Chrysler Corporation and Cats

August 2001 I purchased the first new car I had owned in 20 years. Two things attracted me to the 2002 PT Cruiser; the body style and the fact that this particular Cruiser was painted dark blue, which is a Dallas Cowboy color, with gray interior, which is another Dallas Cowboy color. To personalize the car, since they were all the rage and I wanted to make mine distinctive, I had small Dallas Cowboy stars put on the front fenders under the Cruiser logo and Emmitt Smith put on the hatch lid. The entire time I have owned the car there have been five recalls which necessitates a drive to Dick Smith in Aiken and I have done all but one. I paid the car off early, which I suppose in retrospect was a mistake, because two weeks ago the dash lid cracked from windshield across main air vent to gauges. There are 22,000 miles on the car even though it is five years old. I called Dick Smith, they told me to call Chrysler customer service. I called Chrysler customer service, they were rude and in the end told me to take it to Dick Smith. Once again I called Dick Smith to see if I could make an early appointment in order to be back on time for work. Mr. Cook told me Chrysler didn’t know what they were doing, that the customer service reps were not trained properly and on and on and on. Finally I asked if I could come in one day at 7:30 a.m. and folks, this is what he said. Sure but the camera I need to take pictures of your dash is in the safe and the safe doesn’t get opened until 9:30 a.m., then I must take pictures and send them to Chrysler and it could be months before we get a resolution. I told him that Chrysler said it was up to the dealership to make the decision and he told me they were wrong. Now, I ask you, what am I supposed to do? Chrysler is pushing it off on the dealer, Dick Smith, and Dick Smith is pushing it off on Chrysler, so that leaves me with a relatively new car falling apart from the inside out.
There is a new member of my family. His name, that I have given him, is Hobo. I’m sure he belongs to someone because he is well socialized, sweet as can be and knows what the inside of a house is for; his pleasure. Hobo is mostly white with black half “pants” and a pair of ears that are half black and half white vertically, a black nose and mustache. Hobo showed up at Rosemary Hall last week so of course he came home with me. Did I mention Hobo is a very young cat? In the mornings he runs the length of my house at break neck speed, back and forth, carrying on a conversation with himself. He seems to be familiar with sofas, which is a no-no in my house and my spoiled house cat, Rabbit, watches him run around and I dare say he thinks the new cat is insane. They tend to forget when they were little and crazy. Zipper, who is basically an outside cat and a bit touched in the head, must think Hobo is a monster because every time he sees him he takes off for points unknown. Topaz, who adopted me six years ago, checked Hobo out, sniffed a little and that was that. Topaz is my guard cat. When I work in the yard I tend to focus completely on the task at hand and lose sight of my surroundings. Topaz lays behind me and warns me when someone or something is approaching. Cats are strange creatures that take weeks to trust other cats or new humans and I sometimes think we as humans would be better off being more like cats, so I am not too worried about Hobo’s future with us. I have made an appointment to have him neutered the first week in June, before the spraying starts and after he acclimates to the other “children” he will be relegated to the outside.
Most of my week was spent taking reservations, discussing teas, coffees, weddings and parties; a relatively calm week. We did host a bridal luncheon setting up the formal dining room with formal settings. I’m still amazed that some people have no clue as to which fork to use for what, but then I am of a different generation. We served a lovely organic salad, a sandwich with three layers; homemade deviled ham, cream cheese, olive and nut and a salmon-shrimp spread. The entire loaf was then “iced” with cream cheese and piped decorations then garnished with flat leaf parsley and green olives. The results was a sandwich that appeared to be a wedding loaf cake but was savory. A side of fresh fruit and homemade key lime pie with sweetened whipped cream rounded out the menu. From the compliments we received, I do believe everyone enjoyed their meal.