Car lockouts and other things...
Aug. 25th, 2003 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandolinSo not packed for Ireland yet.
Partial excuse why: Packing was to kick off yesterday afternoon, after getting back from working out at the park. That was thwarted when I shut and locked the car door and realized my keys were still in there. This was 4:15. Rental car, so I had no spare key and had to call AAA at 4:20.
Fortunately, it was a gorgeous day, and there were a lot of people around; a guy, his sister, and his girlfriend from the group out in the nearby baseball field offered to lend me a hand. (Public journal entry, I'm not using names.) Since they couldn't help me get back in, and since they had to leave, they had to take off a bit before 5 pm, but we exchanged cellphone numbers in case I needed help. So they left, I walked around the loop a bit, got bored, still heard nothing. Cellphone rang around 5:15, but it wasn't AAA; it was the guy from earlier, asking, "What's your favorite kind of Slurpee?" Turns out they'd stopped at a 7-Eleven and were swinging back up to check on me.
So they showed up half an hour later, and I called AAA again to ask what the heck was going on. Yeah, the dispatcher hadn't understood my directions. Gave her better directions, and apparently the guy nearest me was just 15 minutes away finishing up a job. Yay! There was a Wendy's a few minutes away, and I immediately decided I would be going there instead of taking time to make dinner.
6:15 pm. Two of their friends showed up and started discussing dinner. There was still no sign of the Triple A guy, and spaces were filling up. I called the dispatcher again, since I have to go through them. Still nothing. I wasn't too annoyed; the weather was nice and the company was great. Turns out the guy went to the high school in my hometown (the one I would have gone to had I not moved).
6:45 pm. I was starving, and the rest of the group was still hanging out. I got a call then from the dispatcher in charge of the region; he said the driver closest to me was Fleet, and he had to detour to take a priority call on 295. I asked how long that would take, and he told me an hour.
That tore it. I had to eat. I told the dispatcher this, and he said he'd instruct the driver NOT TO LEAVE if he showed up and didn't see me there, and that they would call me. (Meanwhile, my nearly-dead phone was turning itself off at odd intervals. Note to self: smack the twits at the Verizon store who wouldn't even try to get past the fact that I couldn't early upgrade til Monday.)
So the six of us went down to Wendy's, and we were sitting down to eat when my phone beeped - I had a voicemail. (It had decided not to ring.) At 7:10 - 7:10 - AAA had called to tell me that the driver had showed up and couldn't find me there. I called them back and told them to tell him to STAY THERE. So in spite of the fact that half the group hadn't finished eating, the guy was nice enough to give me a ride back to the park so I could finally get into my car.
It was 7:30 by the time I got back. After 3 hours, there was someone there to crack open the car. He got it done in 5 minutes.
So I thanked the guy, found my keys and headed home three hours later than intended. But hey, I made a new group of friends, so I think the odds worked out in my favor.
*sigh* Cleaning lady came in and started going off on me about how all of "us" are so sloppy and how tired she is of cleaning up after us. I apologized for missing a wrapper, but when she just kept up her tirade I just let it go. Better not to respond. I honestly don't know how serious she is about that.
Back to work...
Partial excuse why: Packing was to kick off yesterday afternoon, after getting back from working out at the park. That was thwarted when I shut and locked the car door and realized my keys were still in there. This was 4:15. Rental car, so I had no spare key and had to call AAA at 4:20.
Fortunately, it was a gorgeous day, and there were a lot of people around; a guy, his sister, and his girlfriend from the group out in the nearby baseball field offered to lend me a hand. (Public journal entry, I'm not using names.) Since they couldn't help me get back in, and since they had to leave, they had to take off a bit before 5 pm, but we exchanged cellphone numbers in case I needed help. So they left, I walked around the loop a bit, got bored, still heard nothing. Cellphone rang around 5:15, but it wasn't AAA; it was the guy from earlier, asking, "What's your favorite kind of Slurpee?" Turns out they'd stopped at a 7-Eleven and were swinging back up to check on me.
So they showed up half an hour later, and I called AAA again to ask what the heck was going on. Yeah, the dispatcher hadn't understood my directions. Gave her better directions, and apparently the guy nearest me was just 15 minutes away finishing up a job. Yay! There was a Wendy's a few minutes away, and I immediately decided I would be going there instead of taking time to make dinner.
6:15 pm. Two of their friends showed up and started discussing dinner. There was still no sign of the Triple A guy, and spaces were filling up. I called the dispatcher again, since I have to go through them. Still nothing. I wasn't too annoyed; the weather was nice and the company was great. Turns out the guy went to the high school in my hometown (the one I would have gone to had I not moved).
6:45 pm. I was starving, and the rest of the group was still hanging out. I got a call then from the dispatcher in charge of the region; he said the driver closest to me was Fleet, and he had to detour to take a priority call on 295. I asked how long that would take, and he told me an hour.
That tore it. I had to eat. I told the dispatcher this, and he said he'd instruct the driver NOT TO LEAVE if he showed up and didn't see me there, and that they would call me. (Meanwhile, my nearly-dead phone was turning itself off at odd intervals. Note to self: smack the twits at the Verizon store who wouldn't even try to get past the fact that I couldn't early upgrade til Monday.)
So the six of us went down to Wendy's, and we were sitting down to eat when my phone beeped - I had a voicemail. (It had decided not to ring.) At 7:10 - 7:10 - AAA had called to tell me that the driver had showed up and couldn't find me there. I called them back and told them to tell him to STAY THERE. So in spite of the fact that half the group hadn't finished eating, the guy was nice enough to give me a ride back to the park so I could finally get into my car.
It was 7:30 by the time I got back. After 3 hours, there was someone there to crack open the car. He got it done in 5 minutes.
So I thanked the guy, found my keys and headed home three hours later than intended. But hey, I made a new group of friends, so I think the odds worked out in my favor.
*sigh* Cleaning lady came in and started going off on me about how all of "us" are so sloppy and how tired she is of cleaning up after us. I apologized for missing a wrapper, but when she just kept up her tirade I just let it go. Better not to respond. I honestly don't know how serious she is about that.
Back to work...
no subject
Date: 2003-08-25 12:24 pm (UTC)*hands you the award*
:)