Dee Motion

No Shrink, Exorcist - Part 1

Maybe no one had smoked inside the service station in years, but it smelled of smoke and dust and 10W30 motor oil. All service stations smell that way, except perhaps a couple of recently built BP near home.

I waited in line to drop off my car. I no longer took my car to the dealership. Salespeople kept trying to interest me in a new used car, and I no longer trusted their ability to diagnose the afflictions of the car I currently owned.

For much of the past three years, my car had a strange rattle. The dealership maintained that nothing was wrong. I demanded that a “certified auto technician” ride in the car with me. I explained the problem, which was more of a sensation that a distinctly audible noise. He didn’t notice. Later, he claimed to have fixed it. The rattle wasn’t fixed and drove me crazy.

I fired the dealership and took my car to a neighborhood service station recommended by Buddy’s father. He said to ask for Frank. Frank took my car out for a quick drive, looked under the hood, and tinkered for ten minutes. The rattle went away. He didn’t charge anything.

This service station is not in my neighborhood so I had to time my drop off plans with Dee’s work schedule. Dee walked in shortly after I did. I was surprised by her punctuality.

“Hey honey,” she said greeting me with a smile. She was chipper even after several busy days at work.

I hadn’t timed my drop off to avoid the afternoon rush of people picking up cars. I had called ahead, but they had no way for me to leave my keys and go. I was chippy.

“How was work?” I asked.

“Ian stormed into my office,” she said. “He yelled at me. He’s dickless.”

Several people reacted. The person at the counter even looked up and waited for Dee to say more. I watched him until he resumed helping the customer in front of the customer in front of me.

I asked, “What happened?”

“He was furious,” she said. “I told Ray that the weekly meetings were a waste of time.”

“Who’s Ray?”

I bet our audience was glad I asked this question.

“Ian’s boss. Head of sales. He cancelled Ian’s meetings and several others.”

“That’s good.” It was also good that we were next in line. Our audience had thinned out.

“He replaced them with a once-per-quarter sales support meeting. He set up a group to plan these meetings. I’m the main support person for that group.”

“That’s great.”

“And my boss isn’t included.”

“So he’s pissed.”

“Enraged. He went nuclear. A bunch of people heard him yell at me.”

The overweight guy behind us said, “My boss is a dick too.”

“I would guess he’s not hitting on you anymore.” This comment elicited a heavy chuckle from the noob.

“He did last week, and the week before that.”

“Really?”

An older woman behind the fat guy said, “Oh honey, you have to stop that.”

“And you and I just got invited to a management offsite next week,” Dee continued. “He’ll probably hit on me there.” This news was unwelcomed.

“Not if I’m there.”

“Don’t count on it. It starts Tuesday. Can you go?”

“I need to check. I do have a lot of work.”

“Tom.”

“Hold on.”

It was my turn. I was told that Frank was off until next week but that someone else could take care of my car tomorrow. I declined because Frank is my man. I could trust him to make sure my car could pass inspection.

I rescheduled my time to coincide with Dee’s offsite. My hope was that I could use Dee’s car while she was gone. It was a vain hope. She overhead me rescheduling my appointment.

“So you’re coming?” she asked.

… continued