I'll Take You

Jack threw his cell phone against the dash of his car and swore. Why could his car not start? In frustration he grabbed his cell phone again, ready to slam it against the dash again. Out of vain hope he checked it again for a signal. Maybe the impact of the phone on the dash aligned the right wires, or some cosmic force was smiling, because Jack had service on his cell phone.

Quickly Jack grabbed his oil change receipt and called Quick Lube before his lost service again. “Quick Lube, how may I help you?” a voice rang out over the din of the shop.

“I was just in your place a couple…”

“Quick Lube, can I help you?” a second voice came over the phone.

“I was just in your place…” Jack hesitated, the level of shop noise that was coming over the phone was unbearable. “I was just in your place not to long ago for an oil change and now my car wont start.”

“Why don’t I transfer you to the service manager,” the second voice said. After a few seconds a new voice was asking Jack why he called. Jack explained that his car wouldn’t start.

“I don’t see how your car not starting could be due to our oil change.” The voice retorted.

“You guys were the last ones to touch my car. Everything was fine before my oil change.” Jack’s body temperature was rising with his fury.

“I still don’t see how your car not starting could be the fault of our oil change.” The voice reaffirmed its statement.

“You just lost yourself a loyal customer.” Jack said just before hanging up. He did not want to loose his cool in a pointless argument. The service manager wouldn’t take any blame.

Jack read through the receipt once more, picking apart every detail. It was obvious that they did not vacuum the car as the receipt indicated. Then, something caught the corner of his eye. His headlights were turned on. Jack never turned on his headlights because they automatically turned on when it got dark. Jack sighed as he realized that the oil change place must have turned on his headlights for a safety check and forgot to turn them off.

A car pulled up next to him as he looked at his cell phone and saw it didn’t have service once again. A cute young blond was behind the wheel. Jack explained what happened and that he thought he had a dead battery.

“I don’t have any jumper cables with me, but I’ll take you to a store,” she said. Jack nodded in agreement and hopped into her car.