Bartlesville Harley Dealer woes

Today was just relaxing for me. I had some time to kill, so I called the Harley Dealer hoping to get my head set fixed. The parts man said he had one, so I rode into town. When I got to the dealer, the salesman sent me to see "that guy over there" (one of the parts guys). The parts guy said "you have to talk to that guy over there" after I suggested my problem might be a warranty issue. So, I went over to "that guy over there" again and talked to the service writer. "We don't have any, and even if we did, I wouldn't be able to get to it today or tomorrow anyway" he said. I responded with: One of your parts guys told me he had it in hand earlier this morning. I can install it myself if I have to. Could you please check again?" He did. "I can't find it" he said. Maybe ask the parts guy? I asked.

After a minute or two he came back with the headset in his hand. "It won't fit your bike" he said. Oh, I'll jut put it on my helmet then. That's where I wanted it anyway. He just looked at me. "It has the wrong part number on it." Can I see it out of the box? I said.

He opened the box and handed it to me. I bet it will fit just fine. I told him. "no guarantees" he said. I looked at the package, which was incomplete. There was some hardware and an Allen wrench missing. I pointed this out to him, but he said nothing.

I gave him all the numbers and stuff for my bike so he could warranty the problem. I rode away to the nearest car parts place and bought myself a set of Allen wrenches to add to my tool kit.

If you have ever looked at a tool kit that you get with a motorcycle, you know there is really nothing in there you can use. Now I have some Allen wrenches, a pair of pliers and a crescent wrench to stuff in there with the other things. I sat at picnic table outside of a fast food place and installed my speakers. I plugged all the things in and "presto" I was back in business. this whole thing reminded me of stories Scotty Bogue had told me over the years. He has lots of stories to tell about getting things fixed (or not) on the road. Scotty is a guy I work with.

Well since I had put things in my blog about going to Dallas today, I thought I had better call David sanders and let him know I would not be at his house tonight. So I pulled out my cell phone and found I had no service. i used Tom's phone and called a number that had been disconnected. I dug in my handy dandy note book that I keep in my hip pocket and found a better number for David and let him know I would be a day late. I told him I planned to look around Dallas a bit so he said he would take part of the day off and take me around and show me all the good stuff. I had my own personal guide for tomorrow.

While I was riding through Bartlesville, I found this guy walking around:

He stands outside of the pet store. I suppose if you had problems with the small neighborhood kids pestering you....

The only other things I had left to do today was a bit of laundry and to sit around and wait for dinner. It's tough duty. I know you feel sorry for me.

That about wraps up today.