What do you do?
pick your battles
The other day I went to get my nails done. I’ve been going to this nail salon for 8+ years. I was happy to find a parking space in the small parking lot as there are only nine non-handicapped spaces for four businesses. I pulled in and noticed a young man eating a banana in the white Mazda parked to my left. To my right was an old black two seater Mercedes.
Does everyone pay this much attention to the cars around them? I’ve learned that no, people don’t, but Mr. Ellisher, my driving teacher used to have us narrate our surroundings in the car. As a 15 year old it was awkward and made you uncomfortable having to speak out loud in front of your peers but it stuck. As I drive now, in my head I say things like “there’s a guy on a blue bike on my right. To my left is a very nice grey Audi that is a shame it’s not washed.”
I exhaled in my parked car. I texted Joe, “I drove the whole way to the nail place and my pit stop at the ATM in complete silence. I didn’t know how much I needed that.”
We have our hands full with an almost 8-month old and just over two year old. Naya also has a cold so has been a little bit fussy and we’re still trying to figure out her digestive sensitivities via my diet as I’m still nursing. Needless to say, our days (and our hearts) are full.
From my peripheral version I saw the black Mercedes on my right start to pull out. Then, THUD and my car shook. I hopped out of the car and a driver looking for a parking space made eye contact with and made a “yikes” face.
Ugh.
I said to the driver, “You just hit my car.”
He slowly put his car in park and fumbled to roll the window down.
“You just hit my car,” I repeated.
“No, I didn’t,” he said.
“Sir, I was sitting in the car, you hit it,” I said
“Impossible,” he told me.
I went around and only saw a scratch on the tire. No damage to the body of my vehicle.
“I saw you pull in. I couldn’t have hit you,” he said.
“Yes, I pulled in and parked. You hit me as you were pulling out. Can I have your insurance information?” I said.
He got out of the car. “Do you really want to make a big deal out of this?”
“No, I don’t want to make a big deal out of anything but I don’t want to be responsible for damages to my car that aren’t of my own doing,” I said.
“My car is in perfect condition. Not a scratch on it,” he said.
“Sir, you have duct tape on the bumper,” I said. As we were standing there I walked over to the driver side bumper of his car to see if there was a scratch on it or any damage. Only to find a gaping whole covered with black duct tape—at least it was black to match the paint job and not silver or red.
“Well. That’s from a long time ago,” he said.
I crouched down and looked at my car closer…really inspected it. I couldn’t find anything beyond a scratch on the rubber of the tire and the hub cap.
He kept arguing with me about how he didn’t hit it and his car was in good condition.
“It’s just scratched on the tire,” I said.
“That’s impossible,” he insisted.
“Have a nice day,” I said.
He got in his car and I were down his license plate number.
I plopped down in a chair in the nail salon. “Some guy just hit it car and denied it,” I said.
The lady next to me was hooked. “Did you call the police?” she asked.
“No, there were no damages to my car but he just kept saying he didn’t do it,” I said.
“Oh, I would have called the cops. Taken loads of pictures. I can be a real bitch if someone is mean. I once took a guy to court for $20,” she said with a smirk, “And won. He had to pay me $20. Plus the $2 court fee. This was ages ago,” she laughed. “I wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been such a jerk,” she said.
We went on to have a really lovely conversation about Chicago and her grandchildren and life and my babies.
But I just couldn’t believe the situation. I don’t understand how people can be so certain about their innocence when they’re wrong. I mean, at least have an open mind…or, better yet, check how the person is doing. Oh no, are you OK? Was there any damage to your car? I thought I was clear. Let me see. Can I buy you a coffee?
I don’t know. But to just deny something so blatant and that others saw was very off putting. Would he have behaved this way to my dad? To my husband? Should I have called the cops? There really wasn’t any damage to my car but I did sit in the nail salon for the next hour wondering if my tire was slowly deflating.
Never argue with a fool, it proves there are two.
What do you do in a situation like this? Had there been damage to my car I would have most certainly pushed the issue forward and called the police, insisted he give me his insurance information but I couldn’t bear to argue one more second with this man.
What if the cops had come? Would he have said it didn’t happen and then it’s his word against mine? I couldn’t even give it an ounce of thought or worry.
And…my car wasn’t damaged.
So, beautiful souls, the moral of the story is to park as far away from where you’re going as possible, we could always use the walk. And don’t park in small, cramped strip mall parking lots if you can avoid it. And…don’t argue with fools. Happy Friday, loves.
