It is Sunday, April 26 and there are only 56 days until the official first day of summer.  I wonder if we will actually have a spring first (it actually snowed three days ago)?  Today we remember the birthdays of Giovanni P. Lomazzo, Frederick Law Olmstead and Carol Burnett.  On this day in 1514 Copernicus made his first observations of Saturn, in 1721 the smallpox vaccination was first administered and in 1925 the Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Edna Ferber for “So Big”.  It is Union Day in Tanzania, Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia and Cape Henry Day in Virginia.

I recently went out and bought a new car.  This was not a whim.  I have been thinking and talking about it for some time.  The car I was driving was getting to a point where it was going to start costing me money so I decided it was time to get rid of it.  In thinking about it, I realized that this was the first new car I was purchasing since 1989.  My last three cars were all used cars (I know everyone calls them pre-owned, but let’s call it what it is – used).  They were all the same model and I was quite happy with them.  I went to a different make and model this time because the company that made the old cars decided to drastically change the appearance.

One of the things I liked about my previous cars was the distinct look of the car.  The new version is what our friend John refers to as the inverted bath tub look.  If you take almost all of the new SUV’s out now and put them next to each other, you would have a hard time distinguishing one from the other without looking at the logo.  The car I purchased still has the type of look I wanted.  It is a good thing I bought it now.  They are coming out with a design change and next year’s model will look like all the others.

Things have changed a lot since I was younger.  When it came time to buy a car, you went to a dealership and sat down with one of the salesmen.  You told him the type of car you were interested in and he would try to convince you that you were better off in the model that was the next step up.  Once you agreed on the car, you began to build it.  You selected the type of transmission, what size engine, how many doors, what color exterior, what color interior, did you want air conditioning, and on it went.  This part was fun.  You made your selections and you could see your new car in your mind.

Next came the tough part.  Now it was time to haggle on what the car was going to cost.  There are some people who enjoyed this part.  They thought it was exciting going back and forth with the salesman, working to get him to accept the price you were willing to pay.  It never occurred to most people that the salesman already knew what the dealership was willing to sell the car for.  The sticker price was inflated to give them room to play the game with the buyer. 

When they approached the point where it looked like the buyer had reached his limit, the salesman would say, “Let me go talk to my manager,” and he would walk off.  I think the purpose here was to let the buyer sweat for a bit.  The salesman would come back after five or ten minutes and give his “final offer.”  Generally it was good enough that the buyer would accept it.  Everybody was happy.  The dealer sold a car and made a decent profit.  The buyer “really worked” the salesman and got a great deal.  A week or so later, the car you created came in, you went to the dealer, signed a couple documents and drove off in your new car, proudly displaying the sticker in the rear left window for days.

When I went to buy my car, my color choices were limited to what they had in stock.  The interior was limited to one color.  Fortunately the car color and the interior color were what I was looking for.  The car came with all sorts of bells and whistles, so I did not have to concern myself with adding anything.  I went to the dealer, met a salesman, took a test drive and decided that I wanted the car.  I then sat around for the next three-plus hours or so while they processed paperwork and gave me a quote on my trade-in.  I felt like they were in no hurry now that I had decided to make the purchase.  “He is buying the car.  We don’t have to impress him anymore.”

The only time there was an issue was when we had to sit with the finance guy.  He kept trying to sell me protection packages and I kept saying no.  At one point he asked me to justify my decision.  I explained that I did not feel that I needed what he was selling and made it clear that I was becoming annoyed.  He finally got the hint and gave us the forms to sign that he was supposed to be taking care of originally.  Apparently, the car-buying process is not supposed to be exciting anymore.  It is supposed to be drudgery. 

We made an appointment to pick up the car two days later.  We arrived at the appointed time and the salesman took care of taking my old car and getting that paperwork done.  He then puttered around with some small details and finally admitted that the car was not ready yet.  In fact they had not even started on it yet.  He realized that the lovely Elaine and I were not happy.  Keep in mind that there are surveys and on-line questionnaires to be completed after the whole deal is done.  Making the customer unhappy could affect your commission.  He got them moving, allegedly having our car put ahead of two others and we finally drove our new car off the lot 90 minutes after we got there.  Now I know why I don’t but new cars too often. 

This week our fact tells us that in the 17^th century, a Boston man was sentenced to two hours in the stocks for obscene behavior.  His crime was kissing his wife in a public place on a Sunday.  Ever since then men have been afraid to express their emotions publicly.