Friday, December 17, 2004
ON MURPHY’S LAW
I have seen “Murphy’s Law” desk calendars and other forms of these quotes. I have never completely understood Murphy’s Law. From what little I do know about it, the principle is that anything that can possibly go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible time. I guess these “laws” could be similar to the “Hairballs of Life” about which I posted recently.
I had one of those “Hairballs” which I believe combined with a “Murphy’s Law” to produce some stress in my life this week.
Monday evening of this week our middle daughter, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, called and said that the transmission on her car went out on the Interstate on her way to work. So, an aggravation, a “hairball of life”, if you will. No real problem. She had purchased the car just a little over a year ago and we purchased an extended warranty on the car at a cost of almost $500. So, the transmission replacement should be covered, right? Even the salesman who sold us the car thought so. But…when our daughter called the toll-free number on the warrantee, she learned that it DID NOT cover the transmission—only everything connected with the motor. So now we have the problem of how to help her come up with the nearly $4,000 she was quoted to repair the car.
Calling around proved to be financially prudent. She is going to get the repair done more quickly at about half the price. Paying for it? Well, thanks to Dad’s and Mom’s good credit, we have a very low interest credit card to put it on and we’ll share the repayment of the debt.
Problem solved? Well, not quite. That part of the problem was solved. But in the process, one of our youngest daughter’s cars had to go to the service department for routine maintenance. This required much switching back and forth of cars in a short period of time. Okay, we got that cared for—within three dollars of the estimated price and the total was under $150. Not so bad, eh?
During all this, our oldest daughter called and said, “The inside handle of my driver’s door is about to completely break off. Can we get it fixed? A few phone calls and some additional switching of cars around was necessary to get this problem corrected. Mission now accomplished! A new handle that actually works is on the door!
But in the process of that experience, one of my two cars needed unexpected, sudden mechanical attention. That one is going to cost $500! Ugh! But the good news is they are furnishing me a car while they service mine. They say, “Free of charge.” Of course we all know the charge is built into what they are charging me for the repair work. But at least they have the hassle of getting and returning the rental car, not me. I wonder what kind of rental car I’ll drive this time. (See previous posts on “Rental Cars”.) Soon this will all be history and we’ll be on to some other “Hairball of life”!
Jim
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