Alamo, You Suck!

.....This trip has definitely been one of the more challenging of the past few years. Quite a few life lessons being accumulated. Sigh!

.....Sleep was not well received last night. I think I may still have some stomach bug sifting around my insides. It is rather tenacious as it has been bugging the heck out of me for about a week now. Not incredibly painful, just really annoying. Especially when it doesn't let me sleep. Argh!

.....I decided to get up around 7AM this morning and headed down to the hotel breakfast. Which wasn't too bad as far as hotel breakfast's go. Had all the basics, and even eggs and potatoes. Definitely enough to fill me up.

.....After breakfast I decided to run over to the store for a few things. Imagine my surprise when I turn the key in the rental car ignition and get, nothing. Very odd. I checked and made sure the lights were off, the doors were closed. I thought maybe it was a security thing for a moment, but couldn't find anything. I tried a few more times and got, nothing.

.....My inclination was to go to the front desk and ask if someone could give the car a jump start. I should have followed that inclination. But instead I looked at the rental car contract and called their emergency road service number. Took me about ten minutes to get to a real person. Then another ten minutes as she verified me and the contract, the car and the location. Then I spent the next fourty-five minutes on hold while she tried to make contact with her own service department to get someone to talk to me.

.....After about the third time she picked up the line and apologized, I asked her about just asking someone at the hotel to give me a jump start and she promptly informed me that no, I didn't want to do that. Apparently, as a government worker and the contract we're under, the minute I opened the hood of the car the government would assume all kinds of responsibility for anything that happened after that point and that I would have to bring the car in, get a new one, and establish a new contract?! This was bizarre. And I'm not sure how true it is to be honest. But I went along.

.....I was definitely getting frustrated after fourty-five minutes of being on hold on the phone though. I was finally given the name and contact for someone who was going to be out to jump start the car, in about an hour. Sigh! Then I was informed that the act of sending someone out attached a $45 charge to my contract. Say what!? So, by doing what I was supposed to do according to the contract I basically wasted several hours of my life, and cost the government another $45 of which I'll probably have to write pages and pages of justification on my Travel Claim when I return home?! Next time I will just follow my inclination!

.....Alamo definitely gets added to the list alongside United Airlines as least favorite people with whom to travel.

.....I think that I will take a nap.

.....A.