Running low on straws (In which I complain. A lot.)

I finally got the ignition fixed on the Purple Hatchback of Loveliness.

Actually, I'm not sure I had mentioned there was anything wrong with it, so wrapped up was I last week in posting pictures from the fair and wishing Steve a happy birthday.

In any case, the ignition suddenly started jamming last Sunday. Whichever key we tried would go in just fine, but wouldn't turn at all, not even enough to turn on the radio or (little detail here) put the car into neutral or anything.

After eleventy dozen tries, it finally did work and we drove it. But when we finished what we were doing and tried to drive home, it happened again.

So I dropped it off at the shop for them to look at on Monday at which time, of course, they inserted the key and started the car "thirty or forty times". I got a bonus "here, show me how you start the car" because, I guess, the first 18 months I had driven the car without ignition incident could have been an anomaly.

Plus, they didn't have the part to replace it anyway, so I asked them to track one down, and then I got in the car and drove to work.

Since the car is parked inside a locked gate both at home and at work, I simply left the key in the ignition all the time, making sure the radio & lights were off, and never had to worry about being able to start the car when I was next ready to drive it.

Of course, I also didn't have to worry about grocery shopping or any other sort of use of the car that didn't involve leaving it behind closed doors.

Funnily enough, the guy at the shop didn't call to tell me how much a new ignition switch would be. Not on Monday anyway. Or on Tuesday or Wednesday. Or Thursday.

So yesterday I stopped by and reminded them that I wanted to know how much the part would cost because I still wanted my car fixed, even if they couldn't replicate the problem. This time they figured maybe I did want to fix my car, and they called me back this morning to let me know that the part could be had, used, for three times what it costs new at any Auto Zone in the States.

But, this isn't the States and sometimes that happens, so we said to go ahead and get the part and I would drop the car off on the way home from work today, which I did.

And I went back to pick it up a couple of hours later and yes, they had replaced the ignition switch. Funnily enough, the one they took out is visibly damaged.

So, I'm a little disgruntled that they didn't follow up when I asked them to find a part I wanted to replace on my car, but I know how it is. Sometimes you're busy and if you don't think the work actually needs to be done, I can see how it would slip by.

But I'm more than a little disgruntled that the guy who did the work smoked in my car, which is disgusting, and somehow installed the switch in such a way that the chime beeps continually any time the door (or the other door, or the trunk) is open, even if the key is two blocks away from the car at the time.

The beeping from the key being left in the car all the time was actually really really annoying, and now it's a permanent feature! (Or at least till we Google it and find out how to fix it, or possibly take it back and make them fix it, or maybe find a new mechanic and get them to fix it...)