Moral Dilemma
Posted on 01 June 2009
Jon and I drive a hatchback Suzuki Aerio that was hit from behind. Ok, it’s a little more than just hit from behind. It’s completely smashed in. The Edmonton Police Services have deemed the car road worthy even though the hatch doesn’t open, the brake lights are help on with red tape, and the bumper is severely cracked and showing the Styrofoam interior. They are the professionals, and as such I will leave the decisions about road worthy cars in their capable hands.
The thing is, we bought it this way. Yup, we bought this car from our friends that were driving it when it got rammed in. We were so excited to have the car and finally get rid of the Death Trap, or Crap-alier as dubbed with great distain by my sister, that we jumped for joy. Literally.
I get many, many questions about this car from random men in parking lots.
Random Man – Wow, someone sure hit you good
DL – Yup. They did it up good.
RM – You gonna get that fixed? (The strange man is now very close to my car, assessing the damage for himself. Some men even try to pry the broken parts off the car.)
DL – Well, I have been sourcing out parts to replace everything, but since I bought it this way, I’m happy.
RM – You BOUGHT it this way? No.
DL – No. I really purchased this car this way. It was quite reasonably priced.
RM – No, no one buys a car like this.
DL – Well…I guess I do. It runs well, doesn’t lock me in, I can roll the windows down, the radiator isn’t leaking, and it has air conditioning. Do you have any idea how hot a car gets in summer when there is no air conditioning and you can’t roll the window down?
RM – Ok then…(At this point in the conversation, the random man has started to slowly back away from the happy woman with the smashed up car)
For the most part, I love this car. It has really only caused me grief a few times in the year and a half that we have had it. The first time was when I got a flat tire and had to crawl over the back seat and into the hatch to extract the spare tire. It was good that Andrea was there to catch the items as I hucked them out of the hatch, otherwise I would have had to throw myself over everything like a beached whale to get out of the hatch. The second time was when we had to haul 3 kayaks, and the roof rack could only accommodate two kayaks. It’s amazing what you can fit in a car by moving the front passenger seat completely forward and rolling down the window. The third time was when Nancy and I ended up holding down a large painting to the roof of the car with our womanly strength while driving from the west end of the city. No matter what we tried, that darned painting just wouldn’t fit in!
The other night I found myself in the fourth situation of stress from the car with the smashed in backend. I went out to the car to drive to my favorite neighborhood coffee shop, only to find a very grandma-esque, hunter green sedan parked within inches of my bumper. In order to make it into the parking zone, she has to snug right up to the smashed in car. I took a careful assessment of how close she was so that I could wriggle my way out of the extremely tight spot. I slowly started to back up, only to hit her car within half a second. Heat spread over my whole body as I started to panic about what happened to the grandma-esque, hunter green sedan. I inched back and forth 8 times to get out of the spot. Once I had clear view of her bumper in my rearview mirror, my eyes became the size of loonies. There appeared to be two large indentations on her bumper from what I surmised to be the two large plastic pieces sticking out from my bumper. I didn’t know what to do! Do I leave a note? Do I hit and run? What does a woman do in a situation like this? During all of this thinking I was sitting in traffic, and so I drove off.
In my mind, I rationalized that it was the safest choice – just get out of the danger zone and think about what to do next. Within a split second, I became a hit and run person! How does that happen? I drove slowly to the coffee shop thinking about the car that I just hit. Should I drive back and leave a note? Wouldn’t I want a person to leave a note? Yes. When that person hit my Death Trap of a car and knocked the driver’s mirror off, all I could say was, “WHAT? You can’t even leave a note? Any decent person leaves a note!” I was officially no longer decent as of that moment, and by my own personal standards nonetheless!
So I turned the smashed in car around and drove with purpose to the grandma-esque, hunter green sedan to make amends. The poor parking skills of the grandma-esque, hunter green sedan owner doesn’t justify my hitting her while back up at .5 kmph. On the drive back, I drafted the letter in my head that I was going to leave on her car.
Dear Hunter Green Sedan Owner,
As you can see, your bumper has two large dents in it. I realize that these dents are new to you. This is where I come in. I am the woman that made those dents in your bumper. You did in fact park so close to me that if I sneezed I would have bumped into you, BUT that is not the point. The point is that I damaged the your hunter green sedan and would like to make amends. I still, to this day, hate the man in what I can only imagine was a large truck that ran into my car and ripped the driver’s mirror off my car and didn’t have the decency to leave a note. I hope that when you assess the damage done to your hunter green sedan, you take into consideration the decency I have shown by leaving this note.
Regrettably,
Donloree
Upon arrival of the crime scene, I got out with snotepad and pen in hand prepared to face the music. While commencing the letter, I looked again at the bumper to realize that the dents are PART OF THE DESIGN of the car! For goodness sake! How is a flustered woman with a smashed in car to tell the difference between design and damage? Relief flooded my veins, only to be followed by shame. In the face of a moral dilemma, I turned tail and ran only to come slinking back later to do the right thing. Next time, I will do the right thing the first time, despite how close the car behind me is parked!
3 responses to Moral Dilemma
Leave a Response
Stay In Touch
Donloree. Live A Little, Laugh A Lot- Parking Meter of Life
- 69 Days…Bikini or Bust!
- Honesty Really Is The Best Policy
- Support and Multi-Tasking, Who Knew?
- Tupperware Makes Me Crazy
- 5 Reasons Why Living In The Arctic is More Than Just OK
- Running the Path of Life
- Yoga. Is it just for the bendy?
- Best Monday EVER.
- What would you pay for the PERFECT body?
You are my hero! I once backed into a car in a parking lot. Left a note, went and had a police file all written up and then no one ever contacted me…..glad you decided to go back!
Donloree – I am happy you went back to do the right thing. I am very happy that the “dents” were the design. You had a major freak out flash and then it was OK. Hope you don’t have to write any notes any time soon.
Stacy! You are such a good citizen. The police didn’t even cross my mind. I am impressed!