The Official Low Point

I know I've been talking a big streak about how long this is taking and how hard it can be to deal with everyone and make sure all my bases were covered. I thought I knew what it meant to be trapped. I thought I knew what it meant to be stressed. But oh no, no I didn't. Now that today has happened, I understand both of those feelings on an entirely new level.

It all began with a phone call I received today. It was Admir, calling about the galaxy ceiling headliner. He informed me that this galaxy would have a whopping eight stars per foot. What the fuck? Apparently he chose to withhold certain details about the results of cutting notches in the fiber optic cables. There will be light emitting from these notches, "but that's just to give a shooting star effect," he said. He's not drilling a hole to emit light from each notch. He could have mentioned that earlier.

He welcomed me to purchase another Very Expensive Part I depicted in a post from one month ago entitled Lights... Camera... Now Let's Have Some Action. This was not the right kind of action. I don't want to drop a wad of cash on another engine because this guy didn't plan correctly.

We talked in circles for about an hour, he tried to convince me that he had been honest and straightforward throughout the whole project, and I thwarted his excuses, telling him what I had written in my notes, and fighting to hold myself together with every word. We planned to meet on Sunday, at which time he will show me a 2-foot example of eight lights per square foot and another example of 32 lights per square foot. Obviously, if he knew it was going to come out like this, he wouldn't have called me today telling me there were eight stars per square foot like it's news.

This guy is full of shit. But wait, there's more.

I called the California Bureau of Auto Repairs just to see if there was a chance I had any recourse at all. I pretty much knew the answer was a shaky "maybe" with a large order of "no" when I called. The person I talked to was quite helpful by explaining what would count against me if I try to pursue this further. I can still file a complaint and have Admir investigated, which is a nasty thing to have to do, but I'm running out of options.

But wait, there's MORE.

I was doing some more online research on fiber optic lighting, this time to see if anyone in California was advertising their installation services, and I just so happened to come across the exact Very Expensive Part I mentioned earlier. It's great that I found it so I can order it myself... hold on a minute... it's not a Very Expensive Part at all. It is a Reasonably-Priced-For-What-It-Is Part. So now it turns out I'm dealing with a blatant fraud. If only I could say it's the first time.

I'm not sure exactly what to do at this point, but you know I've been on the phone all afternoon trying to figure it out. What a great way to spend a Friday...