Something to talk about

Today was my first day on the job and, for the most part, things went rather smoothly. The ITS group secretaries are fantastic and they helped me get set up with my computer, blackberry, access card, office, etc. My particular secretary told me that I needed to talk slower at first so she could understand me and she also said that I needed to learn French (and that she would help me). She was very kind on both points and I actually do plan to take her up on her offer to help with my French.

The first real snag didn't come until the end of the day (a little after 8pm - mostly because I was trying to take care of some administrative issues that required calls to the U.S.). My secretary had brought me the keys to my car (an Audi A6) in the afternoon and told me the car should be parked on level -1 in the garage, but she admittedly didn't know exactly where it would be. Seemed easy enough until I went down to the garage and looked around for the car. I didn't initially see it on level -1, but thought it must just be on level -2. Nope. I walked around level -2 again, then -1 again, and still could not find the car. At this point I was trying to figure out who I could call (not that I know anyone's work phone numbers, much less their cell/home phone numbers) and thinking how ridiculous it would be (and how pissed off I would be) to ride the bus home tonight and back to work in the morning when I had keys to a car that was somewhere in or around the office. So I walked outside and starting searching in the surface lots in front of the building. Still nothing. More frustration. Then I realized there was another small lot on the side of the building, and of course, the car was right there.

But that turned out to easiest issue to solve. I jumped in the car and started it up. I've never even been in an Audi, much less driven one, but I wasn't concerned. I know how to drive. I know how to drive a stick shift. Nothing to it. I decided not to worry about learning the radio functions right off the bat, but knew it would be wise to learn how to reverse before it was needed (the car was backed in to the parking space, so I didn't need it at first). This turned out to be harder than I expected. The gear shift indicated it was all the way to the left and up, but I just couldn't find it. My Nissan had a collar that had to be lifted to shift into reverse, but this car didn't have that. I looked everywhere and thought I tried everything, but still couldn't find it. I pulled out the owner's manual. I searched and searched, but it didn't talk about manual transmissions at all - only automatic gearboxes. I even tried to google it on my blackberry to no avail. Again, I had no idea who I could call in Luxembourg and thought it would be even more ridiculous to take the bus just because I didn't know how to put the car in reverse. Finally, I called Dad and asked him to search online and see if he could find anything. When he had no success, I finally had the brilliant idea to call an Audi dealership in the U.S. (obviously, all the dealerships and the leasing company in Lux would be closed). Dad gave me the number of a dealership in Plano and I'm sure I made a salesman's day when I told him that I was stuck in Europe and didn't know how to shift my Audi into reverse. The solution? Push down on the stick shift before trying to put in reverse. Easy. I thanked my new savior and took off for home.

Moral of the story...if you're in the market for an Audi, I recommend Boardwalk Audi of Plano.