Livvy's Story

For the first time after 2 weeks yesterday, I decided to drive again. Well, more because of force of circumstance, really. Hubby had two back to back meetings at the office, so I told him I'd pick up the kids from school. After all, the wound's healing well and I felt ok.

I started Livvy (my grand livina) at 9.30am, thinking that I'd pick up my brother from his college first since he wasn't feeling well. Alas, Livvy refused to start. I called up my brother the mechanic, but I couldn't reach him. I called up another brother who lives nearby, and also couldn't reach him. Suspecting that the culprit must be the battery, I texted Hubby, who confirmed what I thought. Thinking hard where to find a mechanic in the area (without having to go to yellow pages), I suddenly remembered a cousin who mentioned that he had used the lousy service of a little workshop in my housing area. Oh well, lousy or not, beggars can be choosers. I asked him for the workshop's numbers.

Yes it was kind of lousy from even the phone call stage. My call was answered by a guy with a 'shouting' voice. (I wish I wasn't desperate so I could just hang up on him!). I gave him my nicest tone, asking if he could ask somebody to come and check on Livvy. I gave him the direction to my place and told him that I'd be waiting in front of my gate. I don't know what he told his 'Ah Chai' because 15 minutes later (and the distance of his workshop to my house is about 1 minute drive), I was still waiting. When I was about to call him, he called me first, and without preamble shouted that I gave him the wrong direction. Patiently, I repeated my direction, and strangely enough he asked if there was a yellow 4WD parked near my house, which shows that the 'Ah Chai' did actually arrive earlier.

Anyway, Ah Chai came, jump-started Livvy and confirmed that it was the battery. He asked me to drive to the workshop to have the battery replaced. Since I only had RM200 on me, I had to ask him how much was the cost. To my relief, he said RM190. Without an ATM nearby, it would have been embarrassing not to have enough money to pay for the battery. Especially to a guy who likes to shout.

When I arrived at the workshop, the boss with the shouty-voice tried his best to be nice to me. He gently coaxed me into buying a dry-battery for Livvy, which cost RM240. I told him honestly that I only had RM200 with me, and sweetly he said "it's ok, you can come back to pay the balance this afternoon. It's only RM40," and added that "this battery is very suitable for women WHO DO NOT CHECK their cars. Then you won't have to worry about battery water and all that". Oh dear, how right he was about me not checking my car. (Well, Hubby does that for me anyway :(). I ended up taking the dry battery, making him RM50 richer, and actually owed RM40 for a few hours! Weird of me...but at least Livvy spurted to life as soon as she had the new battery installed. And maybe in the long run, I'd be better off with that.