So You Had a Bad Day

It is only 6:45 AM and already, I am having a day. 

I couldn't find my keys this morning and I had to get out of the house early so I grabbed the spare key out of the secret hiding place and headed off into the world.

I needed to stop and get gas as I am low and it is the time of the week to gas up. I buy gas at Stateline, Idaho because it's about 20 cents a gallon cheaper than in Washington. Since I work at Liberty Lake, it's only three miles to the border and cheaper gas so it's not like I drive way out of my way to save $3.00 on a fill up.

When I pulled up to the gas station, I suddenly remembered that I don't have the key to my locking gas cap because it's on my regular key ring. Shit!

My low fuel light is on so I can't possibly make it back home. 

At break time I'm going to go to the auto parts store and see if they can offer a solution.

The reason I left the house early this morning was because of Gail.

Gail is a woman I grew up with. Our parents were friends so we spent summers at the lake and winters on the ski hill. 

On occasion, I will do little errands for Gail. When I go to Costco, I'll call her up and see what she needs. She always has a long list and I deliver it to her. She will write me a check when I deliver and throws in another 50 bucks for my trouble.

Two weeks ago, she wanted to know if Costco was selling any lawn mowers. She needed one and they happened to be selling a model. It was $350.00. She said she wanted it and would call me later to arrange delivery.

So on Sunday after church, Susan drove me over to Costco and I got the mower. I called her and ended up leaving a message that I had it. 

She called me about 7:00 Sunday evening and said she was ready for me to bring it over. I told her I was in the middle of dinner and would not bring it that night. I think that peeved her a bit but I'm not here to jump when she calls.

I got a text from her later asking me to deliver it to her gate because she had some guy coming by the next day to mow for her.

She said to send me my address and leave the receipt and she would send a check.  So I got up a little extra early on Monday morning and drove across town to Gail's gate to leave this mower, still in its box, at her gate. That was almost two weeks ago. 

So far, no check.

After waiting a reasonable number of days for a check to arrive, I started calling, only to leave messages on her machine. I tried texting but got no response.

Finally, last night, I got a text from a phone with an Idaho area code saying she left a check at her gate.

So, I got up a little earlier than usual and drove across town to Gail's gate, where I found no check. 

While not impoverished, $350.00 is a lot of money for me to float to someone. Especially someone who is as hard to contact as Gail. I haven't even began to go into the peculiarities of this woman which requires her to have someone like me do Costco runs for her.

Eccentric is a word and while not totally applicable to Gail, it's as close as I can come at the moment. 

And so...I am having a day!

Update: Susan has my keys. She inadvertently put them in her purse last night. I needed her keys to get the car out of the garage so I could get the mower out. Then I gave them back and my keys were on the table and so on and so forth and what have you.

It's just a perfect storm of events that all came together to conspire against ME.

Final Update: Susan brought me my keys at the end of the day and I was able to get gassed up and get my car home safely.