Flat tire.

billzhao

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2 g6 g( w! \8 h# v( R; F# v4 h, \I parked my car in front of the house which provided to teachers, and walked to the school since it was only 3 minutes walk. When I was back to the house one afternoon, I noticed that one tire of my car did not look normal. I was busy talking to my colleague, leaving me no time to check it out. Some time later my colleague pointed at some footsteps on the deck: "somebody wanted to break in." I was not worried too much since nobody broke in the house. He continued: "If they did not break in, they might do mischief, such as puncturing a hole in your tire." "Are you serious?" I asked him. "Why did people do that?" I went to check my car, and indeed one tire was flat.

8 k1 O: r, g6 R1 A" F  mI had to teach the whole day the next day, and I kept thinking about the flat tire. If there is a hole, I will need to have it fixed in a shop. This means that I have to take the jack from the car, and jack up the car slowly. This would be a pain without a professional jack at hand. It would take at least five minutes to jack it up. In this harsh weather of minus twenty degrees Celsius, one minute in the cold could be very unpleasant. I wish there was no hole, then it would be okay to simply inflate it with a pump. But I know this is very unlikely because the winter tire was completely new. During the break between classes, I talked to one maintenance guy hoping for an opinion. I was a little surprised when he offered to do it for me. He went back with the car key in an hour, saying there was a piece of metal piercing into the tire.
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# {) |, w  u* Y0 S) t/ o( o8 jI called a shop 50 km away from the school, which is the closest by the way. "It will take about 20 minutes to fix it", "the cost？ it costs 30 dollars to fix it". Good price. Isn't it? In the afternoon before driving back to Edmonton, I drove to the shop directly. Three young guys came to the car right away, and they began to work on the tire with haste. I went to their lounge and had a cup of coffee. Then I was told the tire was not fixable. What do you mean by being not fixable? I cannot drive two hundred kilometers with the spare tire. No, you cannot. But you can buy a new tire from us.  Yes, I can, and that is my only option. I paid them over 200 dollars for a new tire.

I was a suspicious of their claim about the flat tire. I wanted a second opinion. So after arriving back to Edmonton, after giving the car a good wash, I went to Costco, where I bought the winter tires. I explained to the man at the front desk what happened. He did not wait a minute before heading outside towards my car. I was thinking to myself: If fixable, perhaps I could have two spare tires. After a brief look at the tire, he said, no, it is not fixable. I was not too surprised, because the tire shop who sold me the tire looked professorial. It is us the lay people who always doubt their authority and their intentions.

"What shall we do with the tire?" I asked him.
"Did you buy it from us?"
4 i- Y7 n9 t0 Z, n! ?& X6 Y, s"yes, I just bought them from here two weeks ago."
( u9 t% U6 ~5 a$ P4 Z; |% i"Did we install them for you?"
"Yes, you did."
( t% G8 {9 @+ f  \/ p( u3 P- f7 n"We will refund you."
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Now I was more surprised than I was when my colleague offered to change the tire for me. Costco did not sell me a defective tire. I got the tire flat, not me, somebody else, but definitely not Costco. In five minuets he got the paper work ready. I was lead to the customer service and the whole cost of buying that tire was returned to me.
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The end.

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