Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Trying to sell a Car in Maui. Are you Serious?!

So I am leaving the island of Maui on Monday and, as beautiful as it is, it is very hard to leave. I have been here the past two years and have been through my ups and downs, but the tides have changed and it is time for me to leave. When you live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, moving is a little different and you pretty much take whatever two suitcases can carry. At the moment I am trying to sell my car and for me, who has a hard time letting go of anything, this is especially hard. I posted an ad on Craigslist, which is how I found my roommate, car, job, and apartment when I first moved here, and is the best thing since sliced bread. I am determined to not leave the island without selling my car. I am okay with giving everything else away, but this car business is serious.
Today I get a call from Bonnie and I forgo going to the beach after work to show my Black 1999 Mitsubishi Montero Sport to this seemingly sweet girl. She tells me that she does not know exactly where I live (she is new to the island) but her "old man" does. When she said "old man" I was thinking she was referring to her father, but boy was I wrong!
After giving direction three times I gave up and told them to meet me at the corner super market. I pull up next to Bonnie's
blue Ford Taurus and out pops a Local Braddah (pidgin for Brother, I will be referring to him as LB) smoking a cigarette. He proceeds to talk to me in pidgin, "So tell me what is wrong with it?" This guy has Jealously tattooed in cursive on his neck along with multiple other tatooes. I wish I was joking.
Sweet Bonnie and her 4 year old son are still in that car and she is on the phone.
Local Braddah asks if I will start the car and pops the hood, pulls the emergency break, throws on the hazards, closes the door and walks around. Is this normal protocol or something to make him look like he knows what he is talking about? I don't know? I realize that he just locked the keys in the car with the car running. I tell him, " Um…You just locked the keys in the car." This would not have been a big deal if I had a spare set but I don't. I tell him that I am going to run to the fire station (which is next door) or call the police. LB goes "No no. I have done this a million times. Don't call anyone there will be like 30 people here. I don't want that. Seriously this will take me 5 minutes."
He approachs another truck in the parking lot, asks for a pliers, goes up to a random vacant
red car in the parking lot, and unscrews the antenna from the car.
What? Are you serious? I am watching, speechless and stunned. Bonnie and her 4-year old are now out of the car and she reassures me that she will make sure that Local Braddah tells the people that he took their Antenna. I am really sure that happened!

He is prying the driver’s door open with his hand and Bonnie is trying to wedge his wallet in the door so there is enough room to get the antenna in. The wallet is in place and the antenna is now bent so it can open the door. That was close!
Bonnie and I go for a drive and she is a sweet Midwestern girl from St. Louis and reminds me of myself before my life experiences. She tells me that she meet LB the second day she got here and likes how friendly everyone is on the island. I wanted to shake her and tell her that she needs to be careful but instead I was speechless. I am still overwhelmed with everything else that has happened. I sometimes wonder why so many situations like this happen to me. What am I suppose to learn from this? As you all know, I try to find the entertainment value in everything but this is almost too sad to be entertaining. Needless to say I didn't sell the car, but the story is quite entertaining.

4 comments:

  1. Absolutely hilarious! But, I agree, very sad for the poor girl who met this ridiculous excuse for a guy....

    Can't wait to read more:)

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  2. julie!!! next time you go show the car, take someone with you and keep the windows down so you can't lock the keys in. that is funny that they opened it up though. ha!

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  3. Sad, but entertaining...

    I suggest you keep that guy's number in case you ever lock yourself out again.

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  4. Funny story. I like episode 1 of the blog. I'm hooked now.

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