break.

Then, a change of plans. Cory told me that the service center in the trashy suburb is always a shorter wait than the one I was planning on going to. So, I called over there, doublechecked, and the woman at the service counter told me that there wasn't anybody in getting tires at the time, and I should be in & out relatively quickly.

Since I had a little grocery shopping to do anyway, I decided to just bite the bullet, drive over there by myself, and save Cory the extra trips to drop me off and pick me up.

Big mistake.

I got to Wal-Mart, stood in line for fifteen minutes, and then the woman at the service counter told me that they didn't have my tire in stock. And I'm not talking about the brand or style. They didn't have four tires in my size. Not even mixing and matching brands. Seriously.

So I had to drive to the other Wal-Mart. Thankfully, they had my tire. Unfortunately, the place was jam-packed, and they informed me that it would be 2 1/2 hours.

After cursing under my breath for about ten minutes, and calling Cory and whining to him, I walked over to a neighboring strip mall to kill some time.

At this point, I need to inform you that it's (pardon my language) hotter than balls outside. And very sunny. And while I love Florida, being an un-showered girl in dark jeans on a 90-degree day isn't a pretty sight. Or a pretty smell.

I went to the Dollar Tree, bought a pen and a book of sudoku puzzles, and sat on a park bench for about an hour and a half, solving puzzles. Cory came to see me while he was on his lunch break, and we went out for a quick bite. I wasn't really hungry, but I really, really, really wanted to spend some time in air conditioning.

Then, Cory dropped me back off at Wal-Mart, I wandered around for another 45 minutes. All told, it was four hours before my car was ready to go.

But at least I have four pretty new tires.