A large lump sum is due in order to keep my car.
A series of financial hardships several years before.
A giant billboard advertising little money down and a great deal regardless of credit history.
A phone call to the Toyota dealership who put up the said billboard and an invitation to come down.
The Road to Nowhere
I was late getting down to the dealer. My chest was in one big knot. I don't like being in any situation
where I have to pony up big bucks for the long haul. I've had the floor drop out from under me too many times to feel secure in making big purchases.I get a call from a gentleman named Alfonzo. He would be my salesman and prison warden.
He told me that I was very close to the dealership and gave me the appropriate directions. I was so worked up over this affair that I couldn't read my mapquest directions properly.
There it was, just ahead. The big bright signs and the trademark Toyota logo in clear sight. So many shiny new cars on the lot. So many new driving experiences in the making.
I cut off a minivan to get into the dealer lot. An angry middle aged woman glared. It didn't matter, I was too distracted by the task at hand.
The Madhouse
All car dealerships have balloons, like it's a party or special occasion. If signing away an agreement to to pay thousands of dollars (with interest) is your idea of a good time, go the the dealership.
Alfonzo, greets me in a rushed manner and brings me to a table on the showroom floor. Actually, there are many tables on the showroom floor and one solitary Prius that upper middle class couples (who want to make an environmental statement) keep hopping in and out off. If you want to be "green" you have to able to pay for it I suppose.
All around me are the working class, the downtrodden, the people you see working the counters at fast food places and Wal-Marts. Yes, this is how they get their $40,000 cars and trucks on $25,000 a year salaries!
Alfonzo very coldly asks for my drivers license, and pay stub to prove that I'm a working man. I hand them over and he disappears into a room with windows that allow you to look out onto the showroom floor. In order to look out of these windows you have to walk up steps and sit at a desk that's elevated some feet above the floor that I'm on. It's basically a watchtower to study you as you wait. At least that's how it felt.
The place is hopping. It's a madhouse. Everyone is wide eyed and in awe of the prospect of having a shiny new car in the snap of a finger.Alfonzo returns from the evil watchtower and asks how much money can I give to him right NOW! I said that I have my car and possibly a few hundred to give NOW! But will have more to give in good time.
"We want you to drive off in a car today!" Alfonzo insists.
That's very nice Alfonzo but I'm not ready for that. I tell him that I'd like to go over numbers on the Corolla first.
But before that even happens, loud, rhythmic clapping erupts and a salesman with a gleeful customer in tow is lead to the front of the showroom. I can see that a large bell is mounted to wall.
The clapping intensifies to a fever pitch with the sales force leading the crowd (lambs) into a frenzy. The customer pulls the rope hanging from the bell and it sounds loudly.
Now the rhythmic clapping stops and it's a free for all of hoots, hollers and whistles.
ANOTHER CAR SOLD!!!
Sounding the bell was not just for anyone, only the privileged few that agreed to purchase a car
were given the luxury of ringing it. And let us not forget the adulation of the crowd.But would I be one of those chosen few? Would the bell toll for my salvation from this plight or for my doom?
The negotiations were about to begin. I was nervous, unprepared, worried...weak. How would I hold up and would a panic attack ensue? What the fuck was I doing here?
These questions, dear readers, will be answered for you in full detail, for your reading pleasure, HERE on this blog.
(take a deep breath and count to 10 with me)
But not tonight.
Tonight I will indulge in yet another glass of wine and take in the sounds of Silvestrov's Symphony # 6.
Tonight I will contemplate all facets of my life and the things that I have done.
To be continued.................
