House Sitting and Brakes

So house sitting is going great.

My boss, DeAnn, asked me to dog/house sit for two weeks. I said no problem. I don't have anything at my house I need to stay there for, so why not stay at someone else's house. They even allowed me to bring Charlie over to stay here too. They have a 15 year old Border Collie named Chayse. She puts up with Charlie, but hobbles around a lot. I have to keep Charlie off her half the time.

I like their house, and their dog. I am staying in their spare bedroom, and she has a really nice down comforter on the bed for me. When I arrived, she had towels laying out, some blueberry muffins for breakfast, and even a flashlight at the bedside (in case I needed to get up in the middle of the night, that way I wouldn't trip on anything-how sweet).

When I have to work though, Charlie goes back to my home, and the neighbor girls let Chayse out in the afternoon once. 12 hours alone is really hard on the dog, so they are nice enough to help out.

On to the brakes. I went and got my oil changed on Saturday, and my brake light had been coming on, so I asked them to check my brake fluid. They didn't want to, but I explained to them that if it isn't really low, then I know it is an electrical problem, not a real brake problem. I told them, I didn't expect them to fix it, I just wanted them to check, since they were already working under my hood.

They did. That was nice.

It is low. Grr.

Well, since they don't do brakes, I decided to head over to Les Schwab and have them looked at. See what needed to be done, and how much. Well, when I arrived I told the guy my brake light kept coming on, and I needed to know what I needed to do about it, and how much would it cost.

He said " No problem, we will take your car back, check it out, and I will get back to you to let you know what needs to be done"

"Great!"

"It will take about half hour"

"No problem, I will wait"

So, I waited, and waited, and waited. Finally they pull my car into the service bay, and check my brakes. I also had them rotate my tires while they were there. Last year I had to buy new tires, so they needed to be rotated.

After 45 minutes + of waiting, the lady finally comes back in, tells me what that I have 15% left on the front, and 60% left on the rear. They recommend replacing the front brakes at this time. She tells me it will cost ~$200 to replace brakes, flush the system, and fill my brake fluid. And, if my rotors need to be replaced, it will cost an additional $80.

I can't exactly afford that, but I figure this is safety I am talking about, and I have lots of traveling in my future. So, I say "Go ahead. How long will it take?"

"M'aam, we are closed now, you will have to make an appt for that."

"What? The guyt told me he would check things out and come back to let me know what needed to be done. So, not only did I wait for 45 minutes for you to tell me something I already know, but now I have to come back and wait again. Okay, I guess it needs to be done, can I make an appt for tomorrow?"

"We are closed"

"Are you kidding me?" I said a bunch of other stuff under my breath. About ready to cry, holding myself back. "I guess Monday then"

So, I have an appt to get my brakes fixed in 45 minutes. They said it should take about an hour. Right, an hour. I will believe that when I see it. I have decided to wear my running clothes, and when I drop off my car, I will go running. What better way to waste time? Even if I don't run for a full hour, I won't just be sitting there, staring at the popcorn machine, debating whether to have any or not!