tire trouble

So when I was dropped me off at home I was supposed to go meet Sophie's breeder to pick her up, but when I went to my car I found I had a serious flat (like rim on the ground flat) - so I called the breeder, and she offered to drop sophie off instead of me meeting her (she's so sweet!). Then I set on the task of changing the tire, only to find I don't seem to have the tire wrench... I couldn't get to my bike (car jammed in the garage pretty tight) so I took my roommate's bike to WinCo. That was an adventure in itself - it was way too short for me, my knees were knocking the handle bars, and I couldn't figure out how to change the gears! Fortunately, the closest store, Winco, had 'fix-a-flat', so I bought it, biked home and put it in the tire, and drove to les schwab to get a patch/replacement. They had a waiting line and said they'd call when they were done. I had a hard time telling the guy which tire, he kept repeating it back wrong. After 1.5 hours of me browsing up and down shops on 9th st, I decided to just go back there and find out how much longer it would be. Turns out they finished a half hour before and didn't call. The tire I had wanted patched looked exactly the same as when I dropped it off (fix-a-flat left it slightly underpressured, and it still looks that way), and they said no charge for the patch but wanted me to spend $600 on new tires and alignment. They told me I could buy a wrench there for $15, and after waiting 10 mins for them to dig one out and ring it up - it was $25, so I didn't buy it (I priced wrenches at 3 stores while i was passing the afternoon waiting for their call). &%$& that... I actually have a rip in another tire - I'll need to replace them, but I'm not going back there. Frustrating afternoon... BUT, if that's the only issue I have coming home after a month away, I'm not doing too bad!!!