I still cherish the memory of my first test
drive with a DVM examiner when I was applying for my first driver's
license. I was about 18, and hadn't the advantage of the current drivers'
training available in schools. My husband taught me how to drive and he
taught me many defensive techniques....how to deal with adverse road conditions
(read "mud" and "slippery" and "steep".) He also taught me to downshift
with a double-clutch, as syncro-mesh transmissions hadn't been invented
yet. I honed my skills and went in for a test drive. I did several
neat downshifts and finished with a successful parallel park. The examiner
said, "Wellllll.....I guess I'm going to have to issue you a
license."
I'd driven our old livestock truck many
years ago with a low and high range splitter, but one of our daughters could
best me at that. She is a superb truck driver and worked for several years
delivering windows and lumber for our family company. I don't drive our
20' gooseneck trailer often enough to be any good at it, nor even a 2-horse
bumper-pull, but I'll bet I could polish up on that, too.
<But having "put up with" silly stupid car (and truck) salesmen over
the years, where I usually know more about whatever car or truck I
was interested in buying than the salesman, an ad like this just kind of
annoys me.>
I agree with you, Carla. When my husband and I
went truck shopping almost 4 years ago, we had a particularly annoying
salesman at the Ford dealership. When we found the truck we wanted to
buy (F350 extended cab diesel dually 4x4) and wanted to take it for a
test drive, the salesman tried to hand the keys to my husband, who said, "Give
'em to her...it's gonna be her truck." The guy looked nervous
and asked, "Have you ever driven one of these before?" I said,
"Have I driven what? A truck, a 4x4, or a dually?" He was a
condescending idiot throughout the whole process. But I
took perverse pleasure in watching him try to park it when we came
back...he had a heck of a time maneuvering it into it's slot. After he
finished (my husband and I had gone back to our vehicle to discuss the
truck and price in private), I said to him very sweetly, "You should
have told me yo! u hadn't driven one of those before...I would have parked it
for you." <VBEG>
