Well, in all fairness, this had occurred to me beforehand. That is, this particular negative side effect of not having paid any bills for several months now. What is it is, is this: When you're poor folk like myself, the only way you have to deal with unforseen emergencies -- like, say, car troubles -- is with the plastic way into the deeper debt that they are willing to offer you. So, you quit keeping up on that stuff, you have no alternative.So, of course, this weekend my muffler falls off. Not actually off, mind you, just disconnected so it's hanging by the rear suspender part. And not just the muffler, mind you, but the whole pipe section from up front (where the catalytic converter is on most cars, but mine doesn't have one) so that there's a long piece of metal scraping the pavement as I drive. Nice. Not only is the car loud as hell and vibrating, but I get to wonder if sparks are flying and, if so, exactly where under the car my gas tank is.
So yeah, I take it to the shop today. It gets worse. My muffler had been hanging off, just from the rear part, about 5 months ago. So I take it back to this place, because I figure their shoddy work is the issue. Of course, they claim that the only replaced that rear part ... yeah, basically I'm pretty sure they're lying, but the fact is I can't honestly remember that they replaced the whole thing, and looking at it, it kind of looks like they might have only replaced the part they said. Long and short of it, I know they replaced it all now, and it's guaranteed for a year. And ultimately, the very apathy that has my life such a shambles in the first place prevented me from arguing too much or from just going somewhere else. This place is a block away ... convenience be the death of me.
So the real issue is, I'd checked my checking account after telling them to get to work, while I wondered how I was gonna pay for this. Turns out there wasn't enough to cover my rent anway. Only ten bucks short, but I figure short is short. So at this point I'm gambling on them not running that check till I get paid on Friday.
There's an upside to all of this, believe it or not. I came home and worked on a couple resume versions on Monster, and applied for several jobs. Ones I'm qualified for, even. Not that applying is getting hired, granted. But ya gotta start somewhere, and apparently complete and total ruin is my starting point.
Also, my answering machine is on the fritz now. Has some glitch where the outgoing message is sped up and has a humming noise behind it.
Yep: Top o' the world, ma.
