Do Not Disturb - Unless your life depends on it

I put up that "do not disturb" sign on my office door this morning. I need to focus on writing up the Roadmap for the people-centred sustainable development agenda. Notice is valid until 31st May. That should buy me some peace and quiet. So far, I am quite happy. Managed to write a couple of pages which seems to make sense. Initial target is 20 or so pages. Just to trigger some thoughts and reactions, especially from the movers and shakers, the people who will make the decisions whether to accept the Roadmap.

So, I packed my stuff and wanted to leave my office. Got into my car and what to you know? It won't start.

Oh, wait, you didn't know I got my Hyundai/Innokom Getz 1.4 last week, did you? Yes, one week old and the baby won't start. Tried the power window. Works perfectly. Open up the front. Pretended to look for something or other. Haven't got the slightest clue what to do.

So, what to do? Call my wife lah. She called the salesman, who is on leave and had sent his car for respray. The technical advicer called me and said it could be the battery. But it's one week old and the windows work fine. The windows take only very little power. To start the car, it needs more power. Oh, I see.

So, how I asked? Can you come to the campus (their shop is on the Mainland)? The problem is they have no transport. The breakdown vehicle was sent to KL for maintenance (strange). Ask the salesman to drive you over. That's when I found out the guy sent his car for respray. "Give me 10 minutes. I will sort things out for you", said the technical guy (nice pleasant guy I met when I got the car exactly one week ago). About a minute later my mobile vibrated again. Wah so fast? It was the Manager, apologetic and asking me to hang on, he will send his people over (my wife called him because she couldn't trust the salesman who is barely out of his teens but managed to sell 7 cars the previous month). I told the Manager I was about to lambast his company. He explained that sometimes the car has been sitting in the factory or shop for too long and the battery wears down because of not being used. I said the car should come out of his shop 100% checked and perfect. Apparently, you can't check the batteries. Yah, I sort of believe that. They just go kaput overnight. In this case, over lunch.

So, I am waiting in the office wondering whether I should continue writing up the people-centred thing but I thought this is just as important.

So, what made us decide on the Getz? Strange as it seems we "fell in love" with the Getz while on holiday at the Gold Coast last Christmas. Rented two to drive around ('cos they were all out of people-movers). That and of course the RM7,000 discount offered on the Getz. It's very compact and has some nice little aids on the speedometer. They got rid of the temperature indicator so if it gets too hot the thermoter sign shows up in red. It's got a digital display for kilometres travelled but what I find interesting is you can display how many more kilometres you can travel with the amount of petrol left in the tank. Or you can choose to show consumption - it moves from 8.4 litres/100 km to 8.0 litres/100 km. That's kinda cool 'cos it shows how efficient your driving is. And if you display the number of kilometres before your tank becomes empty and you are idylling or waiting in a jam, you can see the countdown - quite scary. Made me switch off the engine while waiting for the ferry yesterday.

Will take it on a long distance drive to the Engineering campus tomorrow - assuming they fix the problem this evening. Generally a nifty car. Pickup a little on the slow side but overtaking is comfortatble. Gear change is smooth without feeling any jerks. Interior very spacious - I think the trick is in raise the roof of the car and giving deep slant to the windscreen. A four-star rating on the crash test.

I guess I should work more on my Roadmap. It's been more than 10 minutes for sure. Just got a call, the technical adviser is coming. So far so good.

I think I should tell you about the salesman. As I said he is barely out of his teens. My wife saw the adverts about the special offer. Called up one Hyundai shop after another but they don't sell Getz. Eventually, a girl in AutoCity gave my wife this fella Kim's number. But I said to my wife, wait, no need to hurry. And then my old faithful refused to start again. For the record, I was married to that car for 14 years (and we are still married if you must know). So OK, we went for test drive, paid the deposit and waited for the car. Then this guy Kim called my wife a few days later and said "your car is here, come make the payments". I told me wife, you go lah, not need two persons. My wife went and called me later. Guess what? No car. And this guy Kim said to my wife "I call you meh? Sorry, sorry, sorry". Of course my wife complained to the Manager. What the manager said was quite amazing. It seems this "kid" inherited a "disease" - the disease of "forgetfulness". The manager apologised and said this guy managed to sell 7 cars in his first month and got all confused. I think the manager was doing a friend a favour by taking this young kid under his wing. And I have to take my hat off to this manager - he was patient and understanding even when this guy made mistakes and was slow. I talked to the young chap. He said he can't study. So, what do you like to do? Eat lot, talk alot (actually, he said "Like to eat, Like to talk"). He's going to go far in sales.

Car is fixed. The technical adviser drove all the way from Butterworth. Checked the battery with a gadget. Took out a remote portable tiny little printer to print from the battery checker - I guess as evidence for replacement of parts. Got bitten by some huge red ants in the process. And now all done. I can go home. More than one hour (actually 2 hours) later than planned.