The new head was supposed to come in on Friday. They were going to put it on �right away�. So you would have thought that I would have heard from them before Tuesday afternoon, right?

Right. What saga have you been reading?

Of course I hadn�t heard. We�re surprised by this? So once again, I wait to call until 3pm, a reasonable time for someone to have an idea if the car was going to be ready today.

The news? They had, just today, found that the head they received was the wrong part. Some holes didn�t line up with some do-hickeys or something, or whatever. Who cares the reason, the point is: wrong head. They just learned this today. Tuesday. The head, which came in on Friday and they were going to put on right away, wasn�t the correct part.

Either this is some new definition of �right away�, or somebody just isn�t checking their work. Or both.

I wonder: Would they have even let me know if I hadn�t called them?

I asked when they expect to receive the new part. Steve the Service Guy said, �Wednesday.� Wednesday? Tomorrow? Didn�t it take two days to get the first one?

I asked if someone would check it to see if it was the correct part. Steve the Service Guy looked at me as if I was crazy. Of course they would. Hey, it�s not a crazy question. They didn�t do it last time. Somebody has to take responsibility for managing this repair project, and given that I see little evidence that anyone at the garage is doing it, I have to ask the questions. Lord knows they�re not volunteering any information.

So now they are shooting for Friday, the end of this week. If everything goes well. What, in the course of this project, is there to indicate that things will go well? Do you believe this new promise of Friday? Yeah, me neither.

I know that they�re probably as anxious to see this car go away as I am to get it back. They�re losing money on the loaner car and wasting labor attempting to install incorrect parts. And on top of that, they have to deal with the angry owner of the automobile. But wouldn�t you check the part when it came in? At a minimum, wouldn�t you check all your parts before you begin assembling them? If you want to keep the owner off of your ass, wouldn�t you make some pre-emptive phone calls?

I guess we can be sure of one thing: it won�t be ready before Friday. Which means that at least I have some certainty for the next two days. I�m looking for a silver lining.

Six weeks without my car, and counting.