I was over at the garage at 5:45 this morning. The tow truck driver that saved my bacon the last time I moved was supposed to arrive at 7:30. I figured that should give me enough time the clean and sweep the garage.
At 7:15, he called to tell me that he had gotten a last minute call and would be delayed.
Not a problem…
Since I was giving my big parts bin to my mechanic, I used the extra time to transfer all of my nuts, bolts and screws into portable containers.
The tow truck arrived at 8:15. Then, because of the angle of the driveway, it took almost 45 minutes to get the T-Bird loaded on his flat-bed.
By the time he had towed and unloaded the car at my mechanics house, pushed it into place and covered it with a tarp, it was 10:00.
…about two hours behind schedule…
A guy at work had helped fabricate some parts and given me some really good advice for my T-Bird and had not asked for anything in return. Because I had said my goodbyes to everyone at work on Thursday, I know that he wasn’t expecting anything. That made it all the more important to me
So I headed over to my employer, quietly stepped into the shop, put $100 in his toolbox, told the guy who works next to him what I was doing and then slipped out the door and headed back to the apartment to work on renting a U-Haul truck.
As I was sitting at a red light, I absent-mindedly looked around and took in my last view of the scenery and what do you think I saw?
A U-Haul rental place!
“I’d like to rent a 17 foot truck.”
“We don’t have any available right now.”
“Well, are you expecting any to be returned today?”
She asked the older woman in the office…
“No.”
“Are you able to see if there is one available at another store?”
“Sure, we can do that.”
She checked her computer…
“There is one 17 footer available. It’s about 40 minutes away on the north side of the city.”
“There is only one in the whole city?”
“Right now…yes. The biggest one that we have is 15 feet.”
I decided to go with the 15′ truck. She then gave me an extra day and an extra 100 miles at no charge.
I gave her my card to pay for it.
“It’s being declined.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s being declined. It’s not going through.”
I was in disbelief. I mean we just sold our house so I KNOW that we have PLENTY of money to rent this truck!
“That’s impossible. I’ve got $***** in that account!”
As soon as the words escaped my mouth, I thought, “That was a dumb thing to say! I just gave her a really good reason to help herself to my account.”
She tried again…”It’s not going through.”
It is amazing how quickly the circumstances can change and make you feel like you have just entered “The Twilight Zone”!
I called my bank…
Fifteen minutes later, I actually talked to a human being.
“I am trying to rent a moving van and the girl behind the counter is saying that my card is being declined. How is that possible since I have plenty of money in the account?”
“Ummm…yes…We put a hold on your account because this purchase is being made in an unusual area.”
“What do you mean an unusual area? I have worked about a mile away from here for the past 5 years!”
“Well, it’s a big purchase.”
“IT’S MY MONEY!”
“I’m sorry sir. Let me put you on hold because I don’t have the authority to override it.”
Ten minutes later, he came back on…
“Have her try it again.”
She did…
“It still being declined.”
It turned out that the problem was now her computer system.
I kept the bank guy on the line with while she entered the entire transaction in her computer a second time.
She tried again…
“It went through.”
I thanked the bank guy and hung up.
It was now 1:30…and I was about 3 1/2 hours behind schedule.
She then informed me that if I took the truck now, the clock would start today. If I picked it up at 5:00, it would start tomorrow.
Even though it would mean a thirty minute drive to come back to pick the truck up, I decided to take the extra day.
