My fiance was involved in an accident on NYE on her way to meet me at the video store. We were going to stay in so we wouldn't have to deal with the crazy drivers on the roads. So much for that idea. What really burned me up was I was waiting in the video store for 45 minutes for her to get there from work...I waited and waited, no phonecall--or so I thought--so I went outside. Of course, the second I get a clear shot of the sky, my Nextel phone buzzes to inform me of the 3 new voice messages that I've received over the past 45 mins; one from my girl, one from her mom, and one from her dad. Great. Thanks a lot, Nextel; I mean WTF? I know service isn't guaranteed, but damn; I was in a Blockbuster Video, a single story building, in a heavily populated area of Tampa. Now I know why Nextel phones are so tough; you'll inevitably spike it on the ground 2-3 times before you decide to trash it and move on to a more serious service provider.
Thankfully she is ok, just shaken up and a little sore. Wish I could say the same for the car though. It looks like her '04 Camry is going to be totalled out (Airbag deployed, neither driver's side door will open, front end/suspension damage, etc) all because one dumb ass didn't get their pickup all the way into the turning lane and out of oncoming traffic. She's really bummed about losing her car--she really loved the thing. At least the police showed up immediately; there was a cop on the scene within 20 seconds--no joke, one was literally driving by as it happened--probably the only good thing about the fact that there are cops everywhere in Tampa. They did a great job of comforting her and staying with her until I could get there.
Of course, the insurance companies are all closed until Tuesday, so on new year's I had the pleasure of spending the day driving throughout Tampa. I helped her parents get the Camry out of the wrecking yard, which is usually a nails-on-chalkboard, punch-in-the-face experience on a regular business day anyways. Since today was a 'holiday,' the experience was extra-special, involving carefully crafted pleas and extra non-business-hour fees. Initially the wrecking company threatened to ditch us for the day if they didn't see us at 3pm, and then they decided they'd charge an additional $50 per 1/2 hour that we were late after 3pm--which was great, because I got there at 2:50pm and no one from their staff was there. When her parents got there at 3pm, no one was there to let us in. When we called the dispatcher back at 3:40pm, asking them where they were, all we got was attitude and an "are you arguing with me?"
Priceless. I can understand not wanting to work on new year's day, but if you're that set on having it off, then just say "no, sorry, can't do it today, we're closed." Don't let your greed for money control you and ruin your day off if it means that much to you...
Eventually we got the Camry loaded on a flatbed tow truck and headed back to her parents' hometown about 100 miles away. This flatbed proceeded to encounter difficulties, requiring a tow truck of its own after running over some debris a few miles from their destination.
And of course, all day long it's been raining, which means everyone on the road instantly goes even more insane, seemingly doubling or halving their fairweather speed, often times alternating between the two just for good measure. A 20 minute trip to pick up my girl from work ended up taking 50 minutes due to rain at dusk combined with a construction zone that bottlenecked a 3-lane section of highway down to 1 lane...for 30 yards. Clear highway up to the bottleneck, clear highway afterwards. The way that some of these toolboxes were driving, I have to wonder if they think to themselves, "Hey look, it's raining outside. I think I'll let the cat drive today..."
I'm just exhausted. And go figure, I can't sleep.
Thankfully she is ok, just shaken up and a little sore. Wish I could say the same for the car though. It looks like her '04 Camry is going to be totalled out (Airbag deployed, neither driver's side door will open, front end/suspension damage, etc) all because one dumb ass didn't get their pickup all the way into the turning lane and out of oncoming traffic. She's really bummed about losing her car--she really loved the thing. At least the police showed up immediately; there was a cop on the scene within 20 seconds--no joke, one was literally driving by as it happened--probably the only good thing about the fact that there are cops everywhere in Tampa. They did a great job of comforting her and staying with her until I could get there.
Of course, the insurance companies are all closed until Tuesday, so on new year's I had the pleasure of spending the day driving throughout Tampa. I helped her parents get the Camry out of the wrecking yard, which is usually a nails-on-chalkboard, punch-in-the-face experience on a regular business day anyways. Since today was a 'holiday,' the experience was extra-special, involving carefully crafted pleas and extra non-business-hour fees. Initially the wrecking company threatened to ditch us for the day if they didn't see us at 3pm, and then they decided they'd charge an additional $50 per 1/2 hour that we were late after 3pm--which was great, because I got there at 2:50pm and no one from their staff was there. When her parents got there at 3pm, no one was there to let us in. When we called the dispatcher back at 3:40pm, asking them where they were, all we got was attitude and an "are you arguing with me?"
Priceless. I can understand not wanting to work on new year's day, but if you're that set on having it off, then just say "no, sorry, can't do it today, we're closed." Don't let your greed for money control you and ruin your day off if it means that much to you...
Eventually we got the Camry loaded on a flatbed tow truck and headed back to her parents' hometown about 100 miles away. This flatbed proceeded to encounter difficulties, requiring a tow truck of its own after running over some debris a few miles from their destination.
And of course, all day long it's been raining, which means everyone on the road instantly goes even more insane, seemingly doubling or halving their fairweather speed, often times alternating between the two just for good measure. A 20 minute trip to pick up my girl from work ended up taking 50 minutes due to rain at dusk combined with a construction zone that bottlenecked a 3-lane section of highway down to 1 lane...for 30 yards. Clear highway up to the bottleneck, clear highway afterwards. The way that some of these toolboxes were driving, I have to wonder if they think to themselves, "Hey look, it's raining outside. I think I'll let the cat drive today..."
I'm just exhausted. And go figure, I can't sleep.
