When I went to the car dealership the other day I discovered my warranty had ended.
My extended warranty was still valid and when I asked them to check my alternator they said maybe it was covered. They would need to tell the main company what’s up and they determine if the warranty covers the damage/repair. Basically certain parts are covered and within that certain damages are covered.
I got the feeling corrosion was not covered but a part that looks proper but is just defective is covered.
In all fairness I didn’t read the extended warranty as I was under the impression the first warranty was in effect. Silly me. I should have read more. It would have saved me unnecessary stress I put on myself.
Now if the repair was not covered by the warranty, I’d have to pay 149$ plus tax just for the check.
So now I had a maybe-fee waiting for 3.5 hours as they checked and my mind went to the worst places of how much money I would have to spend.
I was preparing the world’s finest defence on how to come at the company
In the event I had to pay this money, I wanted to be ready to go trying to get out of it.
It was like 8am in the morning and the rageball that I was started strategizing. I probably spent like 30 minutes pacing around raging over voice notes about the injustice of it all. While simultaneously being cognizant this may all be for nothing.
There was always a chance it was covered by the warranty and I would not need to pay a dime. Spoiler alert, this is exactly what happened. With all the courtesy in the world they told me it was a faulty part and that on Monday I was back at the dealership for a 5 hour repair job.
I would not have to pay a dime.
It turns out everyone just did honest work in that moment and honoured everything. I know for a fact they have a note on my file. I'm difficult, but I’m also respectful and reasonable.
You need to understand I had the dealership’s Twitter open ready to send a hoity toity DM and everything. Imagine the embarrassment of having to then be like… my bad.
I don’t have to imagine it, that was my past.
When things don’t go as expected take a moment to breathe
Over the course of my life I’ve embarrassed myself many times by panicking instead of seeing what could happen.
Most recently in Puerto Rico I freaked out because I locked my passport in the Airbnb. After acting like a baby and expecting the worst, I rebooked my flight and ended up getting a 250$ credit and 30 USD in food credit in New Jersey. Things may not go as planned, but they don’t always end up bad.
I was not expecting my warranty to be up but in truth that was on me for not reading paperwork. I should have also known before walking in that my alternator was covered by the extended warranty. I made some assumptions and was left with uncertainty.
Then I let my mind race and made up the worst scenarios possible. All of which would have been avoidable by doing my due diligence. Instead I was left with a silly feeling of delight as the world worked out in my favour.
You cannot control what happens in the world but you can learn to wait to see what happens.
Maybe the next time I will get hit with a bigger fee than expected. End of the day money comes and goes and we can deal with the things that come. But it’s tripping over the things that don’t come that hurt.
Especially when you involve other people.
You don’t want to be known as someone who cries wolf
If you make everything in your life a crisis, the people around you may not be there for you when a real crisis arises.
Now if your friends are your friends for real, they will listen to your bullshit and either help or make fun of you accordingly. Either way they will listen to you and be there for you. The people that don’t like how you move are not your people.
For the record I’m not a therapist this is just how I see things.
Every time you stress at people it adds an emotional burden on them. I never like those “If you’re really my friend you’ll say hi or check on how I feel” memes. They add this expectation that I'm supposed to take on more energy than I can handle or I can’t be in your life, which may be the case.
That being said, there's a token of truth in the idea that your people will go out of their way to be there for you. The question is how much do you want to put on them when it comes down to false alarms. If there is a cost, maybe it’s responsible to like let things settle a bit before making a big deal out of everything.
For me, at least half of the stuff that created drama in my past was pointless.
When it comes to like real stuff, I get it. Get the help you need. But sometimes it can be cumbersome to manage someone else's weirdo stuff.
Maybe this is just projecting on how I think other people see me, but I do know waiting to see what happens before reacting is good sense.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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