After 7.5 years of faithful service, Pathfinder II will be moving on to a new home and I'm the proud new owner of this shiny new RX350. Yes I know it's white with tan interior, just like the Pathfinder, but this SUV is very different!
Touch door locks & engine starter, bluetooth audio through the speaker system for cell phones (including wirelessly playing music from the iPhone), power cargo door & levers to automatically flatten the back seats, XM Radio and, as a bonus, mine came in with SOS (the Lexus version of OnStar) free for the first year! At closing, Jerry threw in the door ding & windshield coverage and then they threw in LoJack for free, although I assured them that I try to avoid areas of town where LoJack might be necessary.
Here are a few pictures of Jerry's newest investment ...
For those of you who are bored enough to keep reading, I have to share this story. Now there are people who get a new car every few years and then there are people like me who keep a car for about seven years (sometimes longer). My point is that "new car day" is kind of a big deal and should be savored.
Jerry and I had already decided to take Friday off and head to the beach, so when they called to say the car could be picked up Friday morning (even though I have to go back for window tinting & LoJack) I was very excited. I had carefully guarded Friday on my calendar ~ NO CLIENT MEETINGS ~ so I actually thought I could go get the new car and head to the beach on my first day off in many months.
Not so my friends. At 8:05 Thursday night, I receive an emergency email from a client asking for a 7:30am meeting on Friday. I said OK, 7:30 is fine. I can take the meeting and pack everything before leaving for the dealership at 9:30. Meeting goes great, I agree to "get the event plan to her later in the day" and we happily head off to the dealership.
It started about 10:15 ... the frantic phone calls and emails urgently requesting the planning document FIRST DISCUSSED at 7:30 that morning. It was needed IMMEDIATELY for a noon meeting with their client. Now we're in the early phase of what is supposed to be a great experience at the Lexus dealership. These people don't rush around ~ they understand you're spending a fortune and generally try to treat you like actual humans.
When the pace and tone of the client requests reached a peak, I responded with an email telling them that I was in a meeting that would last another 30 to 45 minutes and once I had finished and driven the 30 minutes back to "my office", I would get the document to them. Here's an example of how bad it was ... our nice salesman actually said to me ~ in a joking way ~ "quit texting your friends about your new car". Jerry had to tell him that I was trying to manage expectations of a demanding client.
So on the flip side, we're just moving into the little room to sign all the papers and it's 11:15. These people are trying to make this a good experience and my client has gone ballistic. I'm having a melt-down because all I wanted was ONE DAY. I just wanted THIS DAY ~ new car day ~ to not think about work. Selfish, I know.
The finance guy whipped out those documents in record time (there's no telling what we signed) and at this point I realized it was not physically possible for me to get this together before the client's noon meeting with their client because we hadn't even gone through "the lesson" on how to drive this car with all it's great new features. I sent another email to the client telling them there was no way to meet their deadline, how sorry I was and that I would get the document to them as soon as possible. No response.
After learning a few things about the car, we raced back to the house and then I realized that everything was packed up. It would take 15 minutes to get the computer running, an hour to pull the info together and then pack everything back up to leave for Galveston. So, on my first "new car day" in 7.5 years, Jerry drove the new RX350 to the beach (listening to the "All Elvis" station on XM radio) while I worked from the laptop on my client's project and emailed the document FROM THE CAR via my trusty AT&T air card.
The document was sent just before 2pm and, as of yet, I have not heard one word from the client. Nothing.
They may fire me on Tuesday (which could be of concern to the Toyota Motor Company), but I have a new rule. Never, ever take a meeting with a client on New Car Day!
