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Watch out for me

Believe it or not, I'm not always Ms. Nice Gal.

Lately, the nasty side of me has been most likely to come out in the pool. I don't mind sharing a lane with someone (or two or four people, as is usually the case where I swim). But I expect everyone to be polite and to know what they're doing. To get in the appropriate lane, to be considerate of other swimmers, etc. When I tag someone's toes while we're swimming, I expect that person to let pass at the end of the lane, especially after the second or third time. That sort of thing. And it's not like I'm a particularly fast swimmer -- I'm really not. But I usually have a long workout to finish, and I don't want to waste time treading water behind somone who refuses to pull over.

Another thing I don't like is being lied to.

I took my Timex watch into a watch place to get the battery replaced. Now, I know that Timex says you have to send the watch back to them for battery replacement or you void the warranty, blah blah blah. but I've had luck with the watch shops in the past. I don't have time to mail the watch into Timex, for crying out loud.

I got into the pool the day after getting the battery replaced. After one length of swimming, the watch was FILLED with water and, obviously, quite dead.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

I took it back to the watch repair guy. "Do you remember me?" I asked, very calmly, as if nothing was wrong. "You replaced my watch battery on Wednesday."

The man narrowed his eyes and said no.

I showed him the waterlogged watch. "It's obviously not waterproof anymore," I said.

He countered with, "You didn't ask me to test for waterproofness. I charge extra for that." HA! If you don't remember me, how do you know I didn't ask? Bastard.

Long story medium, he finally accepted the fact that it may have been his fault that the watch got wet inside, but he blamed me forcefully for not telling him that I swim with the watch. It's a freaking Ironman SPORTS watch. OK, most people with Timex Ironman watches probably don't do Ironmans, but they probably do go to the beach occasionally, or sit in a hot tub, or bathe with their watch on, any of which would have filled this watch with water. Bastard.

He reluctantly refunded me the money I paid for the battery replacement. I told him a new watch costs $65. He said he'd try to dry out and repair the dead one over the weekend. We'll see.

June 7, 2006 5:03 PM