Embarassing "repair"

[halman2228]

Tooling up the road in the SL (top down of course) watching the flaky gas gauge needle bounce/jerk between empty and 1/4. Car dies while going 45 and I coast onto a side street. Cranks but won't catch, needle at just short of 1/4 and no reserve light warning.

Call MBUSA - they'll bring gas, change my flat or give me a jump but won't pay for the tow. Didn't want it to go to the stealership so I call my indie's favorite towing guy for a roll back (he bills it to the indie - no cash required).

Ride with tow down to indie's shop (closed on Saturday) and throw the cover on, get to my truck (son picked me up) and race down to the Bap/Geon for a fuel pump relay (Ooops! not on the shelf like told on the phone). Oh well.

Monday a.m., indie calls with the bad news: she was out of gas. Shop charge $0. Tow $65. Gave my indie $100 because he spent 20 minutes jacking with it first thing Monday, wasn't going to charge for the 2 gals. of gas ($3+/gal) but more important!: He was driving PAST his shop late Sat afternoon, saw my car outside with my cheapo cover blown off, top and windows down...whipped in, pushed it into his fenced yard (by himself), put the top up and put the windows up WITHOUT THE IGNITION KEY (???).

Didn't even rub it in when I picked her up Monday evening