Puff Pieces by Adrian: Blackball Kia Motors

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Blackball Kia Motors

I never wanted to use this forum as an outlet to vent out about businesses that I didn’t like, or others that have otherwise treated me bad. However, the most recent events in my dealings at Kia Motors here in San Diego have caused me to change my mind about that.

Long story short, my wife and I tried to go down and lease a Kia Sorento, because we need to trade in her sports car for something more useful for her and the baby. Of course, being a struggling writer slash starving artist and all, my credit is not good, which I knew going in. However, my dear uncle, bless his heart, agreed to co-sign with us. We were assured that this would “close the deal”. Keep in mind, I wouldn’t be writing this if things had worked out.

We were able to sign the papers and roll off the lot in the new Kia, with signed lease documents in hand. We had thought that we scored a new, safe SUV for Mom and Baby Peanut. One week later to the day, we got a call from the finance director at FULLER KIA/FORD in Chula Vista, California, telling us that we “had to come and sign documents because our loan was approved”. I asked this gentleman, Telly Gomez, is his name, what he was talking about, but he would not elaborate, and in fact, he became annoyed that I even asked.

So we went down there to find out that our lease was denied and that they wanted to make us “purchase” the vehicle to keep it. This of course would bump up the payments by about 80$ per month, pushing this struggling writer out of the market for it. Our only other option was to return the car. As anyone can see from my previous posts, I love my wife very much, and making her return that car has broken my heart. Seeing her confused and disappointed face, is what I live to avoid. Just thinking about it now vexes me, but I am helpless to do anything about it.

As it turns out, for various reasons, Kia can break a contract like that. It is unlawful to do so, but then I’d have to retain counsel (get a lawyer) to fight it, which of course I also cannot afford. So here I am, back at square one with my old car back. I suppose that watching my wife completely ream the finance manager was a bit of sweet poetic justice. She is amazing. I absolutely can not argue the way she can, and it is as poetic as it is brutal, and they deserved every bit of it. Side note, we tried to record this part of the conversation, which I was planning to youtube, but alas in our frustration in the heat of the moment, we didn’t hit the “record” button on time.

I am grounded enough in life to know that even hoping for a new car, of any make, means I am fortunate. I can accept that I currently don’t have the means to buy a new Kia right now. Still, that doesn’t give the slime ball finance director and his clones the right to treat me like a dirtbag. Telly Gomez and his crew treated me like I stole something from them, and they tried to lie about everything, which is something I will call you out on. I may be poor, but I am proud, and I don’t take no s*%t.

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Revolution of the Soul. A Mission Statement.

I am by default, and through no fault of my own, different. I’m not out cruising the boulevard on the weekends, blasting oldies-but-goodies with the homies. I am also not listening to rock en Espanol, speaking in Spanish-only with my friends. I could fit into either stereotype perfectly though, and to an outsider, I probably appear to be from either or both worlds. I have brown skin, which is pretty much all it takes. It’s not that simple though, as others like me surely understand. I speak some Spanish but I also speak perfect English. I went to college. I love hamburgers and fries, and hip-hop, and alternative music. I have simply integrated into American culture from the start, because I was born here, and because I wanted to.

I’m glad that I’m not still stuck in Mexico somewhere, growing up a third world existence, which statistically would have been the case, had my familia never come here. But I am glad to have come from a country and peoples with such a rich and vibrant history. There are many reasons having such a heritage is a good thing, and I am proud to be a part of it. I am glad to have been born here in America, and happy to be part of this system. I’m happier yet that I didn’t grow up as a cholo gang-banging, tagger, too-cool-for school type of guy, even though I’ve had plenty of chances, given my surroundings. That subculture is not all bad either, depending on the level of involvement and the choices one makes. In other words, you can look the part without being a thug, or a social, or immigrant, or anything else, que no? This is true of all life.

So even though I am different, I am by no means alone, and I know this. The problem for me is that I’m not seeing enough representation out there in the media. I’m not seeing a lot of works written, or filmed, for people like me. It annoys me, too, for a lot of political reasons, because our image is grossly misrepresented. Sure the gangbanger cholos are fun to include in film, because violence sells. However, that only perpetuates a false image. These days, it seems as though everyone in this country sees us either as cholos or as immigrants that refuse to assimilate, legal or not. This angers me because we are so many different things including a multitude of diversity within our own subculture. It’s pretty frickin’ beautiful, if everyone only knew…

Either way, I decided to make the changes I wanted to see, on my own. I’m writing stories for me, for you, and for everyone else, and my main characters are all Latino, and not just Mexican-Latino either. My stories are not about quinceaneras or growing up as a pocho in high school. They are not about crossing the border, or starting any revolutions. The only revolution I write about is the Revolution of the Soul. My stories are meant to entertain and inspire people, and hopefully many of you will relate to them in one way or another, and see yourselves there in them, wherever that may be.