Flat Tires and Anti-Theft Devices

Yesterday had to be one of the worst days and only because of about two hours of the entire day.  I came out of work to find that my tire was flat, not completely but enough to be of concern.  (I had filled it with air the night before, so clearly it's a slow leak of some kind.)  I have never changed my own tire before, but I understand the mechanics of it and I was ready to take care of this myself.  So I pulled into a gas station and got out my tire kit, full-size spare tire, and manual.  I had no problem pulling the bolt caps off the tire, jacking up the car, or taking off 4 of the 5 bolts.  It was difficult work, to be sure, but I was able to get it done.   Then I started to remove the fifth bolt on my wheel and realized it wasn't like the others.  It had a weird shape to it and wouldn't budge.

According to the owner's manual, this is an anti-theft bolt.  There should be an anti-theft bolt key included in the tire kit or the dealership should have given me one when I purchased my vehicle.  Neither of these things happened.  The only way to get the tire changed is to take it to the dealership and have them do it for me.  Which would have been great on any other day, but all the Volkswagen dealerships are closed on Sunday.  Also, my car is no longer under warranty so it would have cost me money to have it towed anywhere.  Thankfully the Shell Station by my part-time job was able to look at the tire and give me some advice.  They told me that I should be able to fill it up with air and it would get me home.  But that I'd have to refill it in the morning to get to work and then again to get to the dealership in the afternoon.

So it's highly inconvenient.  I appreciate the anti-theft bolt and its purpose, but I am pissed at the dealership for not including the necessary equipment to properly change my own tire. (The gas station guys tried to be all macho and help.  Which kind of pissed me off, too.  They were like "oh, little lady need some help," as if I weren't perfectly capable of doing it myself.)  I didn't even know this was a security feature on the car or I would have made a point to ask for it.  My old Beetle had no such security feature.  Also, looking at the full-size spare I realized just how worn my current tires are and that they need replacing very soon.  Have you ever priced tires?  I didn't realize how expensive they were.