The other day I went to get my pickup sniffed. You know, emission tested. The requirement was just imposed on me last year, and at the time my truck wasn't really running. I had the heater core out, and replacing that, and associated problems, meant it wasn't drivable for months. And that's when the notice arrived.
And the the second notice arrived, and yet I was still hopeful that I'd get the truck running. Any day. So I didn't mail back the card with the "not running" block checked. Because, any day now. Well, after weeks passed and maybe a couple of months, and I finally got it running, I had forgotten about the sniff test. In the mean time, Ada County revoked my registration. I don't recall that they told me they had done it, thought I'd been warned that they would do it if I didn't get sniffed.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that I still needed the sniff test, and knew that my registration was probably suspended or whatever they do, but I figured once I got the notice of renewal, I'd got take care of everything. Good plan, until a cop stopped me for expired plates. See, once they cancel your registration, they don't send out a renewal notice. Nothing to renew, I guess.
So I was kind of pissed off about the whole situation when I finally went for the sniff test. I pulled in, and the dude, after a minute, came out of his little hooch, and looked in my window and said, "I think we're going to have a problem." Turns out that the idle speed must be less than 1250 rpm. He hooked up his tester, and I was idling at 1325.
Gong! Done. He wouldn't test it. So I said, that's an easy fix, and he said "You can't fix it here." Very abruptly. So now I was ever more annoyed. So I just started to drive away, and as the door to his hooch shut I hear him say "See you in a little while." I said "No, you won't." Being pissed and all.
Plus, I tend toward judgmental, and I adjudged him as an ass. Figured I'd pull over somewhere, make the minor adjustment, and find another sniff station. When I looked under the hood, it wasn't quite a clear as I thought, so I decided to wait and check my repair manual. I did, made the adjustment, got the idle into the right range, and was ready to try again, a couple of days later.
Trouble was, the annoying dude is the closest sniff station, by far, and I wasn't sure where to go, other than quite a ways away. So, dammit, back to the annoying dude. I hopped into my truck (What do you say to a one legged hitchhiker? Hop in.) and Buck, my cocker spaniel also hopped in, and off we went.
I pulled up, prepared to be annoyed by the annoying dude. The hooch door opened, he looked in the truck (my window was down so's we could talk) and he spotted Buck, and he immediately started cooing over the damn dog. Wanted to pet him, and baby talked to him, and all that. Performed the sniff test, chatted me up about how to reinstate my registration, and off I went.
So I had adjudged him as an ass, and he wasn't, but I was still a judgmental ass, so, lesson learned, take your dog with you.
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