A Dollar Saved

I have been having a great time here in the US. I've managed to see a lot of old friends, and received much insight into where the world is going. These are smart people. I was lucky enough to work with many in the old days. They have all moved on to bigger and better roles. The food has been good, the air is clean - I like it here in Silicon Valley.

But, blackpetero takes his responsibility seriously and I uncovered something thats way less than 80%. You heard a few days back about my crappy Dollar rental car. It only gets better. My flight out of San Jose leaves 6am Friday. When I picked up the car I asked the Dollar dude whether the San Jose Airport car return is open that early. He had enough trouble talking English, and he certainly had no intention of finding this out for me. He told me to call up and ask (or maybe haul ass and fast, I'm not sure).

So I called and asked. The rather snotty girl I spoke with informed me that the SJC office is open from 6am. When I asked her how I could return my car and catch my plane at the same time she very helpfully told me to return it the night before. And how was I supposed to get to the airport? By taxi. Surprisingly Dollar was not prepared to pay for this. Nor for the airport hotel she suggested I stay at once I returned the car. I was outraged and asked for her manager. She promptly forwarded me to "roadside assistance" where Lance explained patiently that they don't even have a drop box for the keys any more and that he was terribly sorry for my predicament, but I was shit out of luck.

I sent email to Ella our travel agent and got her to book me an Avis car for one day and tomorrow I will go to San Jose Airport after my meetings, return the piece-o-crap Dollar car and check one out from Avis. They're a real company and have 24Hr service at the airport.

So in future, I won't try save a dollar and will avoid Dollar.