Thanks. Yeah a little detailing was in order when I got the car back even though I had just done it the day before. I took it to the Mercedes dealer because they seem pretty comfortable with the car. But it was a little bit of a strange experience.

I had a moment of doubt in the morning when I showed up 15 minutes early with the tires. I had left the car in the night-drop the night before since the tires wouldn't fit in the car. As I walked into the service counter with two tires in each hand, held by the straps that they were shipped with, the guy at the service counter just stood there and stared at me like I was Godzilla stepping out of a space ship. I guess I must have been a sight. Six feet, one inch tall, in a long black wool overcoat and suit, black shoes and black shades, probably silhouetted by the doorway holding four tires like they were shopping bags. He literally froze and stared at me. I put down the tires by the counter and walked over to him. He continued to stare at me without moving a muscle, but the look on his face had a trace of contempt. This was not going well...

I told him I had left my car the night before. He practically spat at me "Was it the Crossfire?". Lovely. He might as well have said "Red Headed Step-Child of an SLK". I said yes. He said "Jim's not in yet." I looked and saw that "Jim" must be the Mercedes service writer because a name plate with "Jim" was a couple stations back towards the door at the Mercedes counter. Zombie-man was standing at the Toyota counter. Maybe that explains the "Oh No - There Goes Tokyo Godzilla" look. He'd never make it as a Wal*Mart Greeter...Jim showed up while I stood outside drinking my coffee. And I was relieved to find that he remembered me from last year and was very cordial and welcoming. That was a big relief.

I got the car back with a small hair-scratch on one of the wheels. I would not have noticed it except that I had detailed the car the night before and am certain the wheel was not scratched this way when I dropped it off. I pointed it out more to alert the service writer that the car had not been as carefully handled as I like. I told him it wasn't enough of a problem to require replacing the wheel though deep down inside and certainly a couple years ago I would have insisted.

After he understood my gentle concern I thanked him and headed over to the cashier to pay. I didn't make a fuss and had pretty much sucked it up when the service writer poked his head around and told me to wait a second.

The cashier was up to her... neck in alligators. One customer was there, flush with indignance. "I left my HUMMER for service and got handed a $790 bill! <moaning and groaning; whining and kvetching>" The cashier kept her composure; the service manager came out and stroked the outraged HUMMER owner. I stopped paying attention to her. In my book an H3 is not a HUMMER, so she wasn't impressing me. If it had been an H1, that would have gotten my attention. Her $790 bill didn't impress me either. Lately we've been renovating our kitchen... Her kind of money get's you just about nothing (well maybe 30 or 40 cabinet handles if you go cheap)...

I let a guy go ahead of me to give the service writer time to do whatever he was going to do, and quietly waited. The printer printed. And my bill came out with $50 deducted from it. That was a nice gesture from the service writer. It will fund several bottles of detailing fluid. I thanked him with a genuine smile and paid my bill. Made some small talk with the cashier who was answering phones, printing bills, getting kicked in the shins by huffy HUMMER owners, and probably getting paid poorly by her employer. She seemed to appreciate the moment of resonance. As for my discount, sometimes being quiet and direct pays off...

I left my Jeep at the Mercedes dealer and took the Crossfire. I wanted to check the work before they closed just in case it needed to be done again or adjusted. Instead I found the car rode like a magic carpet. Nice sharp turn-in, smooth run up to speed. No noise, and no wobble. The steering wheel, previously a quarter of a degree off center, was perfectly centered. Perfect. I left the Jeep there to blight the lot and drove home to get a ride from my wife to pick it up.