Yesterday I had a flat tire. It left me stranded near a friend's home, so I was lucky not to be far from help. So today I had to go check out the flat tire for replacement or repair and went to Wal-Mart.
I decided to take my aunt with me. She just bought tires for her truck, so figured she knew something about it. Wrong idea. She is 72 years old with a sharp tongue occasionally. She doesn't comprehend directions apparently. I told her to meet me at 11:00 in front of the auto repair area, and she arrived at the GARDEN CENTER at 10:30, then proceeded to gripe because I was not where she was. 
The attendant at wal-mart seemed to be in training. I asked him to see if he could repair the flat tire in trunk, and if I needed new front tires. Now this guy walked with a cane and didn't appear to have it "altogether" for his job. I walk with a cane occasionally too, but this guy appeared to be the type where "the light's on but nobody is home"...but I gave him a chance to do his job. He went out to my car in the parking lot, came in to tell me what the measurements were for BOTH front tires! He suggested I replace both of them. Uhhhhh - one of them is the spare - a "bicycle tire" used for emergencies. WHY WOULD YOU MEASURE IT AND TELL SOMEBODY IT WAS LOW IN TREAD?  As it turned out, I was getting new tires. He said they only had one tire like the ones on back of my car, so I needed to pick out another one. Noooo, you don't put two different tires on the front!  So he called another wal-mart close by, and they agreed to hold 2 tires for me. Of course it took awhile on the phone to check out proper size, etc. My aunt became impatient by then and asked the guy "What's taking them so long, did they go take a nap?"  As I'm leaving, I look and see that my car's trunk lid is still up!! Yes, that guy had opened the trunk to check the spare, and never closed the lid. Thank God nothing was missing!!
We arrived at the other wal-mart to get the reserved tires. I was told they were $80 each. Immediately, my aunt told the guy, "Why are they so expensive? I just bought 2 Goodyear tires in NC and mine only cost $60!!" So the guy explained I needed this tire to match what was on the back of my car...which was very popular and in high demand, so they cost more. They were better quality as well.
So they proceeded to put my tires on while we went to front of store to enjoy some McDonald's lunch. My aunt was still griping about the price, and my head was pounding. (I did not sleep well last nite - neighbor's dog woke me up at 5:00) So this day was not going well as expected.  I was so glad when my car was ready.
Then I proceeded out to parking lot and checked to see if they put my "bicycle tire" back into the place where it's kept in trunk. Nope, they just laid it in there. So I had to go back and get help again. It took the guy about 20 minutes to figure out how it fit back into the hole under the carpeting.
After this excursion, I sent my aunt homeward bound. Then I proceeded to the nearest DQ and ordered my favorite ice cream. I then went to the park and enjoyed it in peace and quiet. It felt so good to finally have my tires on the car, not worry about the bad ones, and to have time to myself. Oops! The bottom of my ice cream cone had a leak, went all over my blouse. 
Anyway, I did make it home and took myself a nap this afternoon. The nice breeze thru the windows felt good with temperatures in low 70's. I've had a chat with my neighbor's dog - he agreed not to bark in the morning if I gave him a beef chew.  However, he's out there barking tonight!!  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. 
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