Day 12-LA County Dept. of Health MANDATES indoor masking
The “Transmission Tales”…
7/28/21. Wednesday
7:00 – 8:00-I need to take the dog out [L. is still in South Carolina] so I’m up early at B.’s house. Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I re-pack my overnight bag, load everything in the car, and leave – B. will meet me at Trident Auto at 10:00 a.m.
8:00-8:30 – Driving
8:30-9:30 – Home and the dog is happy to see me. No accidents! I quickly take her outside and she goes potty. Return inside and cheese for her. I make a cup of coffee from my Keurig, then unload my car. After, I publish the daily content for my summer class and answer a few emails from some of my students.
I check my personal email – there’s another funny email from L.! I’ll respond in person, when I pick her up at the airport today.
9:30 – 10:00 – I drive L.’s car to Trident Auto and drop it off.
10:00 – 12:00 - B. picks me up from Trident Auto with Starbucks coffee and donuts in hand and we return to my house for ‘patio coffee’, only it’s way too hot to sit outside so we have coffee inside, at my kitchen counter, instead.
12:00 – 1:00 - B. leaves and I have a leftover turkey burger patty for lunch. I start reading Formation, but I’m interrupted by a phone call from the Trident mechanic who says he has terrible news - L.’s transmission is shot and must be replaced. A new transmission is going to cost $4600! In shock, I manage to ask the price for a “rebuild.” The mechanic says he’ll call me back with some quotes.
1:00-3:00 - I text my ex [L.’s dad, who lives in South Carolina] with the bad news and he texts back “Call me” so I drive to the Home Goods parking lot where I have cell service and for the next hour he just hammers me with everything I’ve done wrong concerning this repair.
My ex said that he had previously spoken to L. about the fact that the transmission might be slipping, that this repair would retail between $3000 and $6000, and had told L., specifically, to take the car to a transmission shop, NOT our usual mechanic. I tried to explain to my ex that L. had specifically asked me to take it to Trident because neither of us knew what the problem was. Other than a “Valet” at one of L.’s numerous travel spots telling L., “I think your transmission’s slipping”, L. and I did not know what was wrong with the car. I told my ex that L. had never shared their transmission conversation with me.
Most of all, L.’s Dad was extremely concerned that we would have to pay the $150 diagnostic fee that Trident routinely imposes. Since I would now have to take L.’s car to an actual “transmission shop”, my ex said Trident would NOT be inclined to waive the fee because they wouldn’t be doing the work.
My ex asked, “Well, what did you tell Trident when you dropped off the car?” and I told him that I had scheduled an appointment via email, wherein I wrote in the comments section, “The transmission is slipping.” In an accusatory tone, my ex said, “So you did know it was the transmission! Then why would you bring it to Trident? I told L. it needed to go to a transmission shop!!”
It bears repeating that I had no idea what was wrong with the car. A larger question is why L. failed to convey the “transmission conversation” she had with her Dad at the same time L. asked me to drop off the car at Trident.
My ex created a ‘script’ for me as to how to respond when Trident inevitably charges us for the $150 fee and we had to rehearse it. It went like this: Trident: “Hi, that’s going to be $150 for the diagnostic check.” Me: “Um, we don’t have the money to replace the transmission and it’s just going to sit in the garage. Can you waive the fee?” My ex made me repeat my ‘lines’ [1 sentence] about 10 times, until he was satisfied I wouldn’t f—k this up, too.
L.’s Dad is on it, wheeling and dealing, calling around and trying to find a Transmission shop that will beat the Trident price. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for Trident to provide quotes for a rebuild. L.’s Dad calls a friend who happens to be a salesman at the Nissan dealer and asks him if they sell new transmissions. It turns out…they DON’T. At the same time, Trident calls me and says that “transmission rebuilds for L.’s Nissan Altima don’t exist.” This, in fact, is a lie. ALL transmissions for this make and model of car are rebuilds.
My ex gets on the horn with Trident and tells the mechanic “you quoted my wife $4600 for a NEW transmission, when it’s actually a REBUILD…it’s not new because I spoke with my friend at the Nissan dealer.” The Trident employee hems and haws and then eventually caves, stating that, while not NEW, Trident’s rebuilds come directly from the Nissan dealer so they’re better quality and as good as new. By this time, my ex has received a $3900 quote from H&M Transmission, but the parts are from a questionable source. H&M can’t start working on L.’s car until Monday, though. That’s a long time for L. and I to share ONE car.
My ex conveys all of this to me and I am utterly exhausted. Then, he starts dumping on me about the cost of L.’s plane ticket, complaining that her ticket cost him $575 when his brother and family just flew there last week for $341 per person. For the 100th time, I explain to L.’s Dad that L. was insistent that she have NO layovers. Yes, there were cheaper tickets, but the layover time for these flights was no less than 5 hours. Which L. conveyed to her Dad. Several times.
My ex switches gears and says L. didn’t take enough time off from work to visit him and he essentially paid $600 for just TWO days spent with L. Uh, how is this my problem? The art studio is short-staffed and L.’s manager is on maternity leave. L. asked for more time off, but was denied because the art studio is running summer “camps” and needs staff to man [uh, ‘woman’] them.
L. is actually in flight now, as we are speaking, and I tell my ex I need to get going so I can pick her up at the airport when her flight comes in at 5:30. His parting words to me are, “Wow, why would you schedule her return flight during rush hour traffic…that’s going to…” I disconnect the call – he won’t know that I actually hung up on him – and leave to go pick up L. It goes without saying that I had no control over her return flight. This flight was one of two options withOUT a layover and completely out of my control – the other flight would have landed at midnight and L. has work the next day.
3:00-6:00 – True to form, traffic is absolutely horrible, especially at LAX. I listen to True Crime Garage. The parking lot across from L.’s gate is full so I’m forced to park in a different lot about a half-mile away. L.’s flight is delayed and I’m waiting around, outside, for a good hour, hoping I don’t miss her. At least everyone is masking in accordance with Biden’s new federal guidelines.
I text L. to “Exit the door across from Starbucks and turn right when you get outside” and she texts back, “Ok, but can we go somewhere to get some real food?” I’m exhausted, but don’t want to rain on L.’s parade because I know she’s happy to be back in California so I text, “Sure!” and L. proceeds to pick one of the most traffic-congested places ever, with the worse parking: Eataly at the Century City Mall. I hate that area AND that mall so I text/ask L. if she will drive and she agrees.
6:30 – 7:30 – L. exits the airport and she. is. alive!! It’s soooo good to see her! In one piece! I think, as parents, we never stop worrying about our children, no matter how old they are.
L. has tons of stories about her short stay with her Dad in South Carolina as we walk to my car – they’re very funny. We find the car and head to Eataly. I’m charged $13 as we exit the parking structure. For 70 minutes.
7:30-8:30 – Arrive at the Century City Mall and L. has to get a novelty drink at Blue Bottle Coffee before we can go to Eataly. The line is slow and long at Blue Bottle and, at this point, I sort of want to die. We go up some stairs, then another escalator, to Eataly, which is really just a huge Italian deli. L. says she wants “real food” after having spent time eating heavy Southern food, and then proceeds to pick two slices of heavy, dense, processed, pan pizza, that have been sitting under glass for hours. I comment that the pizza looks exactly like something one would order in the South, but L. says, “No – this pizza has natural ingredients.” I highly doubt it.
-L. stops by one of the pastry kiosks in this “deli” and encourages me to pick something so I select a lemon custard with raspberries and blueberries to go. L. actually pays.
Can we leave yet? I just want to go home.
L. finally says she ‘s ready to go.
8:30-9:15 – Driving and I tell L. the bad news about her car and that her Dad and I are expecting her to pitch in for the cost of the repairs; she readily agrees. I casually ask L. why she requested that I take the car to Trident instead of the transmission shop, where her Dad had told her to take the car instead.
L. said that at the time she asked me to drop off the car, she hadn’t spoken with her Dad about the transmission. In fact, L. and her Dad had that conversation a mere 6 hours earlier!! My ex led me to believe that he and L. had the “transmission conversation” weeks ago and that I should have known NOT to take the car to a standard mechanic. In fact, my ex was gas lighting me the entire time. He told L. to take her car to a transmission shop while driving L. to the airport today [1:00 p.m. his time], when I had already dropped the car off with Trident hours before [10:00 a.m. my time]. There was no way I could have known about his conversation with L. when I dropped off the car, because it hadn’t happened yet.
Suffice it to say, I remember why my ex and I are divorced…
9:15-9:45 – Home and I take the dog for a walk and listen to AirTalk. While I’m out, my ex calls L. and tells her that Trident will match H&M’s quote and will start working on the car tomorrow. Most importantly for my ex, the $150 diagnostic fee will be waived since Trident will be making the repairs. Thank God [sarcasm here]. We only have to pay $3900 and NOT $4150. My ex tells L., “I guess Mom dropped your car off at the right place after all”, but never bothers to tell me.
10:00-11:00 – I do a 40-minute Insanity Plyometric workout.
11:00-12:30 – L. and I watch episode 5 of Catch and Kill.
12:30-1:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.