The Squamidian Report – May 12 / 07
Issue #259
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I got a little long winded for this issue so you’ll just have to bear with me!
The first thing you need to know is that the new toy could have been here almost 2 weeks ago! There is nothing more frustrating than finding yourself dealing with an inept salesperson that doesn’t seem to give a dam. But that’s all straightened out now.
I had put a deposit on a nice shiny new Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic back in early February. At the time even though one very friendly and helpful salesman had been answering all my questions, and even took the actual order, the sales manager wanted to give the account to the dealer’s only saleswoman. Fine, at the time it really didn’t make any difference to me. The bike was scheduled to be built at the Harley factory in mid to late March with delivery to the dealer by mid April. Perfect timing for springtime riding. The bike did in fact get to the dealer on April 19. The helpful salesman even let me know that it was in and that it should only take a week for them to get around to uncrating it and prepping it for final delivery. As I had been having trouble contacting the saleswoman, she never seemed to be around, I emailed her and suggested a May 5 delivery date. She emailed back and quite firmly laid it on the line that the bike could not possibly be ready by then, in fact it would be another couple of weeks before the shop could get it prepped. She would let me know when there was an assemble date for the bike.
So we went into the dealer last Saturday, May 5 to rattle some cages. First person we ran into was the salesman who expressed surprise that we didn’t have the bike yet. The saleswoman was there but I couldn’t even get her attention. The salesman checked with his computer and told us the bike had been sitting in the shop waiting for us to pick it up for almost a week. At that point I requested that he take over the account. Armed with our complaints he was able to have the sales manager OK the switch. So now we just needed to set up an appointment to take delivery of the bike. Could have had it right then but we didn’t have riding gear or insurance stuff or anything else with us. No point rushing things now anyway, and taking delivery of a Harley is supposed to be a big special event, biker wise.
In the mean time, I’ve transferred the ownership and registration etc of the ’84 Virago over to Ryan. He grew up on that bike, and its still a classic looking machine, runs like new and I sure wouldn’t want to see it sitting neglected over in the corner of the garage. With Ryan and Em having the Virago, they will be able to join us on some nice runs, whether its just up to Whistler for breakfast or over to the Island or up through the BC interior. Once we get rolling, I’ll be posting highway run adventures on my web site just like I’m doing with our ongoing dirt bike outings.
So anyway, I took Wednesday off work and Ryan had that day off as well so we climbed aboard the Virago and headed into the city shortly after 8. That was a cold ride. The highway runs down the east side of the sound so it is in shade pretty well all the way to Horseshoe Bay. By the time we rolled into the Harley dealer we were quite chilly. Then came the paper work and the walk around stuff and we were ready to head home. Pulling away for the first time into Burnaby traffic on a bike that is twice as heavy as I was used to, was interesting. But I just followed Ryan and let him do the work while I got used to the machine.
The ride back up to Squamish was just fine thank you, and not near long enough so we just kept right on going up to Whistler. Then we turned around and headed back down. By the time we got home it was late afternoon. Sue got home shortly after 6, and had her first ride on it. Not a bad day, all and all.
That first day on the new bike was a bit overwhelming. With the cost of the thing plus the fact that it has a very big powerful engine and the feet positioning is different from what I was used to and the bike is very heavy and I sit higher than on the Yamaha, I felt a bit stressed. But we got out on it on both Thursday and Friday evenings and it felt great. Now that I was feeling more relaxed, the bike felt, and sounded like a Harley. When sitting at an idle, the exhaust sounds like potato, potato, potato, potato. When cruising it purrs like a very very very big kitten.
For those who don’t know, the bike is an ‘07 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic. It has the new 96-inch engine and 6-speed transmission. It is black and chrome and has the full tour-pack bags, bat wing faring with windshield and stereo system, basically a Cadillac on 2 wheels. It’s a big heavy old HOG. Cool.
Bringing home the Harley. Pics at:
http://www.thedougsite.net/HD-home/HD-home.htm
doug
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Hello
everyone!
With
spring well under way, we here in KW are enjoying day after day of lovely sunny
warm weather. The likes of which we usually don’t see until the May 2 4 weekend
or later. I’m happy to see it and enjoying every minute of it. With spring in
the air and sunny skies, everyone is into their outdoor activities. Everything
from tending to their yard work to shopping for new vehicles is part of the
daily sport. In fact we “The Squamidians” have a new vehicle owner among us.
Nay, forsooth, we have TWO new vehicles owners among us. I’ll let them each
tell you about their purchases, it’s more fun to tell people about such things
yourself if you take a mind to. If not then that’s their business. I just know
that when ever anyone I know gets a new vehicle it excites me as well. I’ve
always been into vehicles and love the excitement of acquiring a new or at
least different machine to drive. Be it mine or that of a friend or family
member it’s not envy it’s excitement and happiness for their good fortune. I’m
happy for them!
*
Speaking
of Clyde, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to have lunch with
Clyde a couple of days ago, we don’t do it often enough and it was nice to
catch up on things. We were out for the morning doing some running around and
he suggested we stop at the Huether Hotel in Waterloo for lunch. They have a
nice patio overlooking King Street and usually it’s a pleasant experience to
dine there. Clyde and I grabbed ourselves a table out of the sun and placed our
orders. About a half hour later, we were served our “hamburger and fries”
plates. After eating about 4 french fries with great difficulty chewing them I
looked at Clyde and he seemed to be having the same trouble. We both commented
on how grossly over done and hard in texture the fries were. Clyde then picked
up his hamburger and began to eat it. The look on his face was one of distain
and dissatisfaction. I then took a bite of my hamburger and was shocked at how
dry and stale the bun was. Just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things I took
another test bite. As I did so, the waitress skimmed by and quickly blurted out
“How’s the food?” to which Clyde quickly blurted back “Good” and in a flash she
was gone! I looked at Clyde and asked “Why didn’t you tell her the truth?”
Clyde said he didn’t want to make waves and besides it wasn’t her fault that
the food was shitty. I said “I guess so!” and continued to choke down the food
(if you could call it that). I looked over at Clyde once more as we chewed like
a couple of starving Jackals in a jungle kill. We stared at each other for a
few seconds and dropped our buns on the plate. I said “This is ridiculous, I
can’t eat this crap!” Clyde agreed as we reiterated our disdain for the poor
quality. I said I’d decided that I had to say something, that of late I’ve been
more outspoken about such injustices. Why should someone pay good money for
substandard food and be expected to smile and say thanks while doing so? I
agreed with Clyde that it wasn’t the waitresses fault and I’d make that clear
to her when I mentioned our problem. When I was finally able to get her
attention once again, she came to the table. She once more said “How was the
food?” to which I replied “Not very good!” She was taken off guard by my direct
answer. She said “Oh really? I told her that I had only eaten about 6 french
fries and tried my darndest to eat the burger but just couldn’t finish it
either. I had left about a quarter of the burger and most of the fries and
Clyde still had about ¾ of his burger on the plate and over half his fries. She
could clearly see that it was inedible food. I told her that we knew it wasn’t
her fault that the food was inferior but we would appreciate her mentioning it
to her manager before bringing the bill. She disappeared for a few minutes and
upon her return, she plunked down the bill with a quick apology from her
manager and a generous (sarcasm here), as she put it “25% discount off the
price of your burgers”. This reduced the bill from $25.00 to $22.35. WOW! Was
her manager sure he could afford to take that much off the bill??? Knowing once more that none of this was her
fault or doing, we smiled and thanked her for presenting our feelings to her
boss and Clyde promptly paid the bill along with a generous tip for the server.
We got up from the table and left the patio. Clyde commented that he’ll never
order a burger and fries from the Huether Hotel again. I had different feelings
and said I’d never set foot in the premises again let alone order the same
items. I guess Clyde enjoys the patio atmosphere of the Huether and he said
their wings are to die for so as long as you stick to eating the chicken wings
I guess you’d be ok.
I don’t
know if it’s just that I’ve lived long enough to know better or that I’m tired
of being taken advantage of that I’m no longer swallowing the injustices of
such happenings. I told Clyde that I used to walk away after paying my bill in
such situations and just not return to whatever restaurant I had been
dissatisfied with. However for the past couple of years I’ve made an effort to
speak up and make known my dislikes whenever such things happen. Like Clyde
said, it’s not a good idea to send a plate of food back for adjustments once
you’ve complained and then eat whatever they return to your table. He says he
wouldn’t put it past the cook your complaining about to do something unseemly
to your food before sending it back out to you. I guess that’s enough to make
me think about eating in restaurants period let alone complaining about the
food. I’ll just have to make sure I send it back and tell them to keep it when
I have a problem with food from now on. The last thing anyone wants is to eat a
burger with a fresh booger or something worse in it and then pay for the
privilege! LOL! I still say “SPEAK UP” if you aren’t happy with whatever it is
you’re purchasing! We all work damned hard for our money and I’ll be damned if
I’m spending it on substandard products and biting my tongue when there’s
something not right. There are loads of other companies that will gladly take
your money for a product and give you quality if the first one can’t be
bothered treating you with respect! Stand up for yourself! Nobody else will if
you won’t!
I guess
that’s enough of my Soap Box sermon for this week!
Thanks
for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The
Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
A wise
man once told me “Look after your pennies and your dollars will look after
themselves!” That man was multi millionaire Emmory Zehr, the founder of the
Zehr’s Markets right here in Kitchener. It worked for him!
****
The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.