How Am I Not The One Who Got Totally Boned?

As of last night I am no longer as completely out of the loop as I once had been, as I finally saw “Napoleon Dynamite.”
It was about what I expected, which is to say that it made me laugh a few times, but overall I’m not certain what all the fuss is about.
Still, it was pretty entertaining, and while I’ve never known anyone exactly like any of the characters in it, I’ve definitely encountered some similar personalities in my life, which is hardly surprising given my own social impairments…
Some time ago the company that owns my apartment complex combined our monthly water bill with our rent and began mailing a monthly statement listing the rent, water bill, and “utility processing fee,” which is basically just them charging us for the “convenience” of being able to pay our water bill and rent at the same time.
Anyway, pretty much every month my water bill is relatively low (it’s usually less than the $4.50 fee I get charged for being able to pay the water bill with my rent), so after the $999 for rent, the processing fee, and the water bill, the total amount I end up paying is usually no more than $1,009 (and usually less), so I was extremely surprised last week when I got my statement and saw that my total amount due was $1,029.
It seemed that for some reason my water bill was ten times what it usually was, which I was definitely going to bring up at the office when it came time to pay the rent.
However, on Friday I got another statement in the mail which said that it was a “revised” statement and that the amount due listed was the actual amount due, which was $23 less than the previous statement.
Obviously there was some sort of snafu, but I didn’t get to ask about it this morning when I popped in to pay the rent, as there was only one girl working there (she was new, and cute), and the phone rang, as it usually does when I’m there, before I got the chance, and so I made my way out as she answered it.
My weekend of driving Kathleen’s Sportage is behind me, and, in fact, it looks like I’m done with it completely.
At least if things go according to plan.
As it stands, after she picks Brian up at the airport tonight they plan to stop by here to pick it up.
If I absolutely need my car sooner, Brian can probably give me a ride to the dealership tomorrow afternoon; otherwise Kathleen will stop by and pick me up on her way home from work.
Despite the fact that it seems to have the exact same amount of power as my car, except with a much greater mass, and the various audio-related problems I had (on my way home Saturday night I threw in one of the Sarah McLachlan CDs she had, only to find that it was scratched all to hell, leaving me to have to listen to it skipping because I didn’t know where the “Next Track” button was and couldn’t really spare a glance to find it as I made my way through traffic, until I got to a stop light), it wasn’t too bad of a driving experience, I guess.
It certainly beats walking.
So in appreciation for allowing me to use it, Kathleen will be greeted with a freshly topped-off gas tank when she arrives to pick it up.
Of course, if they do come to get it tonight I will be completely carless for most of tomorrow, but somehow I think my busy social life will manage to withstand it.
My car troubles are nothing compared to what Scott and Stacy went through over the weekend.
Their inspection sticker had expired, and so it had been towed. Once they went in to get it back, they found that a significant amount of work would need to be done in order to get it to pass the inspection, so they got a fifteen day sticker which would give them time to get the work done. In the meantime they brought it home…only to have it towed again, this time because their emissions inspection sticker was expired, which led to even more expense on a car that they’ll be getting rid of soon anyway.
The worst part is that all of this is the result of someone calling in to squeal on them about the expired stickers.
I just find it kind of interesting that while there are some similarities, there’s such a contrast between how our state inspection-related stories worked out. After all, at the heart of my story is people being nice enough to help me out, and at the heart of Scott and Stacy’s story is people sucking ass.
The really strange thing, though, is that, overall, I’m not the one who got royally screwed. What are the odds of that happening?
Sorry, Scott and Stacy. I can’t imagine this reversal of luck will last long...