The girls stepped aside and asked me to talk to the desk lady. I'm going all French on her.
-"What do you mean it's not in your system?!"
-"It's not in our system, I'm sorry miss" she smiles apologetically.
I have to say, my natural hatred of what I call "The American fake smile" just kept on increasing along our journey and this occasion was no exception.
-"I don't need excuse, I need a car! So unless you have one you can keep your smile for yourself!" I blurt out. I am well aware that clients around us hear me. It's a French habit. People don't like the attention and they will go a long way to keep you quiet.
-"It's not in our system maybe you can contact the helpdesk..."
-"Look, I work with these systems, I know there must be a problem but we're not gonna wait for our complain to be dealt with in three month. We need a car today!"
She looks quite old and a left handed crocodile could probably use the computer faster than she does. She looks around, clearly she has no clues what she is doing here. Neither do we. The hard way won't do it, she's plain useless. I switch to another tactic.
-"Can you please call your manger?" I ask nicely returning her fake smile.
The manager arrives and ask us what's the trouble. I explain the situation again and she apologies again. I repeat that I came to a car rental to get a car, not an apology. She tells us that our booking isn't valid as inexistant to their eyes but we can make a new one for three times the price.
-"You're kidding right?" I rhetorically ask.
-"No" she confirms. And I was told the American client service was amazing...
In the meantime, my friends are trying to reach the provider we booked through, Car del Mar*. But calling the French number of a German company whist being in USA is never easy. Especially when their hotline is asleep.
They can't find any alternative solution until...
Light bulb.
-"Merced is our next stop, is there an Avis desk there?"
-"Yes"
-"How much is it to get a car for one night?"
I don't remember exactly her answer but it was satisfying so we agreed.
She takes us to a dark grey Mitsubishi (my guinea's pigs nickname). We are disappointed. We wanted to drive an American car but it will do for now. At least, we have a car and that makes us very happy. No time to be picky!
-"Who's driving?" Julie asks . I'm hiding, hoping that I won't be picked as I dread my first time driving in the States and would rather not do it in a city.
-"I don't mind" she adds. Caroline offers her hands too but she reckons if Julie is ok, then we're all good with it. She goes around the car to the passenger seat while I lazily drift out in the back ( Yes, I'm half a marmot, half a sloth, I know).
We drive out of the parking lot and out of SF, sad and excited.
At first, we're having trouble with the lanes and directions but Julie gets the hang of it pretty quickly. We've all driven an automatic before and we have a GPS which helps.
The car renting issue made us lost a bit of time. It'll be late when we get to our motel so we decide to stop on the road for dinner. Around ten o'clock, we see a Denny's in the distance. The girls know this chain so we agree to stop and try this well known American diner. After that, Caroline will be sick for two days and we will never step in one again.
After a two hours drive, we reach the Sandpipper Lodge. I'm excited about my first night in a motel. It looks exactly like in the movies. The parking is in the middle of a two floors high, white, U shaped building. There is a swimming pool on the side. We drag our suitcases up the stairs and open the door to a white old-fashion bedroom, half expecting to see a body there. Instead, it has not one, not two, but three double beds! For such a cheap price, our room is really clean, the internet connection is good, we're impressed! We go on the Avis site and book a car, for the same price we had before, ready to be picked up in Merced.
Finally, we settle for the night. Tomorrow is a big day for a us, we're going to Yosemite!
To be continued....
* At our return, after few phone calls and an official complain, Car del Mar will reimburse us the first car ordered and the extra from SF to Merced.
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