Wal-Mart Woes!

I have a '94 ford escort. The day after the big blizzard this year I got a flat tire on the way to work. I couldn't get the jack out of my trunk, luckily my brother was in the area so i called him on his cell phone and he helped me get the 'donut' on.

My tires all slowly lose air pressure and I just stop in a gas station and fill them up with a bit of air as needed...free and easy. Tuesday I needed to drive to Avon for work and one of my tires was low so I stopped and filled it up. Upon inspection of the tire, I noticed there was a golf ball size lump sticking out the sidewall of the tire. I decided to chance it, I had school after work anyway so not much I could do about it. I safely made the trip and figured I'd drive to the new Wal-Mart in Oberlin on Wednesdayto get some new tires after work since I didn't have school.

I've had problems with my transmission for a while now, about 4 months or so. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of clutch left, so sometimes you depress the clutch and it's still in gear. That only happens if you didn't fully let out the clutch when you started moving. I have gotten used to driving it like this.

On Wednesday, I drove the car to Wal-mart. I was excited to see that there were NO cars in the garage and I wouldn't have a long wait like the one in Ashland usually has! I told the girl at the counter that I would like 4 new tires....the 4th was still in the trunk because i still had the donut on the front. After about 20 minutes of her taking my information and telling me which tires they had available she proceeded to go out to my car then came back in and grabbed a mechanic. The mechanic went out for a bit and came back in holding my keys out towards me.

He said, "I can't drive that car in here it's unsafe. It has no clutch!"

I said, "You just have to make sure you let it out all the way, it is a little finicky sometimes. If you don't, you may have to just pull it out of gear without the benefit of a clutch."

He responded, "No man, I can't. I might drive it through the building."

I offered to drive it into the shop for him. He assured me that my proposal wouldn't happen any time soon. I grabbed my keys, and as I walked out the door I said, "It's okay, i can take my business elsewhere, I see you are overflowing in here anyway."

On my way home I stopped by the Ford dealership in Wellington and ordered 4 new tires, told them about the clutch (which they will find the problem and quote me a price for), and they are going to hook me up tomorrow while I'm at work. Take that Wal-mart!