Car buying - GM customer service

A friend and I (Jeanette) decided to go to the local Chevrolet dealership this past weekend to buy cars.  You know what it's like when you walk on to the lot.  The sales guys are fighting each other to see who can nab the next customer.  Well, not exactly.

Urshka and I had done our homework.  We knew what models we wanted and a pretty good ball-park what the new prices should be.  As we stepped on to the lot, we wondered where the cars were. Oh, the showroom!  We entered and saw exactly what we wanted: a cute little blue Spark for me and a snazzy black Matiz for Urshka.  No sales people had yet approached us, but we noticed several men standing around.  Eventually I asked one of the men - does anyone here speak English?  Guy at the 2nd desk.  OK -  we went to the second desk.  He didn't speak much English, but we both know enough Russian to get by, so we mixed it up.  Already I am wondering why the sales people weren't swarming - we are foreigners, and everyone knows we are filthy rich!

Oh.  Forgot to mention that the cars in the showroom were locked.  We asked the guy to look at them and told him we wanted to buy.  He said "Come back in January."  No, no.  We have money and we want to buy now.  "No cars now.  Come back in January."  How about those cuties on the floor?  They even had the prices marked!  "No.  Those are the bosses.  Come back in January."  We asked if we could be put on the waiting list - a few locals had told us that such a thing existed, but they assured us that if we were waiving money that we'd jump the line.  "No list. Come back in January.  Maybe on the 3rd."  We persisted a little bit longer.  Long enough that we had a nice look in the cars and the salesman asked us what color we wanted and told us about the features, what the differences in the models were, and explained gas mileage expectations.   We ultimately left, completely degected. We were so ready to spend!

Back at school, I asked our local contact and he said even with his connections we can't get a new Chevy.  He let me know that even if we returned in January, that would simply be to get our names on next year's list and we should expect to wait 3 to 6 months from then to get a car.

Just for giggles, I wrote to GM customer service and told them my woes.  GM North America was kind enough to point me to GM Middle East.  GM Middle East was kind enough to point be back to GM North America.  I just sent my final 'customer service' letter back to GM N.A.  Yes, I was polite :)

Now, I've decided that I'm going to the car-bazaar with coworkers and the local contact guy in a few weeks.  I wonder what I'll be driving.  Lada, Zhiguli, or Volga anyone?

Beetle Mania

As Paul and I left for work Friday morning, we saw a lovely beetle outside our front door.  He was a nice shiny silver gray and about 1.5 inches wide and close to 3 inches long.  That evening, I found his cousin on my bathroom floor - he was slightly smaller and very black.  Paul came to the rescue and deposited beetle in the toilet.  Just to be safe, I put a kleenex on top of beetle, but he was determined to live and attempted to use kleenex to climb out.  Yikes!

We flushed as he was approaching the rim.  Unfortunately, our water pressure isn't that great so I stood guard for a few minutes waiting to flush again.  Before the tank had filled, I watched in horror as beetle crawled back into the bowl from the drain pipes below!  Two kleenexes this time - totally drenched with water so there was no way for bug to escape - and two flushes later I left the bathroom with some confidence that Mr. Beetle was gone.  On my midnight run, I did put my glasses on see clearly and inspected the whole room carefully.  This time I got off easy.

I wonder what I'll do the first time I see a scorpion in our house.  I've seen little ones at friend's houses and I'm convinced that our water heater space looks just as cozy.