beeping. and more beeping.

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away there lived a woman with a sweet family.  She was on her way to to a school drop off and then a morning of errands.  Barely on time, she liked to call it rather than running late.  Not a minute to spare.

Driving down the neighborhood street, the car began frantically beeping; an alarm beep gone haywire.  Doors locking, lights flashing, she thought for sure the car would either die or blow up in seconds.  She prayed to have the car make it to the preschool and not leave her with two small children, stranded with passersby ogling as they drove by on a frigid morning.

To preschool, she made it.  Of course the husband she called was calm.  He was in the comfort of his warm office without something with a mind of its own threatening to make or break his day.  He mentioned the dead key fob - the one that had been dead for a few months.

To the dealership, Google Maps took her.  She trudged in, looking slightly less than frazzled and sensing the stifled laughs from the sales people yet to be working.  "My car won't stop beeping."  The service man was confident it must have been the battery in the key fob - almost 100% certain, actually.  Four dollars and some change, new battery, and thoughts about having should have done this months ago rather than undo the key fob every single time to unlock the doors.

Not even out of the the land of the pretty, new, unbeeping cars before the beeping started and the doors locked.  Wracking her brain, she wondered if the programming for the oil change alert had messed with something.  A quick jaunt to Starbucks, and an unconfident mind regarding the beeping after the oil change, a phone call was made to Almost 100% Service Man, and he told her she'd need to make an appointment in which they would take three hours of her time and $120 of her money.  She almost choked out loud, but instead managed to tell him she'd call back with arrangements.

She had it all planned out after consulting some threads on Google.  It did look like she was indeed not the first person to have this happen, and while a new battery and a new key fob won't matter, a reset to the car's computer system should do the trick.  Her husband would take the car into the dealership as a tough guy - no appointment, no $120 --a reset of the system in ten minutes.

Starbucks in hand, baby in the other, and a whole lot of mechanical jargon over the counter at the oil changing place.  That guy thought she may not know that her car would lock when she traveled over a certain speed.  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes out loud.  A gentle, kind soul in the same building told her gently that mechanics were out to get her and that the people there had no idea what they were talking about -- she smiled, thanked him, and asked him his mechanical expertise before leaving.

He did tell her it was safe to drive, so off to Hobby Lobby she went (life must go on).  Hobby Lobby makes treacherous speed bumps in their parking lot.  Traveling over one, there was a sudden bang and some rattling around.

She pulled into a parking spot, got out quietly and looked around subtly.

And shut the trunk that had been ajar for the last several hours.

---


Must be humiliating to be her.