I walked to the Chrysler dealer on Wednesday morning to have them drive me into work. The person upon whom I had been relying for a ride to the office doesn't work there anymore. She had turned in her notice before I had the initial accident, and her last day was still over a month away at that time. I never believed that it would take that long to fix my car. But there I was, no company cars available, and no ride in. The Chrysler dealer offers a shuttle service and I figured it was time to take advantage of it. Maybe making them take responsibility for my transportation might lend some urgency to their task.

As I left there in a minivan, the service manager was all smiles.

�It will be done today. We�ll give you a call and send a car to pick you up as soon as it�s ready. Have a good day!�

I told them not to wait until 4 or 5 to call. If it was done sooner, let me know. I wanted time to check it out and test drive it while there were still people there to question and address any problems.

They called at about 2:45. But the cheery optimism was gone. And so was the confrontational attitude of Tuesday.

�Mr. Gerry, this is Steve at Brubaker�s. We wanted to let you know that we have found further damage to the head. We have ordered a new one, which won�t be in until Friday. When it comes in, we won�t wait, obviously, we�ll put it on right away. Because of this, we�d like to put you in a rental car for the duration of the repairs.�

Bad new, but finally the contrite and apologetic attitude I have been looking for. Where was that a week ago, when I picked up the car and it didn�t work? Notice how they had to point out that they will put the part on as soon as they get it. While this would be obvious with most garages, for them it goes against policy.

They gave me another PT Cruiser, which turned out to be a very smart move on their part, because I had gotten used to not having mine. I was telling people at the office that I didn�t ever want to see the thing again, and I had spent my lunch hour investigating cars on Saturn�s website. Saturn knows how to do service right. But once inside a Cruiser again, I realized that I like my car. I just hate the way my dealer treats me. Well, there are other dealers in the area. I�ll just have to give them a try.

So, now I have a car. An �03 PT Cruiser, Limited Edition, with leather interior. I�m not impressed with the leather, except for the steering wheel. I�ll have to get myself a steering wheel cover when I get mine back.

I feel the need to announce that I do not care about the finale of Friends. I�m sorry, it�s not the best sit-com in history. Not even close. It�s an average show that had some brilliant moments. It seemed better than it was because there were so many bad shows out there. A dune looks like a mountain in the desert. But you can�t even name an episode that was a classic TV moment in the same way that Seinfeld�s �The Contest� was. I can name more hilarious Cheers episodes than Friends episodes.

So it mystifies me that TV Land has decided to �go dark� for the time-slot of the Friends finale. Why? Out of respect? Balderdash. It ain�t that important. Because they think that everyone will be watching Friends, so why compete? That�s a load of crap. Plenty of people will be looking for some counter-programming, trust me. That show is at its worst when it gets all weepy over Rachel, and I expect the finale to be full of that sort of thing.

What I suspect is some kind of �corporate synergy� between TV Land and the MSNBC conglomerate. Are they owned by the same parent company? I�m too lazy to check. But this sounds like a move to boost the ratings of the finale, thus supporting NBC�s claim that this is the most important TV event of our lifetime.

And trust me TV Land, no channel ever gained ratings by showing nothing.