Ok .. Things got busy and blogging was put to the side. It has been an interesting couple of days.
Let's start with the "N" word story ... If you are offended by the N word, I will apologize right off. I, for one, am not exclusively offend by the word. I don't use it, but it doesn't offend me, persay. There are many other words scattered throughout the English language that are used derogatorily that are much more offensive to me, but that is another story. The word itself, nigger, means an uneducated person. It was used incorrectly to generalize blacks in the past. It was during the time of our history when blacks were not afforded the educational opportunities as white Americans. That was not my idea, my choice, or my plan. Every race has suffered the indignities of some other opposing group latching onto a word and making it stick in a derogatory way. We are familiar with some and others are so localized that we may never hear or know them. Nigger is not any more hurtful or special than any of the others. When I was in high school (way back in the 70's) it was used by blacks as well as whites, each with their own meaning. The word has taken national prominence through groups that spew it out like a poison. This is what is offensive to me. It is not the word, it is the usage. I know, it is hard to separate the two now days.
Anyway ... One of my students (white) dates a girl that is mixed (white/African). We were working on a in class project, when a couple of my students, knowing the situation, began to talk and tease C about his GF. C was fine with it. He knew they were kidding and had nothing against he or his GF. One student said, jokingly, "I hate niggers." (He did apologize within a few minutes when he thought C was reacting to his comment.) These are guys that have been in my class for a year and a half. They know each other well. On this particular day, I had the students from Automotive and one of them kinda joined in the ribbing. C stated the he didn't like rednecks or racists. One particular student in auto made a comment that was out of my earshot. He said, "Well, you can just suck my dick, then."
Corey reacted. He was hot. He wasn't violently hot, but he was hot. I tried to calm him down thinking that he was reacting to the N word comment. C slammed his stuff down, grabbed his books and out the door he went. He hit the wall and kept going. I went after him. He was out the door and on his way to the HS before I got to the door. I called but he didn't respond. I went back to my room and called the HS to have them call him to the office to try to calm him down and to keep him from getting in trouble for being in the HS when he was supposed to be at the ATC.
While I was on the phone, he came back. I sent him to talk to one of the asst. Principals.
C was back in my 5th block class. I have him twice a day. He was much calmer. He told me what was said that I didn't hear. I addressed the class on Friday about the whole ribbing thing.
OK .. There is the N story.
Now, during the day Friday, Tammy called me to tell me that the car lot called to tell her there was a problem with the title of the car we had just bought on Saturday. It seems that the title was a 'rebuilt title'. This means that, for some reason or other, the car, at one time had a junk title, or salvage title. They told Tammy that she needed to come in and sign a paper saying that we know and it is ok, or they could refund us all our money.
PROBLEM. We bought tires for the car already. Tammy told them she wasn't doing anything until she talked to me. I told her that we would call the car lot on Saturday, to tell them what we were gonna do. I called a friend to look at the car. He used to rebuild salvage vehicles. He told us that the unibody was not broken or welded on. So, any damage was repairable damage and did not affect the primary support of the car. Still there were issues to be resolved.
I called another friend, who just happens to be a lawyer. He told me that the car lot was guilty of fraud. They claimed they didn't know it was a salvage title. Of the two of us, they and us, they are the ones that should have know and should have disclosed that info. He said that had to reimburse us for the tires as well.
Saturday, I call the lot. JB says we can bring it back for a full refund. I tell him I want a cash refund. I paid cash. I want cash back. He stammers that he can't do that. I tell him about the tires. He says they don't have to pay for those. He suggests that we have the old tires put back on. Yeah, right ! Well, he calls his manager and returns to the phone with an offer. They will give us $500 and we keep the car. NO. He offered $600. NO. He offered $800. Hmmmmmm.
We taled to several friends that deal in cars. The opinions are split. One says he has 21 cars on his lot with rebuilt titles that are just as good as any used car anywhere. We are still vacillating on this. We are leaning toward keeping the car. Tammy has a trip (possibly) to Florida in a week. She is concerned. I told her, if we keep the car, and she is concerned about the trip, she can take the Bravada. I will drive the Lumina to work that week.
We went to our monthly meeting last night. We talked to another mechanic. He checked it, said it was wrecked on the passenger side, but was put back together very well. There are several considerations. If we want to resell it, we will have problems with that. If we keep it and it isn't mechanically sound, there will be money problems there. So, we are in the middle. It drives great. It looks good. It runs great. It looks, drives, and runs like a nine year old used car. No better, no worse.
Now you are caught up. We are trying to get hold of a friends that has his own business and should have a diagnostics machine. Tammy wants to run it on the machine and see if there are trouble codes. We will be sure to keep you informed (as if our life is so exciting.)
