So my car died this morning. Like, complete electrical failure when I attempted to start it. (Oddly, I had just been listening to the radio, so I know it's not a dead battery. Could be a fuse.)

So, I called AAA (for non-US folks, that's the American Automobile Association, the largest nationwide auto club) for a tow to a repair shop.

Estimated time of arrival for the tow truck was FIVE HOURS.

I could see maybe an hour as it's not precisely an emergency, the car is at my residence and all, but five?

So I called work and said I was likely to be late. (Was supposed to be at work at 2:30 pm PDT, as of this post I am most definitely late.)

Just got an update from AAA that the tow truck will most likely arrive at 4:10. That is over 5 hours from the time I called.

The lateness of this arrival means that not only will I be missing work (by the time I get to work my shift will be half over), but it is unlikely that the car will be repaired today unless it is something extremely simple to fix. Which means that now I have to think about how I'm getting to work tomorrow as well.

This is not the sort of service I am accustomed to receiving from AAA. The longest I have previously had to wait was 1.5 hours, and that was because there was a major traffic accident and all the tow trucks in the county were there. (AAA doesn't actually have its own tow trucks, they contract with local towing services and reimburse them.) Nothing like that appears to be happening today.

I am wondering if this is an effect of Covid-19. I know there is a shortage of truck drivers for goods transport, I had not considered whether it would extend to tow trucks as well.