Frustration, Crackers, And Hot Mail

Our new 2022 Ram Laramie pickup truck has a black interior with silver accents. But for some dumb reason, the molding alongside the console and around the radio is some kind of cross between tan and gold. I have no idea why whoever was putting it together in the factory did that, but it is butt ugly, and when I saw it, I told the salesman that it had to go.

He hemmed and hawed a bit and then said that they could replace it at their cost, somewhere around $650, which would be out of my pocket. When I told him that I wasn’t paying a penny more, he said his hands were tied. I told him no thanks, there were plenty of other trucks in the world and started to get up to leave. He quickly decided that they could indeed change it at no cost to me. One of the first secrets you learn in any negotiation is that the person who is willing to walk away is the one who wins. So they agreed to change it out for me and stated so in writing (because if it’s not in writing, it will never happen) and said they would order the parts and call me when they came in.

That phone call came late last week, so yesterday morning Terry and I were up early to drive 90 minutes to the dealership in Palatka. The service department took the truck right in and said it would take about an hour or so. We waited for 2 1/2 hours in their small customer lounge before a customer service rep came out to sheepishly apologize and tell us that they had ordered the wrong trim piece. It was frustrating, but things like this happen sometimes. They are supposed to order the correct one and call us as soon as it comes in. We’ll see what happens with that.

From there, we wanted to go to Coastal Integrative Healthcare in Palm Coast to have our friend Doctor Melony Thomas give us chiropractic adjustments. You know you’re in rural Florida when your GPS takes you down a narrow route through the backcountry called Cracker Swamp Road. Terry told me not to stop anywhere because she thought she heard banjos playing.

At some points the trees on both sides of the road came together in the middle, creating a canopy that was kind of cool to drive under.

We got to the chiropractor’s office and Melony adjusted us and we went on our way, stopping at the Red Lobster in Daytona Beach for dinner. Now, you might wonder why someone who lives on the ocean with an abundance of seafood restaurants would go to Red Lobster. Well, there are several reasons – I love their Cheddar Bay biscuits, the food is good, and dear friends had given us a gift card for there a while back and we wanted to use it.

Speaking of dear friends, thanks to all you wonderful people, Big Lake Ranger is now ranked at #1,226 out of all of the millions of e-books on Amazon, at #30 in the Mystery category, and #15 in Police Procedurals. I appreciate everyone who has downloaded the book, left reviews, told your friends about it, and posted links on social media and in your blogs.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. This was actually a screenshot from last night’s news. Is this the definition of hot mail? Fortunately, the quick-thinking mail carrier got everything out of the truck and moved it away from any structures that might have been damaged in the fire.

Thought For The Day – Women never apologize. They just sleep naked and let you decide if you’re still mad or not.