A Car Conundrum

As the thunderstorms rage outside my window, I find myself in a Car Conundrum this morning.  As I stated in yesterday's post, my former employer has 'requested' that I come to his location to sign a contract for the money I owe him on the car I have driven for the last five years.  A little history of the transaction in question might help to enlighten you on my quandary.  I first came into possession of my current mode of transportation in the early stages of my employment at the franchise for which I wrote the business plan.  I was on a salary of $500 per week and had managed to pay almost half of the agreed upon sum necessary to obtain the title to said vehicle when I had my TIA and spent a week in the hospital and a week at home before being able to return to work.  At the time of my attack, I had been working 6 days a week (2 morning shifts, 2 afternoon shifts and 2 midnight shifts).  Working this grueling schedule for a year essentially brought about my attack.  Unfortunately, my former employer did not nor does he currently offer any medical insurance benefits to his employees.  Having missed two weeks worth of work completely fucked up my financial situation.  Upon returning to work, he reduced my schedule as well as my salary, first to 5 days at $450, then to 4 days at $350 then finally to four days or less at $9 per hour.  In essence, this cut my income in half causing me to not be able to catch up the rent on the apartment I was living in at the time forcing me to move to the apartment I just moved out of which were to say the least, less than ideal accommodations.   Given the state of the economy, one does not give a job up without one to replace it, and no one seemed to be in a hurry to hire an aging man who had just had a stroke.  Therefore I was virtually trapped in a job that did not pay me enough to cover my expenses and pay off the car.  To his credit, he never really pressed me for the money because he knew he was not paying me enough to be able to pay him off.  However when he challenged me to find a new position and told me no one would hire me because I was too old, I set out to prove him wrong in his assumption that I was not worthy of anything more than what he would condescend to allow me to have.  I was successful in my quest to remove myself from his manipulations and provide myself not only with a new apartment but a new job as well that will pay me enough to live on.  An additional bonus is the fact that I will begin receiving my SS Retirement Benefits starting in August.  When I gave him my 2 week notice, we verbally agreed to my paying off the car after I started receiving my SS Benefits.  I have come to discover what he said to my face is a whole 'nother story than the actions he has taken since I removed myself from underneath his thumb and the ones he intends to take.  He is basically pissed off that I was able to find another job, thus removing myself from his manipulations and machinations.  Therefore he is being a spiteful and vengeful bastard whose goal is to fuck me one more time in order to make it more difficult to get to work in a timely fashion to fulfill my obligations to my new employer.  It is my firm belief that if I do indeed allow him to lure me to his location, he will fail to produce any contract that would be beneficial to me in any way which, if produced, I then would refuse to sign.  This would cause him to repossess the vehicle, thus leaving me stranded on foot in the middle of the hood.  

Because I believe I know what his vengeful actions are to be, based on his duplicitous actions since I gave him my notice of intent to vacate, I went seeking a solution to my situation.  Enter my Mother, stage left.  As you may remember from earlier posts, My Mother was gravely ill at the beginning of this year but has since begun to recover.  After leaving the hospital for two months in a rehabilitation center, she is now at home under the care of a nurse once a week, a hospice lady 5 days a week and meals on wheels.  In her garage sits a virtually new Nissan Versa which she has been unable to drive since she fell ill.  I called my Mother on Sunday to broach a possible solution to my situation involving the use of her Versa either by borrowing or renting from her until my SS Benefits begin, when I can then purchase the vehicle of my choice at almost any car lot in the area.  Unfortunately she had refused to cooperate in this, thinking that she will be able to once again drive her car before I can receive my SS Benefits.  At present she is mostly confined to a wheel chair and also tethered to an oxygen machine for 22 hours a day.  She has been practicing walking by moving from the hospital bed set up in her living room to the bathroom with her walker.  The distance is about 25 feet and she does slowly cover the distance, however being able to barely walk 25 feet does not engender hope that she can safely operate a moving vehicle at anytime in the near future.  In fact, my brother who is handling her affairs since she fell ill has hidden the keys from her in order to prevent her from hurting herself or someone else because she is incapable of safely operating her vehicle.  She called me yesterday to confirm her refusal.  She explained her reasoning as stated above and then proceeded to tell me what would be contained in a purchase agreement for my present vehicle.  She has never met my former employer and thus has never experienced his manipulations and machinations.  Yet she cannot seem to understand my reluctance to enter in any further financial arrangements with him.  At this point I do not trust him any further than I can throw Mount Rushmore which is to say not at all.  He has proven himself to be spiteful, vengeful and desirous of the opportunity to  manipulate me to his advantage one more time.  I refuse to be his victim any longer thus leaving me in my present conundrum.  

Do I succumb to his 'request' to deliver the vehicle to his location where he can repossess it, thus bending me over the barrel to allow him to fuck me without mercy one more time and leave me stranded in the hood?  Do I call his bluff, retain the vehicle and hold him to our verbal agreement to pay off the car when my SS Benefits kick in?  Do I simply remove the parking sticker from the vehicle allowing my apartment complex to tow the vehicle, mail him the keys and inform him of the towing event forcing him to expend funds to recover the vehicle?  Do I abandon the vehicle in a parking lot or the side of the road somewhere thus causing a towing event and the expenditure of funds to recover the vehicle?  I would be interested in what you guys think I should do.  If you have any suggestions as to a solution to this conundrum, please leave a comment on this post with any suggestions you may have.  

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Your Musical Moment for today features two classic recordings of the music of Johannes Brahms. The first selection is a 1951 recording of his String Quartet in C Minor, Opus 51, Number 1 recorded in the Parish Church, London followed by his String Quartet in A Minor, Opus 51, Number 2 recorded in 1955 at Abbey Road, London. Both recordings are by The Amadeus Quartet (1947-1987) whose members were First Violin Norbert Brainin, Second Violin Siegmund Nissel, Viola Peter Schidlof and Cello Martin Lovett.

Following the play list is a rather intriguing  collection of hirsute men and/or men with beautiful eyes in this edition of Furrier and Eyes.  Thank you for spending part of yoru day here at Nichevo, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!