[Groop] Comic Con & 2 Grooisms!!!

[Larry Steller]

Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes, No...

Well, after much agonizing and the obligatory Grooism
or two, I’ve finally made up my mind and AM going to
San Diego this year. 

When? 

My, isn’t THAT a good question, which leads me to my
two Grooisms!

As many of you are aware, it’s been a rough year for
me financially (and for many of you out there too, I
know!!!) After being out of work for just over 6
months, I’m finally working again, although not making
very much money, and have been hemming and hawing for
a while about whether or not I could afford San Diego
this year.

It’s been a never-ending series of “I’m going, I’m
not, I’ll try, no way” back and forth for a while now.

A month ago I made up my mind that I was DEFINITELY
gonna go!

Then I did something I rarely do, I DROVE into NYC
instead of taking mass transit to meet some friends
for dinner. My car gasped, shuddered and winked out
DIRECTLY in front of the main entrance to The American
Museum of Natural History during a particular rainy
evening! My alternator went and my car was hit with
the vehicular equivalent of a blackout.

I called BMW Roadside Assistance (Hey, it’s a 1988,
I’m broke, remember?) only to find out that my
Roadside Assistance had expired two weeks previous,
although I never received a renewal in the mail.

They graciously offered to send a tow truck anyway, as
long as I had an arm and a leg for payment...

When the tow truck arrived, the guy said if I let him
fix my alternator instead of the BMW dealer, he’d save
me a bundle. Being a cheapskate, I erred and said yes.

He quoted me a price the next morning of $480.00 -
cash please - and I wouldn’t have to worry about
towing. 

When I came to pick up the car (after missing a day of
work), the repair bill had ballooned to over $600.00
because of the $120.00 I owed for the towing. He said
he never said I didn’t have to pay for the towing,
just didn’t have to pay THAT NIGHT.

I said I only had the $480.00 cash, but I would bring
the other $120.00 when I got paid Friday. He
reluctantly agreed.

Here’s where it starts getting Grooish!

Driving into Manhattan that morning to pay for the
balance of my repairs, my car once again gasped,
shuddered and winked out as I was rounding the helix
approach to The Lincoln Tunnel! YIKES!!!

The Port Authority folks pushed me through the toll
booths to a safety zone outside the tunnel, and I
called my “trusty” mechanic. “Good news and bad news,
I’m on my way to pay you, but you’ll have to come tow
me there...”

At 11:00 Friday morning he said he’d be there in an
hour. Two hours later he said 20 minutes, an hour
later he said no really, 20 minutes, and an hour after
that he PROMISED it would be only 20 minutes to a half
hour tops, he was ON HIS WAY! An hour later I was not
only livid, but the Port Authority Police were
threatening to impound my vehicle since I was there
ALL DAY! I called and said I was going to call another
towing company and HE’D have to pay for it, but HE
PROMISED that traffic was bad and he’d be there in -
you guessed it - 20 minutes!

BTW, I was SUPPOSED to be at work at 1:00, another day
lost!

An hour later I insisted on calling another tow
company and he agreed to pay for the towing.

An hour later the new tow truck driver showed up, and
if I told this right then I spent 7 hours outside the
Lincoln Tunnel! 7 hours!!! I felt as gullible as
Charlie Brown when Lucy SWEARS she won’t pull the
football away THIS TIME! Just 20 minutes!

It gets better. 

Now it was end of the day Friday, car won’t be fixed
till Saturday evening, and I have to both open and
close the store Saturday to make up SOME of the hours
I missed, so now I have to RENT a car for the weekend
just to get to work!!!

So I went to pick up my car Monday morning loaded for
bear! FIRST I stopped by BMW and got an estimate for a
new alternator, they would have charged $430 for a NEW
Alternator, tax, labor and all, while my BUDDY who was
supposedly saving me money charged me $480 plus $120
towing for a REBUILT alternator that DIDN'T WORK!!!

I also had a minicassette recorder running in my
pocket for all of our conversations!

I went to get my car and he said it wouldn’t be ready
till the end of the day. I said NOT ACCEPTABLE since I
had to be at work by 1:00 in New Jersey, so had to
leave his shop no later than 12:00 noon. 

He then asked me where I got that horrific sunburn.

The Lincoln Tunnel, I said, I got it waiting 7 hours
for you to pick me up outside the Lincoln Tunnel!

He said he’d have it done by Noon. 

So noon comes and my car is ready, and I went upstairs
to discuss The Bill.

“So” he said “First, I paid $125.00 to have you towed
here…”

“WHICH YOU WERE OBLIGATED TO DO SINCE YOU LEFT ME
STRANDED FOR 7 HOURS OUTSIDE THE LINCOLN TUNNEL!!!”

“That wasn’t my fault…”

“Don’t EVEN try that, YOU left me stranded for 7 hours
because you couldn’t care less about helping me, since
you KNEW you were going to have to tow me and fix me
for free, so don’t even go there! PLUS because you
kept me waiting all day, I had to rent a car for the
weekend just to get to work, which cost me another
$100!!!”

“OK” he said, “But you still owe me $120.00 from
Wednesday, but that was for a REBUILT alternator and I
just put in a BRAND NEW alternator…”

“The way I see it, YOU owe ME money, because you
PROMISED you would fix it for less than BMW, and I
just came from there, and here is their written
estimate. See, they would have charged me LESS for a
new one than you charged for a rebuilt one, so YOU owe
me money, I don’t owe you a thing!”

He looked at me, and I was SEETHING! I had NEVER in my
life yelled at anyone the way I yelled at this guy. He
just looked at me and said. “OK, you can go!”

And I STILL gave him another earful.

SADLY, the $480 I shelled out plus the $100 car rental
plus missing two days of work REALLY put a crimp in my
plans to attend COMIC CON this year. 

I called Gary and told him I wasn’t going to make it,
but he said unfortunately Becky & Claire weren’t going
to make it either, so I could share a room with him!

Hmmm, I still had to figure out my finances, no
decision till I see if I make July rent!

I made July rent, cue second Grooism…

(I’ll keep the second one short since the first was so
long)

I arranged with my boss to have Wednesday through
Monday off for the week of Comic Con, and called
American Airlines to redeem what little I had in
frequent flyer miles. I found that there were no
flights available that were eligible for Frequent
Flyer Miles discount rates! 

However, she did find a low enough fare, so after
shopping around a bit I called back and accepted
American Airlines nonrefundable fare! Yippee, I’m
going to Comic Con.

Right?

Wouldn’t be much of a Grooism if it ended there now
would it?

I signed onto www.newsfromme.com for my daily does of
Mark, and what do I see but the following:

“Convention Forecast  10:56 AM
The Comic-Con International in San Diego is, as you
know, July 17-20….”

July 17-20???

I just booked my nonrefundable fares from Wednesday,
July 23 through Monday, July 28!!!

All together now, with feeling: “DID I ERR???”

Without reading another word I grabbed my cell phone
and called American Airlines back! I explained what I
did, and halfway through that person agreeing to
change the flight after all I lost the signal on my
cell phone and dropped the call!

WHY DID I USE THE CELL???

I called back and started all over with someone new,
who said she was JUST able to cancel the order, but
the only flights available for Wednesday, July 16
through Monday, July 21 were something like
$999.00!!!!

Priceline to the rescue! I got a fair from them for
about $360, a little more than American a week later
and no accruing of frequent flyer miles, but I am
going to San Diego!

Right?

Or AM I???

That little nagging voice inside my head was now
saying “Larrrrry, what week did you request time off
for Larry, huhhhhhhhhh???”

I checked my notes…

Wednesday, July 23 through Monday, July 28!!!

* sigh * 

Soooooo, I called my boss, explained what a bonehead I
am, and NOW have the correct week off from work.

And that means?

I’m going to Comic Con!!!



=====
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-Larry "Mr. Grooism" Steller
Mendicant Second Class

Check out: • FORGOTTEN NEW YORK, photohistorian Kevin Walsh's journal of fading NYC: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/ • Insider entertainment stuff and an anything goes weblog from Television/Comic Book Wordsmith MARK EVANIER: http://www.newsfromme.com/ and http://www.povonline.com/ • Comic Book Artist/Animator SCOTT SHAW!'s ODDBALL COMICS, a tribute to classic comic strangeness (and message board!) at http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/oddball/

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