The Whine thread.

[Alelou]

Fine, OK! I'll be happy to settle this with the insurance as with the first car, but why did that second guy have to call the police?! It's not like I was trying to run away or anything. He could have contacted me. Apparently he had rang the doorbell an hour before but I'd been in the bathroom then and not answered. I had just been able to see someone walking away and assumed it had been a Jehova's Witness.

But this other guy could've left me a note, or phoned me (I'm in the book). But no, he got the police there...

Something very similar happened to me when I was on a travel writing gig in Deadwood, SD. I was in a rental car and tapped this lady's bumper. Apparently I made a dent, but I honestly didn't see the dent and was not even sure that I had it the car or a curb. I got out and checked. But it was in the early morning sun - and her car was silver. Anyway I went to my meeting and then returned. Soon the police knocked on my hotel room door threatening to arrest me for leaving the scene of the accident.

The funny thing is that the lady whose parked car I hit actually figured out that I hadn't seen the dent (it was hard to see) and told the police not to worry about it and she'd talk to me when I got back. She'd been staying at the hotel, too and later apologized to me (which there was no need, I apologized to her, too). It was a busy body old lady sitting on her porch that called the cops. Who told the lady whose car was damaged that it wasn't her call.

Luckily, I only got a ticket - but the cop told me if he had his way I'd be spending the night in jail. Not much for the cops to do in Deadwood, SD. Unlike the TV show.

Oh jeez. Nice cop. You would have had a great lead for your article, though....

[honeybee]

OMG, I got flowers from the CVB and the hotel manager offered to comp my whole stay (which was against the rules, so I decline, my mag was paying) and they begged me not to write about it in my article. Everyone else in the town had been so friendly and gracious, I couldn't slam the town or threaten their livelihoods because of one cop. That is, to this day, the only non parking ticket ticket I've ever gotten.

But it's a great dinner party story.

[Entilzha]

Whine: I have to get up at 5 am because I have to go to a electricians course in Finland. I will be working in Finland for four months and I have to take 3 courses overall, one of witch I finished today and I only made one mistake in the test(You have to answer 75% of questions right to pass). Today I took the course that gives me the right to work with work methods witch may cause fire(in my case using a angle grinder). All tough we could take the tomorrows course in Estonia there is a time constraint and because of that we have to take it in Finland. I'm so not a morning person .

[Asso]

Pat pat.

[justTripn]

I can add my sympathies to everyone else's fender bender stories. I've been there. My embarrassing story was from last summer. I was in my friend's SUV driving to the Texas Star Party loaded up so I couldn't see out the windows. We stopped at a gas station. I woke up and it was my turn to drive. We were heading out of the gas station when my friend Ed said, no, don't turn left, turn right. So I backed up a teeny bit (which yes, I know I shouldn't have done) and turned out of the driveway. We didn't feel anything. Next we notice the car behind us is beeping furiously so 100 ft down the road we pull over expecting the driver to tell us a door was open or something. She says we hit her car and had called the police. We apologized and gave her the insurance info but she was so upset that we had been fleeing the scene of the accident. She had also called two of her grown children who rushed over to soothe her and help her through the horrible fender bender ordeal. About an hour later she had calmed down and accepted our apology and finally believed that we really hadn't felt a bump and would never flee the scene of an accident. And of course I got a big traffic ticket. I felt so stupid.

[Alelou]

Whine: I have to get up at 5 am because I have to go to a electricians course in Finland. ....I'm so not a morning person .

Heh heh heh. I usually get up at 5am every workday.

But I'll whine now because my break is almost over... I've been getting up at 6am. And oh man, that one hour really makes a difference....

How the heck do you commute to Finland? On a ferry?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I can add my sympathies to everyone else's fender bender stories. I've been there. My embarrassing story was from last summer. I was in my friend's SUV driving to the Texas Star Party loaded up so I couldn't see out the windows. We stopped at a gas station. I woke up and it was my turn to drive. We were heading out of the gas station when my friend Ed said, no, don't turn left, turn right. So I backed up a teeny bit (which yes, I know I shouldn't have done) and turned out of the driveway. We didn't feel anything. Next we notice the car behind us is beeping furiously so 100 ft down the road we pull over expecting the driver to tell us a door was open or something. She says we hit her car and had called the police. We apologized and gave her the insurance info but she was so upset that we had been fleeing the scene of the accident. She had also called two of her grown children who rushed over to soothe her and help her through the horrible fender bender ordeal. About an hour later she had calmed down and accepted our apology and finally believed that we really hadn't felt a bump and would never flee the scene of an accident. And of course I got a big traffic ticket. I felt so stupid.

Ouch! It seems people on the other side of fender benders have a tendency to go ballistic, huh? But who knows, maybe I'd go ballistic if someone did it to me...

At least I didn't get a ticket from the police. And after talking to the insurance companies, I haven't heard a thing, so I assume everything has worked out.

[Dinah]

Monday, my computer decided it was a good day to die. I swallowed hard and bought a new one. Now I'm trying to get everything set up again. Why can life never be simple.

[honeybee]

Worse than anyone's fender bender stories - and a good lesson about driving giant SUVs and not understanding their power:

On a corner I drive by nearly every day, a young girl was killed in a hit and run. She was 17 and walking home from some kind of event at the high school. Very safe neighborhood.

The cops just found the woman who hit her, and they sincerely believe the woman - who was driving a big Cadillac Escalade that belonged to a friend - did not realize that she hit anything - let alone a person. The woman thought she hit a pot hole. She was rounding a corner (and must have been doing so pretty fast). The victim apparently weighed around 100 pounds. The was minimal damage to the SUV - certainly not enough to clue the owner into the fact that it had hit and killed a person.

It was just an awful, awful incident.

[Aquarius]

I have no words...

[Alelou]

How awful.

This is why my kid gets driven to the high school three doors down ... there are no sidewalks, no lines on the road, it's dark, it's downhill and the drivers are insane. (We let him take his chances walking home, but that worries me too. Especially this time of year, when the high school boys with their cars are in full rutting display mode. They actually blocked off the park's parking lot across the street because they can't stop them from doing donuts in there... but that just makes for even more hazardous driving on the road. We saw one kid take out my neighbor's mailbox when he lost control of his showing off. Grrr.)

[justTripn]

It turned out OK, so don't be alarmed, but my son was almost mugged while TALKING TO ME ON THE PHONE. I am so outraged at the thugs. He lives in a very bad neighborhood and was walking down the street. Suddenly there is all this noise. This guy says "Hey brother how's it going?" and holds out his hand. My son knows that to stop and offer his hand while holding a phone would be the first step to getting robbed. So my son is saying. "No, dude, I'm on the phone right now. I can't talk." The other guy keeps chattering insistently and my son says, "Not now, I'm on the phone." So the guy says, "You won't shake my hand! You've insulted me, I'm going to hit you upside the head with this bottle!" My son is like, "I'm not insulting you, I'm talking on the phone" and keeps walking.

I hate these criminals.

[Asso]

My God!

[Aikiweezie]

It turned out OK, so don't be alarmed, but my son was almost mugged while TALKING TO ME ON THE PHONE. I am so outraged at the thugs. He lives in a very bad neighborhood and was walking down the street. Suddenly there is all this noise. This guy says "Hey brother how's it going?" and holds out his hand. My son knows that to stop and offer his hand while holding a phone would be the first step to getting robbed. So my son is saying. "No, dude, I'm on the phone right now. I can't talk." The other guy keeps chattering insistently and my son says, "Not now, I'm on the phone." So the guy says, "You won't shake my hand! You've insulted me, I'm going to hit you upside the head with this bottle!" My son is like, "I'm not insulting you, I'm talking on the phone" and keeps walking.

I hate these criminals.

He handled it very well, thank Goodness.

[Alelou]

Philly?