“My muffler is missing,” I explained in broken Spanish to the girl working at the front desk.
With a look of disbelief mixed with confusion, she asked... “Falta el silenciador?”
“It’s not broken ,” I responded. “My muffler and exhaust are missing .”
“Que hiciste con eso?” she asked.
“I didn’t do anything with it,” I replied.
She pointed to the phone and told me to call the police. I did.
“Falta el silenciador?” the voice on the other line asked. “Que hiciste con eso?”
“I didn’t do anything with it. It’s missing .” I explained. I told the man that I had been a victim of a “ladrón de silenciador” (a muffler thief).
He just laughed at me.
Next, I tried the rental-car office... “Falta el silenciador? Que hiciste con eso?”
Eventually, the man on the phone told me that insurance should cover my missing muffler and exhaust system. He said to swing over and swap the car out. Immediately, I drove to the rental-car office and pulled into the garage. The mechanic and agent both confirmed that my muffler and exhaust system were missing. After a few minutes of quizzing me on their whereabouts, the two men sent in the manager.
“No problem,” the manager told me. He arranged for a replacement.
As one of the workers brought a new car around, the manager said it must have been a thief who wanted the catalytic converter. “It’s big business,” he told me.
139
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker