Big mean grumpy daddy.

I can’t help but feel sorry for this girl that served us yesterday. We own a 2001 model Magna Sedan. I had so many reservations when we initially purchased it back in 2004. My wife and I had just learned that we were going to have a child and at the time we both owned our own 2 door vehicles. We decided we would need a family car and specifically something with four doors. So we set off one Saturday morning and started the long drawn out task of pricing vehicles, test driving vehicles and of course haggling over prices. I distinctly remember thinking “OK…we’re not going to buy the first thing we look at”.

We bought the first car we looked at. We walked into the car yard. I looked at a few 4WD’s but they don’t count because there was no way I would ever own a 4WD. They’re fuel gusslers and I can’t abide by these people who purchase big 4WD vehicles but don’t ever actually take them off road. All they’re doing is taking up more room on the roads and making it difficult for other drivers to see in front of them.

So this salesman walks up to me after hearing my wife saying something along the lines of “Ooh I like that Magna”. The first thing he says to me is “It’s a long ride home with an angry woman”. And of course he’s right. But it still pissed me off that the only reason he told me this was so that I would buy the car. The guy was a cork head. Needless to say we test drove the Magna, and to ensure that I didn’t have to take that ‘long ride home’ we bought the car.

The salesman practically threw the car at us. He raved about it like it was his own car. I kept wondering why he was trying so hard to get rid of it. Whatever his reasons, he was right. The Magna is a great car. But it’s starting to get to that age now where it will begin to cost us money to keep it on the road. So it’s time to upgrade.

So yesterday we front up at a card yard and look at a Hyundai Santa Fe. Yes…a 4WD. I want one now. Not a Santa Fe as such, but a 4WD. Part of the reason is because I don’t want to be the ‘little boy waiting at the counter of a corner shop’ anymore. I am going to take my rightful place on the road alongside all the other weekend warriors. There's more to it than just that. The thing is we will actually go off road and it will also be a much more practical vehicle for my wife’s line of work. We’re not going to purchase the Santa Fe, so I was very happy we didn’t buy the first thing we saw. I think we’re going with the Mitsubishi Outlander. It’s the second vehicle we looked at. That’s progress. We haven’t actually made a decision yet, but it’s what I have my heart set on. Well actually I have my heart set on a Toyota Hilux, but that's been vetoed. The Outlander is not as rugged as your other 4WD’s but it will still spend most of it’s time on sealed roads so that suits us fine. It's got great features and the one we drove has only 150kms on the clock and is a real nice colour, so we're hoping to get a good deal on it.

Anyways, back to this young chicky who showed us the Santa Fe. She was very nice and in the town we live in friendly customer service is hard to come by. She came with us while we test drove the vehicle. She was telling us how she was very new to the job (only two weeks) and already she has had so many unfriendly customers. She spoke of people putting their hands in her face when she tried to speak. Other people waving cigarette butts at her and even some customers screaming at her because she didn’t know the answer to every question they asked. The thing is it sounded like they were asking stupid questions like “How does it compare in the market?”. Ya fuckin what?!? Who gives a crap? Seriously I can appreciate questions such as “What’s the fuel consumption like?” and “What’s the maximum tow capacity”…blah blah. But “How does it compare in the market?”. How long’s a piece of string? I think at a fish market you might get a few buckets of prawns for it. Maybe at a flea market it's worth a few bob. Just depends how well you barter.

So we had a nice drive and a pleasant chat with this lady and when we got back to the car yard she sat down with my wife and talked prices. Usually in this situation it is my job to entertain the boy but he was so tired that he just wasn’t consolable. I tried to negotiate with him. I promised to buy him a Wiggles DVD if he stayed quiet for just a little while longer. No go. Eventually I stood up and in my most authoritative voice (thanks to Nanny Jo Frost for that word) I said “OK mummy we’re going straight home now!”. I didn't mean it. I just wanted the boy to chill out. Well this chick just about cowered under her desk. It seems that from her point of view I have just snapped from being this nice gentleman out for the day with his wife and child, to this angry frustrated man who was about to put his cigarette out in the nice lady’s eye. I felt bad cos you could almost see the thoughts going through her head…"Fuck…does everyone in this town have ot be such an arsehole?". Well love to be honest, it seems they do. I really wasn’t going to be bothered explaining that I was just trying a little disciplinary tactic on my child.

Anyways I didn’t lose any sleep over it, but I did feel like an arsehole walking out of that car yard.