Blind Guy and the Blonde, Ooops!

This post requires NO responses (in fact, I hope NO ONE does respond, and reiterate how stupid I was/am), it's just for your amusement/entertainment!

The other day a friend was riding in the back seat with me while the gals were in the front seats, on our way out to eat. The car operated flawlessly as we arrived at our destination. We ate, had a great meal and returned to their home and we all proceeded to get out of the car to say our goodbyes, everyone was able to extracate themselves from the Prius...BUT ME!

My door would not open from the INSIDE. Now I know what your all thinking, gee, this is a simple fix, it's just the childproof locks, and that's EXACTLY what I thought. I had my wife check the switch to be certain it was in the correct position, it was, I even double checked it again once we arrived home, and YES, it was in the right position.

A cuple of days later I made an appointment with the local Toyota dealer to have the problem resolved. When speaking with the Service Writer, he asked what seemed to be the problem on a brand new 2010 Prius. I explained that the driver's side rear door would NOT open from the inside, he immediately stopped me and said I can fix it right over the phone! I STOPPED him mid-sentance and told him I'd already checked the childroof locks, and that WASN'T it!

Here's where reading the Owners Manual (twice), reading the Navigation Manual (twice), reading (more like being addicted to) the PC Forum and thinking you might know a little more than you actually do, can get you into trouble, or at least embarrass the hell out of you.

We got up Friday morning (OF COURSE it's Friday the 13th), bright and early, to make our 8:00am appointment, which is on the other side of town, about 30 minutes away. We arrived at the dealership right at the scheduled time, and were met by a cheerful Service Writer, who took the pertinent information and told us to go in and speak with Lora, who we found out was out sick and we needed to speek with John, who was on the phone talking with some lady trying to explain to her why she needed a $36 Cabin Air Filter! While we were standing there waiting to talk with John, a Service Tech came in and asked who had the Blue Prius, and what was the issue with it? I briefly explained that the drivers side rear door could NOT be opened from the inside. He asked that we come out and show him, as we were walking out to the car I was trying to tell him that the dorr could be opened from the outside, just not from within, all the time he was saying "just come out and humor me"!

Let me interrupt the story for a minute, on virtually all of our previous cars the childproof locks were little switches located somewhere on the trailing edge of their respective doors. Somewhere in the bravado of reading and acquiring all the Prius knowledge I had so brilliantly accumulated and stored in that relatively small portion of unused grey matter, I had mistakenly come to believe the button on the drivers door armrest (the one that has two positions-either up, or locked down) was the button that controlled the entire vehicle's door locks, either activating them, or disableing them, I guess I thought since the Prius was so technologically advanced, and almost ALL electric, those doorlocks were surely electric TOO!...Window Locks...what Window Locks?

The Service Tech began explaining how those little slider switches on the inside back edges of the rear doors worked and what they did, I stood there acting like I'd never heard of such an annimal, I was too embarrassed to do anything else. Matter of fact, one of the guys standing around during the explaination was the guy I spoke to on the phone, I recognized his voice...and I could almost hear him thinking...yeah, he'd already checked it out!

There's a lesson to be learned here...and as soon as the redness and burning in my face goes away, maybe I'll figure it out.

David (aka Blind Guy)

 

* 32colors;

When we wash the car, we both dry it off with those little towels you buy there at the wash, and I suppose when I was drying the inside trailing edge of that door, I inadvertantly swiped my towel down on that switch and activated it. Since we could still open and close that door from the outside, we never noticed it, until I got in the back that evening.

Live and Learn!

David (aka Blind Guy)

 

As an adjunct to this story:

"My wife and I have become our own worst customer"

When the Service Writer told me "I can fix that over the phone", I had to think to my self "oh God, I'm doing just what our worst customers used to do".

We were in the business of providing Low Vision equippment to Senior Citizens who were afflicted with VERY poor eyesight. We sold a unit that magnified materials (print, photos, books, checkbooks etc.) so they could remain independent. This equippment enabled them to read their own mail, write their own checks and read the paper, along with other daily tasks their vision wouldn't allow.

This equippment, since it was primarily used by Seniors (mostly over 75, and with poor vision) is relatively simple to operate, consisting of an On/Off knob, a dial for magnification, a Positive/Negative button (for reversed or normal images, black letters on a white background or white letters on a black background) and a Brightness/Darkness button, that's it.

So many times a customer would call back saying "my system won't work, you've got to come and fix it!" The problem was virtually always something extremely simple, and could be repaired over the phone...if they'd just listen to you and follow directions. Typically when told "I can help you right over the phone, I need you to...", inevvitably they would NOT let you finish your sentence, and would say "Ive already done that". JUST EXACTLY AS I DID!!!

David (aka Blind Guy)