Taking one step back for all womankind

Today I had one of those moments where I was totally embarassed and thought "This is why car dealerships/mechanics think women are dumb!". For a couple of weeks the dome light had not been working properly in my 15 month old car (which, by the way will roll over 36,000 miles by the end of the weekend!). I could turn the light on manually but would not come on when the doors were opened, with the switch set to DOOR (yes, I did think to check that first). So after a couple weeks I finally remembered to call the dealership to have it looked at before my car went out of warranty.

I was 15 minutes late getting to the dealership this morning due to normal morning routines being thrown off by a sleepy toddler. I rushed in and was quickly ushered to the "Quick Lane" side of the Ford dealership. The technician asked if I was going to wait on the car. I asked how long it would take, and he replied about 15 minutes. I said I would gladly wait on the car. Now I am glad that I did.

I handed him the key and told him where I had parked. Less than 3 minutes later he returns to the waiting room and hands me the key. Noticing the quizzical look he said, "It's all fixed!" I said "What was wrong with it?" He replied "The dimmer switch on your dash was turned all the way down. I turned it up and the light works fine." DUH. I was so embarassed! Not only had I wasted my time that morning, but I had pulled the ultimate stupid woman driver move by making an appointment for a mechanic to turn up the dimmer switch for my interior lights!

I quickly, and quite red-faced, asked if I owed anything. The technician replied no, which I was relieved about, and I walked as fast as I could out of the waiting room. After I got in my car I spent about 45 seconds (but it felt like an hour) looking for the dimmer switch on the car. I finally found it and remembered that my daughter had been "driving" my car the other day while I was cleaning it out. The elevator went all the way to the top floor at that second, and I drove off the car lot shaking my head and wishing that, just once, I wouldn't be a stereotypical woman driver.