SMILE, YOU'RE IN A BEETLE: VW Bugs might be the only cars that make pedestrians and kids grin. And then punch each other. |
I got a new office!
The new place is, on a light-traffic day, a 20-minute drive
from our home in the west part of downtown Toronto. A short hop, I realize, but
at least it’s not just upstairs from the kitchen, which is where I’ve been
working since last March.
I’ll need to get into my car five days a week! And drive! At
this rate I’m going to run out of exclamation marks!
Not that there's anything wrong with working at home full time.
But I do miss going to and coming from work. Something
awful. A lot of people I tell that to
think I’m joking, but I’m not.
First of all, I love driving and don’t get to do that as
much anymore. Commuting’s also a great time for coming up with excuses for things you have or have not done or just daydreaming about all the fun you're going to have.
Just as important, I’ve made a life’s work out of watching
strangers do stuff.
Witnessing the evolving city streets. Flipping around radio
stations on my car’s pre-sets. Seeing weird haircuts. At gas stations, I get to talk to people I’ve
never met before and they are 100 per cent of the time, without fail,
really really interesting.
And the office? It's a circus. Surprise birthday cakes arrive. Co-workers show off engagement rings. New faces, each with an intriguing back story, show up. People (always the same ones) complain about getting screwed over. Gossip-worthy stuff flows like the lava in Iceland. You get to hear about vacation crises. Love lives are parsed. Secrets shared.
Or this kind of thing: Mere days before we got sent home last year, I
was in the company coffee room and asked a co-worker who I’d never spoken to
before if he was having a good day. His answer? “I’m on the right side of the
sod.”
No way could I have accidentally run into that guy in, say,
our hallway downstairs.
Then there’s the fact that at the end of each day I have to update anybody who’ll listen:
·
“The condo going up where Turner & Porter
funeral home was? It’s is almost done. Ya think the real estate agents will
tell buyers it used to be a mortuary?”
·
“You should have seen this…a couple making out
on the bench beside the pope’s statue in front of the Polish credit union!
Wonder what J2P2 would have thought of that?” (J2P2 is Pope John Paul II.)
·
“You gotta go to that Russian market up near Steeles!
They have caviar going for $100 an ounce and the women behind the counter really
know how to sell. So I just had to ….”
And now I'm back in the game. Thanks, in full, to Yuania
Gonzalez-Manresa.
Yuania (pronounced Hugh-on-ya) is a service consultant at Humberview Volkswagen, the dealership where I’m taking my wife’s beautiful black 2016 Beetle later this week. I scraped against a curb on an on-ramp last Sunday and bunged up the right front tire.
I first spoke to Yuania on the phone yesterday when I was
scheduling a service appointment.
Me: “I’m coming in around 7:30. Do you have wi-fi in the
waiting room so I can work while the car’s being fixed?”
Yuania: “Yes, sir. We have some desks set up. You’ll find it
very convenient.”
Me: “Could I use my own laptop?”
Yuania: (You know how you can sometimes tell people are
smiling, even over the phone? That’s how Yuania talked. She has a Spanish accent that makes
you want to take off for the Caribbean immediately and she used to live in Cuba):
“That works too.”
Me: “This sounds great.
Me, again: “Do you think, maybe, I used to have an office
but I really miss it … Do you think I could go to your place and work there
every day?”
Yuania: (whom I’d never spoken to in my life before): “Of course
you can! We’re very nice.”
Did you hear that? I can go every day if I want. I won't tell anyone and I'll do my best to not draw attention to myself. (You're like: 'that's all you do, Peter.') If they notice me at all, I figure the staff will think it's just some high-maintenance customer with lots of car problems. Maybe after awhile, I'll sort of fade into the background. Failing that, if Humberview catches on and discourages me from using their place as an office, there are loads of other car dealerships--Canadian Tire outlets too--that I can pretend are my workplaces. This idea has, how you say in English--legs!
Me: “I know! Is Michelle still there? That’s the woman who
sold us the Beetle.”
Yuania: “Yes she does. She’s lovely. And our coffee is
delicious”
Me: “See you Thursday.”
I think perhaps Yuania didn’t hear the part about me going there every day.
We’ll see.
Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that you will be welcomed.
I've long regarded Beetle owners to be an inordinately 'chipper' bunch.
In the late 70's a good friend of mine drove a VW Beetle. His model had the flat windshield.
He often boasted that "On rainy days, you can pretend that you're snorkeling" !
Thank you for reading, sir. Interesting coincidence. Whenever I go snorkling I think it's exactly like driving a VW in the rain.
DeleteHa! I hope you get to go in every day!
ReplyDeleteThanks. When Yuania read this story she laughed and said she loved it and then asked "you're not serious, right?"
ReplyDeleteNations that have encountered radical decrease in road crashes are because of zero resistance of alcoholic while driving and hostile to drink driving. túlméretes szállítás Europa-Road Kft.
ReplyDelete