Grandpa,
I am an auto mechanic by trade. As such, friends and neighbors ask me to work on their cars on the side. Yes, I do charge them for the work I do for them. I get requests from some to tell them what I think is wrong with their cars. I don’t mind helping out. Here is the rub. Recently a neighbor asked me to test drive his car to tell him what I think is making a particular noise in his engine. While I was driving his car, the timing belt failed. I had the car towed back to his house, per his request. Now he is telling me that because I was driving the car when it broke down, I should pay the cost of the tow and the repairs. I estimate that to be about $1,400. I contend that he owns the car and his lack of preventive maintenance is the cause of the break down. I don’t want to go to court over this non-sense and I surely don’t want to quit helping friends. I am not asking for legal advise because I have read your rants you are not an attorney. How would you handle it?
Grandpa says: I would tell him he is right. I would voluntarily repair his car for free. But I would not do it until he pays me $1,500 for the test drive and diagnosis.
Grandpa,
My niece owns the ugliest dog God ever put on this planet. She and her husband love this creature dearly. I think it looks like a cross between Godzilla and a blow fish. They tell me it is a shepherd and chihuahua mix. Is that even physically possible?
Grandpa says: I imagine most anything is possible when it comes to breeding dogs. But that is one mental image I wish you had never introduced to me.
Grandpa,
I got myself into a bind. I cannot cook. I mean it. It is so bad, friends tell me that I burn corn flakes. I belong to a study group which meets at each other’s houses for dinner once a month. February is my turn. Help! What can I serve that will look homemade and yet not be totally sickening? I don’t have a lot of money to spend. They’d know if I just opened cans.
Grandpa says: Don’t even think about fast foods or a caterer on a college student’s budget. If I were in your shoes, I would thank Heaven that you are entertaining in a very cold month. Make a vegetable stew. Here’s a bungle-proof recipe: Buy a couple of bags of California Blend vegetables and several cans of premade gravy. Heat the veggies, pour off the water and pour on the gravy. Serve with some store dinner rolls and you have a nice hearty Winter dinner. Dessert can be anything from Ice cream to store pastries. If anyone asks for your recipe, tell them the truth. But only if they ask. I can empathize with you. I was once an undergrad, too.
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