My mechanic can always make me smile. I know that's a completely insane thing to say, but it's true.
John is a genuinely good guy who always gives sound advice. If he tells you that your card needs something, it does. If you don't need it, he'll tell you that and let you make up your own mind. In all the years he's taken care of my cars, I don't feel like I have ever been given bad advice by him or anyone in his garage.
But most of all, I love him because he gently mocks me.
Yes, you heard me.
If you know me at all, then you more than likely are aware that I often assign human emotions to mechanical things. My computers at work and home have them, as does the office copier and many of the appliances in my kitchen. And so do my cars. They have, in the past, succumbed to numerous faux emotions, including "sad", "surprised", and "scared".
John loves this; he thinks it's the funniest thing he's ever heard. I also do eerily accurate imitations of the noises the car makes when it isn't feeling well; sometimes he makes me repeat the noises for the mechanic who will be working on the car that day. His mechanics think I'm a whack job, but a generally harmless one. And he has a really dry sense of humor, so his reactions are always slyly understated.
Example:
Yesterday, my right front tire ate a bolt and needed to be replaced. Changing the tire made me all frustrated (gotta love tire changing), than the shop wasn't open and I had to drive to work on that *(&T(*))&T little donut tire thing. I'm now late for a conference call, which pushes back all of my appointments for the day. This does not sit well with my boss or colleagues, and I am officially The Bitch Who Inconvenienced Everyone Because She Can't Change A Tire As Fast As A Pit Crew.
So I call John...
Me: John, hey! It's Katherine Meusey. The Mazda's been injured.
John: Injured?
Me: It was mauled by a bolt.
John: Ummmm...mauled? Okay, where? Like, the tires …
Me: The right front tire. It's this big, Frankenstein-like bolt; I have no idea where it came from...
pause
John: How's the car feeling about all this?
I smile before replying.
"Really...violated, I guess."
And for some reason, that question totally brightened day.