Murphy Strikes the Pizza Taxi
I am a little riled tonight…my beloved and trusty Pizza Taxi, a 2000 Ford Escort ZX2 5-speed stick shift, DIED out on a delivery while at work! I’ve had this car for 6 years now and never had a breakdown, so I guess I just got used to it being 100% reliable.
On my 2nd delivery of the night, I noticed the battery light flickering on. Each delivery it stayed on a little longer each time, and just before leaving on my 5th run for the night I made the comment to my boss, “I hope my battery holds out for this one,” since it was out in the very far corner of our delivery area. The car died about half a mile before I reached the customer’s house, and I ended up calling my boss to come rescue me. Good thing hubby got me my own cell phone last weekend!
So I ended up using my tip money from last night and tonight for a tow truck to get the poor pizza taxi home. Apparently I am not the only employee at the pizza place who has needed a tow, since two of my coworkers both recommended a specific company which turned out to be $30 cheaper than the first one I called going through the phone book.
Tomorrow I have to replace the battery. When I peered under the hood to do a cursory (and cussing) check for a potential loose battery cable or gremlin, I noticed the brand was AC Delco Motorcraft (which Ford uses) and could not read any form of a date on that battery. Thinking back, I cannot recall ever replacing the battery…which means it is probably the factory original one in there. I am hoping fervently that the problem is NOT in the alternator, since a battery is much less expensive than replacing that. While I am at it, the pizza taxi is due for an oil change and fuel filter change, so why not kill three birds with one stone? Since I have to work tomorrow evening, that means I have to set my alarm clock…on semester break! Ugh.
Hubby is still down in Florida due to the weather, and my family finally made it up to Indiana (and their 14 inches of snow) this morning, so the only ones I have to vent with are the dog who doesn’t understand, the three cats who don’t care, and y’all here on my blog…
