#one of them (Northgate Station) was actually quite well dressed & you would never think

[dinasilvertongue]

My total was actually about $50 less than the estimate cuz it didn't take as long in labor hours & the part they'd ordered was a little cheaper than the one they'd originally planned, which was out of stock... I mean, obviously, it's an adjustment for me because I'm used to paying $35-40/hr directly to the mechanic, instead of shelling out $143/hr to a shop (other places charge even more, though not much more)—but if I'm going to go to a shop, then these guys are worth it... And we know shit happens w/my fellow Eastern-European immigrant mechanic sort of guys—like, either they become personally unavailable for an extended period of time, or they install a fucking EGR valve that's cheaper than that water bottle I almost bought today & then refuse to acknowledge the possibility that they may have fucked up—I mean, that was *quite* a saga, which did eventually get much more expensively fixed by those same Earl's Garage guys... But those guys were just a delight today—they actually brought out that Jane dog right after 4 to hang out w/me in the lobby because Tim said to Jack (the mechanic who I think did work on Celestine & whose dog it is), "Yeah she wants to see her," even though he was just reading me, I wasn't requesting it out loud... And then Jack had a seat & was telling me how actually common it is for Huskies to have two differently colored eyes, one brown & one blue, though Jane's eyes are both brown because she's only half Husky, & the other half Lab... Then, he said, for a cat it's unusual to have two different eyes, after which he pointed out that Tim has that too—but Tim said, actually, his eyes are just two colors w/in the same eye, but not two differently colored eyes... "Oh that's right, I saw that," Jack said, "when I gazed deeply into your eyes"... And I was like, "Well, you guys do work at a place that's very conducive to male bonding"—and Jack goes, "Well, they don't call it Earl's Gay-rage for nothing"—which kind of blew me away (I mean, for a car shop), so I said, "Well, that's nice that you guys are comfortable talking that way"—because it was kind of a natural moment, you know—and they were both, like, totally nonchalantly, "Oh yeah, we don't care, we're totally cool with that"... It's just amazing how different work places that do the same sort of thing can have such different internal cultures (it's the same w/my job as well)—cuz at that other Ace shop it's a totally different vibe... I mean, I don't know how they feel about the whole "gay thing"—but I know that just handing my car keys to this one dude that one time when I had a flat tire (on Luca's birthday; and today is also my half-birthday) made me feel like he was condescendingly smirking at me for no other reason than that I must be female; I mean, I can't imagine any other reason he would look down on me in that context—sure, I did say "sorry about the mess" & grabbed a bag of groceries before I headed out, but that doesn't really warrant a look of condescension, does it?... It's like, seriously, man—get the fuck over it, a half of us are female & most of us do drive & own cars, and that has been the case for quite some time... There's nothing about what we just did that warrants that kind of attitude on your part... Yes, people get flat tires—that's not unusual; and plenty of us, both male & female, need other ppl's help to install new ones—so what exactly is it in this context that makes you feel you're so much better than me?... (I digress, but I just don't get people sometimes... Speaking of which, & on a totally different note—it's amazing how many people out there on the streets behave as if they're actually talking to someone when, in fact, they're not talking to anyone that anyone else can see—today I saw at least two very prominent examples of it... It's very Cittàgazze—but what really drives me nuts is that a person who's yelling at someone who's supposedly standing in front of them, never fucking shuts up to let that other invisible person talk; if I were that ghost, I'd be seriously annoyed...)