Key Oversight

I was at the dealer for four hours, getting the car, despite picking a car within 30 seconds to getting there. That time was spent signing forms, or reading them, and answering question after question, and calling various people on the phone to get information I should have brought with me (except that, you know, I hadn't planned on buying a car that day, but that was when my Neon more or less died).

So, after four hours of that, and thousands and thousands more than any price they quoted me, let alone the advertised price, I drove the new car home and crawled up into my room to quiver until I was relaxed enough to do anything else.

Eventually, I decided that I needed something to eat other than the hotdog they'd given me at the dealer, which was slowly making me sick. So I walked downstairs and out to the car, unlocked the door, got in the driver's seat, and turned the --

No, wait. The key wouldn't turn.

I remembered there was some trick to it, so I tried pushing it in as I turned, like you needed to to take it out. Nope. I tried turning the key over. Using the other two keys they'd given me. Turning the key the other way. Turning the key lightly, and REALLY HARD. Nothing helped.

I looked through the manual, but although it had a lot of information about how to do this and that, 'how to turn the fucking thing on' was conspicuously missing.

So eventually, defeated, I got out of the silent car and slogged back upstairs to call the dealer and ask what trick there was that they'd forgotten to tell me, afraid that maybe there *wasn't* a trick, and that the car was just horribly defective... and that maybe the 'as is' on the sticker overruled the 7 year extended warrantee they'd tricked me into buying, and that I'd be out $20k+ and a day of my life.

But no, there was just a trick to it. Something obvious, in fact. And it worked.

So now I have to wonder, seeing as this was a rather glaring oversight on the part of the salesman, can I really give him 5 out of 5 on 'explaining the car's functions'?

I think I'll just screen my calls for a week (like I do anyway) and not answer any surveys (like I do anyway).

Overhead

Life is having too much of it right now, mostly thanks to #$%%^&ing Honda. I already hate them, and I've had the car all of 2 days.

Aside from the key thing, I'm supposed to take in in Wednesday to get extra options they already charged me for installed (thanks assholes) -- which'll take the whole day. So I'll have to have a loaner car, which means even more annoying versions of the 'get the parking updated' crap.

Also, even though I told them I didn't have a physical title to my Neon and they said that was fine, they're asking me to bring it in, since Chrysler Financial (damn them to hell) apparently never had themselves officially taken off as lienholder when I payed off the loan and they sent me the title. I had them taken off on the registration, but taking them off on the title is of course a completely separate and unrelated operation.

So now I'm supposed to contact them and get them to send me another title, assuming they still have records on that transaction since it happened more than seven years ago.

Of course, the management company is inspecting the apartments again. I think I mentioned that. This is stressful because I have no idea of their standards or what they're looking for.

Plus, my insurance agent was supposed to call me today to get my insurance updated to point at the new car instead of the old car (although techically there's 30 days before I HAVE to have that done(until then it automatically covers the new car, according to the Honda dealer, who for all I know was lying through his pointy snakelike fangs) but didn't. I suppose I can call him, eventually. Yet another thing to take care of, though.

And at work, I was told that the new G5s were replacing our *primary* computers and not pushing everything down a level and having us get rid of our secondaries. So I have to actually get it working as a primary development machine before I can do any work, which means installing a *different* OS and all this other crap, and of course it'll never be as functional as the old machine was, because switching machines always leaves you with less functionality.

Plus, there's a massive deadline approaching, and midyear review season is coming up.

I'm *so* glad I don't celebrate the holidays. WHO WOULD HAVE TIME?!?!