Mercedes drama continues

So I show up to the dealership today expecting that my car'll be fixed.

It's not.

Instead, the service people were like:

Nervous look, "Did you get your voicemail message?"

"No. What voicemail message?"

"Anthony said he left it.. um.. er.. well... you're going to need some gaskets replaced."

"Gaskets? What does this have to do with my battery and electrical system?"

"Nothing. See, we just noticed it when we were diagnosing that problem."

"Oh. hm..."

My dad is there with me because I've decided to pull the man-card now when dealing with service people. I asked, "What's a gasket? Apparently, I need to get them replaced."

He blinks, stands up, "You don't need to get your engine head gaskets replaced, do you? That's like $10,000. It's not even worth it!"

I blinked, "Um.. I don't think so?"

So we go and ask Mark this and he's all, "Oh, no, it's like [technical-mumjo-jumbo I tuned out, translation: some other valve thing] it'll be $500."

My dad then freaks out and turns to me, agitated, "You have been driving too fast. Pushing that car too hard. I keep telling you to slow down. But you don't listen. Now look."

"$500??? For the part?"

"No. The part is $60."

Mental note: Anything you need to get done by Mercedes will always cost $500. It'll either be a $450 part and $50 labor. Or a $50 part and $450 in labor. That's just how it goes. Accept it and move on.

"See???" My dad begins, "It's not the part that's a big deal. It's the labor. Slow down when you drive. This car is just 6-cylinders. If it was 8-cylinders, then fine push it. Remember my old mercedes? That was 8. Yours is not 8. Going faster then 70 is going to push this 6-cylinders too hard and you're going to break things. Look at my truck -- if you push that one faster then 70 the same thing is going to happen. I can't sit in the dealership all day waiting for them to fix it. You must have been speeding up that hill on your way to work. Or passing people. Or driving I don't know how fast. The fact is, you shouldn't drive it faster then 70, 75 if you don't want this problem again. It's only 6 cylinders! Are you racing those trucks on the road? Those are 8 cylinders, they can push it. You're only 6!!" This is the price of the man-card. The lecture.

Deep breath. Mental note: Next car is 8 cylinders.

"Well, how long is it going to take for my car to get fixed? Is the mirror replaced? The interior? Have you even diagnosed the electrical problem yet?"

"Uh.. Well the mirror will be replaced by the time you pick it up [translation: we didn't start on it yet], the center console is totally ripped out but we're trying to be careful because you have an after market radio and we don't want to damage that - also, we had to order another part so we had to wait for that to arrive [translation: we damaged something else], the mechanic is starting the electrical diagnosis today [translation: we got distracted by that gasket problem], and... did you want us to replace those gaskets?"

"Yes. I don't like to have damaged parts in my car - if you haven't been able to figure that one out."

"Ok, great." Mark, the service director, relieved sigh and a wary smile, "We'll give you a call with some status updates.. what's the best number to reach you at..?"

And that's where we left our hero.