No Charge for Nothing

 For the past week or so, I've been hearing an odd noise coming from my motorbike. A sort of growling noise when decelerating. Being a lazy sort of person, I thought at first that I'd just ignore this until the next time the bike was due for servicing, which will be in March, but then I thought better of this. Perhaps, thought I, I should do the responsible thing and get this checked out. I mean, what if this is something serious? What if I'm ruining the bike by continuing to drive it? The prudent thing would be to get it checked out, right? 

Therefore, yesterday I stopped by at my usual Honda Service location in Renon. However, they were already overwhelmed with bikes needing service. So, this morning, I went down to a smaller service outlet, quite near my house in Sanur. They too were busy but said that could take me in an hour. Or so. 

It turned out to be 'or so'. When finally my turn came up, the repairman put the bike up on its back legs, raised the engine a number of times, turned the wheels, and announced that he heard nothing out of order. 

"Well," I said, "the thing is, I only hear the noise when I'm driving. I don't hear it when it is standing still. Can you drive it around a bit?"

It had begun to rain. The man looked at the rain. He said, "It is raining." 

I concluded that repairmen, or this repairman anyway, do not leave the dry interior of the shop in the presence of rain.

What to do? 

The answer was to raise the engine again. turn the wheels, incline the ear closely, cast suspicious glances my way, and declare that no unusual sound could be heard. 

The man walked away, and at this point I was willing to let the thing go and slink away myself, but then he returned, pulling a helmet over his head, decidedly displeased, by appearances. 

And off he went. 

Upon his return perhaps ten minutes later, he still had not heard an unusual sound. 

"Hmm, that's odd. But does it seem to be running well?"

"Yes, good."

"Well okay, that's good then. All is well. Where do I pay?" 

"No pay," he said. 

The rain had stopped. 

I thanked the man, thanked the other employees whose curiosity had been piqued, thanked the audience of curious people waiting for their own turns, and likely wondering what was wrong with this crazy bule. 

The funny thing is that as I drove to Sanur, I could no longer hear the odd sound either!

I don't think I will go back to this particular service center again. They might remember me.