It being the fourth time back to the “Kingdom of Tires” tire sales chain within two thousand miles to fix a glitch I was border line snapping.
“Listen….your guys have balanced my tires three times and I’m still bump the friggin bump down the road. I think it’s time to swap them out. And might I remind you of the original installation when I had white lettering showing on only one side of the truck?”
Recognizing obvious aggravation when he sees it the apologetic manager quickly ditched out to the shop to loudly bellow…
“When was the last time we calibrated the balancer?”
Turns out that as it was something no one knew how to do it wasn’t on the list of chores to be performed with any regularity. All of this was what was on my mind fifty thousand miles later when the need for tires again reared it’s ugly head and so I headed down to a different branch of the “Kingdom of Tires”.
I tend to experience a great deal of déjà vu in my life and so there I was yet again heading down to the tire place early one Saturday morning with one of my tires keeping beat with the Oldies station on the radio. I pulled into the parking lot at opening time as did another F150 and we had a little race to see who might be first in line. Fortunately it was I that placed first as that meant I was first to hear…
“Sir…your vehicle is ready and I’m sure you’ll find no issues. Here are your keys.”
Five steps into the parking lot and I saw it there standing out proud as a pair of dogs testicles. So I turned right around and went back into confront Mr. No Issues who stood there looking in askance.
“I want to talk to you about the Michelin on the drivers side of my vehicle.”
“ Is there a problem with it Sir?”
“Yes… Michelins are like potato chips ….ya can’t have just one.”
“ Sorry Sir, I’m not following your train …what exactly is the problem?”
“The train , as I see it, is that the other three are B.F Goodrich …the Michelin belongs to someone else.”
“I’ll claim it.” said the other customer without looking up from the Sports Illustrated and I joined him to continue the article I hadn’t finished ….
