Things That Go Bump In The Day

When my dad and I joined a gym a couple weeks ago we decided that more importantly than finding the motivation to go to the gym was deciding what time to motivate ourselves. If you go too early you find yourself surrounded by the get-up-and-goers. You know, the people who think getting up at 5 to work out for three hours before work and then going for a run after is a great way to start the day. I'm not knocking a healthy lifestyle, but those are are not the kind of people you want to be working out next too. If we went slightly later we'd be surrounded by all the moms taking various classes and hogging the trainers but waiting until the afternoon means dealing with teenagers and muscle heads. We figured mid-morning would work out great and so far it has. There is almost no one in the gym at this time and the people who are working out there (90% guys) are striving to stay out of each other's way. Sadly, life has a way to getting in the way of the best laid plans. The other morning my dad had a conference call scheduled at the same time we had planned to arrive at the gym. But rather than skip a day instead we showed up much earlier than usual and smack-dab in the middle of the mom class rush. As a result the usual lot was full and my dad had to park in the side parking lot. Considering he didn't really want to be working out at that time of the morning his day was not off to a great start. I guess coming out and discovering someone had caved in the middle of his front bumper was just icing on the cake.

If you have ever owned a car, more than likely you have found themselves enduring that annoying moment when you come out of a store only to find a fresh ding in your door and the culprit long gone. It is one of the most annoying feelings in the world to know the people responsible probably know exactly what they did but have taken off in hopes of pulling off the perfect crime. But for as bad as that is, it's just a ding. The chances a repair shop would even be able to get a small one out are pretty low and they would probably charge you a few hundred dollars for the effort. Honestly, living with things like that are part of the car ownership experience. But that is not what happened to my dad here. The middle of his bumper had taken such a vicious hit it had actually caused the clamps on each end of the bumper to buckle outward and snap. He had also been forced to park on a slight incline and his truck had actually been moved back a couple feet by the impact. The force and direct-looking nature of the impact caused me to assume it was a big pick-up with a trailer hitch. Either way, there was no chance the person who had hit him would be able to claim they had no idea it had happened and yet there was no note left on his windshield. The only good news is that there didn't appear to be anything more than superficial damage as he was able to drive the truck home without any problems.

My dad happens to be one of the most mellow people on the planet, so I wasn't surprised when he announced he had no plans to call the cops because he figured there would be nothing they could do about it. The thing is that my mom does not give up quite so easily (this is why they make a great pair) and insisted he call someone. Meeting in the middle he called the gym to see if they had cameras in the parking lot and discovered that someone had actually turned in the license plate of the offending vehicle. In my mind this confirmed how viscous the hit must have been if some third party witnessed the crash and thought the person should be brought to justice. Armed with the plate number my dad went to the police station while the rest of my family began to formulate theories as to who the driver would turn out to be. I was figuring it was some rich person on their phone not paying attention (lot of high-end vehicles in the parking lot) while others assumed it was someone who either didn't have insurance or couldn't afford to file a claim which was why they took off. Turns out we were wrong on a number of fronts because after running the plates and getting a name the police called to talk to the driver, who turned out to be a little old lady in her Buick (because of course it had to be a Buick) and she was the one who had given her license plate to the people working the front desk at the gym.

What was crazy was how this information immediately flipped the narrative. Suddenly we went from hoping this person would be prosecuted for leaving the scene of an accident to feeling bad for her. I don't know this woman at all but I immediately concocted a back story in which her kids were debating taking her car keys away from her and I hated the idea that this incident to be the thing which makes the decision for them. Also, I went from assuming it was a distracted driver to completely believing it was an accident. It may have been the fastest sympathy boomerang in history. I think the fact the woman was the one who turned herself in goes a long way in helping me to feel like this. They always say this is a very forgiving society as long as you take responsibility for your actions and this woman owned up to her mistake. (It is not like she could claim it was a parked car's fault, but it seems like she won't make this a long, drawn-out affair.) Now things will be handed over to the insurance companies but considering my dad's truck is very sturdy there shouldn't be much in the way of frame damage so hopefully it is just a quick fix. The biggest issue may be finding a bumper for a truck which is this old. Either way, I think next time one of us has a mid-morning conference call we'll just go to the gym in the afternoon instead.