Dude, Where's My Car?

[BobN]

I was reading about a guy who ran the New York City marathon, then realized that he forgot where he parked his car, and was stuck with no money, keys, or phone.

I thought, "How dumb is that?"

Then I remembered an incident in my life and I thought, "Be careful where you cast stones, boy."

It was quite a while ago and I was in a job where I had to travel constantly.

I was living in Boston at the time, and my usual week consisted of flying out on Monday, working on the road all week, and flying back in on Friday afternoon.

It got to the point where days, weeks and months all blended together.  And most of the times when I came back on Friday, I had the mental capacity of a leafy green vegetable.

So, one time I got back into town and practically crawled through the parking garage to my car.

Except my car wasn't where I had parked it.

I thought, "No.  Don't do this to me.  Not today."

I stood in one spot for what seemed like an eternity.  I'd like to tell you I was thinking about what to do, but, truth be told, I wasn't capable of thinking about anything more complicated than tying my shoe at the time.

Eventually, I resolved myself to the fact that my car had been stolen and I started trucking on back towards the terminal.

I headed to the Mass state police office on the first floor looking like I had been left in the dryer too long.

The trooper at the desk sized me up as I walked in, and when I told him my car had been stolen, he looked doubtful and just grunted an, "uh huh," in response.  He asked me where I had parked and the license plate and description of my car.

Then he said, "Do you travel a lot?"  I didn't know what that had to do with anything, but I nodded yes.

"Just go have a seat and we'll be right with you," he said.

"No reports to fill out or anything?"

He just nodded toward the chairs in response, so I went and sat down.  He went in the back room and I could hear him talking on the radio, but couldn't make out what he was saying.

I waited for a while.  The cop was just casually going about his business at the front desk.

I was getting impatient when another trooper came walking in.

"Sir, your car is up on the third floor of the garage," he said to me.  "Would you like me to take you there?"

Now, I was really befuddled.  "The third floor?  But I parked on the second..."

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I had gone to the space where I had parked the week before.

"Oh crap," was all I could think of to say.

The officer at the desk looked like he was ready to bust out laughing.

"How did you know?" I asked him.

He just shook his head without looking up.  "You just had that look about you," he said.

I didn't ask whether he meant the weary traveller or just clueless in general, since I was taught not to ask a question you didn't want the answer to.

Then I just slunk out of the office, feeling about an inch tall.

That just goes to show, no matter how ridiculous someone's circumstances might be, I've probably been there and done that too.

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[Chris]

Even with new cars today that have apps to help find your car in a parking lot, your still screwed if you do not have a phone.

[Rerun]

Goes to show "Big Brother" is watching and knows where your car is at all times.  Thank  Goodness!

     

[adairpete]

I've done something similar when I would park off-campus when I was attending graduate school.  I'd park somewhere in the same 2 or 3 blocks every day, but after 8 hours of classes and labs, I couldn't always remember which street.  More than once I wandered around trying to decide if I couldn't remember where my car was or if it was really stolen.  It was always right where I left it. 

[KatieV]

A few years ago, when my brother was still on dialysis, my mother borrowed my car to take him to dialysis.  (He was on the Acute Unit at the hospital.)  It was my first car, sort of my baby.  So when my mom called to say she lost my car, I wasn't happy.  "What do you mean you lost my car??!!"

My car was not in the spot in the parking garage where she left it.  She and my brother walked up and down the aisles on all the levels.  They were sure they knew where they had parked.  My mom thought she was going crazy!  They remembered a comical bumper sticker on a car as they walked in.  So they went to Security - who said it was towed! 

They proceeded to tell her this crazy story... The car was left in reverse and rolled out of the parking space on the diagonal bumping the car across from it.  It was blocking traffic and they couldn't roll it back into the space (because the steering wheel was locked), so they called a tow truck.  While the tow truck was loading the car, another car backed out of a spot and crashed into the tow truck narrowly missing the driver! 

The person that brought them to the lot, however, said they thought the car was probably towed because Security thought it was an employee car parked where they weren't supposed to.  That person thought Security didn't want to own up to the problem.  It was probably the reason as she didn't have to pay the towing fee.

[Simon Dog]

Think that's bad?  The police log in the local rag this past winter contained "Woman reported her car stolen.   Car located under snow drift where she parked it".

[Jean]

Too funny!!!

[Riki]

These kinds of stories make me glad that I will never have a car to lose