On Saturday, we got a wild hair and took the kids to the park. Instead of the little park that's just a few minutes from our house, we decided to go to the big fancy park on the other side of town. Anyway, we went, we ran, we played, we fried in the ridiculous Southern sun; a good time was had by all. Until it was time to leave. I know what everyone's thinking: meltdown over leaving the park. Surprisingly, there were no complaints at all about that. Even more surprising, we made it to our car with no tears. Even more surprisinglier, the person who made our day turn to suck in a matter of seconds was a complete stranger. And by the time our encounter was over, I was literally seeing red. I think blood vessels may have exploded behind my eyes.
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Before.
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After. |
As we got into our van to leave, Skeletor opened the front passenger door. When he did, he
accidentally dinged the door of the car next to us. I am not trying to make myself look better in this by assuring you that the spot on the other car wasn't even a scrape or a scratch or a dent. It was a fleck of white paint off of
our car. When we turned to pull the door back so we could assess the damage, our earholes were assaulted by a shrill screech of "Oh, hell, no!" And then this woman, the apparent owner of the other car (unless she was even crazier than we thought,) came running over. We apologized profusely, but instead of even acknowledging our words, she got very aggressive and yelled, "So what are you gonna do about it?!" I'm sure I didn't help matters when the reply, "Nothing I
can do about it" popped out of my mouth. (In my defense, I was referring to my inability to turn back time and fix her car's boo-boo with magic.)
We offered her our information, but she refused, saying that she had already called the police, and that if we left we were fleeing the scene of an accident. She became louder and was cussing up a blue streak. The kids were freaking out. I apologized once again, and said something about Skeletor being just a child. Her response? "Well then you shouldn't be letting him open doors!" Um, pretty sure that if we never allowed kids to open doors, then we would have a generation of grown-ups that were stuck in one room their whole lives.
After once again offering her our information, which she again refused, we explained that we were leaving. She began screaming, "Everyone look at the runaways!" So I drove up the street a bit, and called the police myself. And, for realsies, I felt like the biggest tool ever calling 911 over this. An unmarked car pulled up, and the officer was very kind. He was talking to the kids, and assuring Skeletor that he wasn't in trouble. When two squad cars pulled up, I made a joke about his back-up arriving. He said that I had been described as hostile, and that's why they came there first. Then we had a bit of a chuckle, and he sent the two squad cars down the road to deal with Crazy McCrazypants.
I was just livid once everything was over. I know some people have a strong affinity for their cars, but do the tears and obvious distress of a 5 year old child have no effect on them. I don't understand why people can be so hateful. Yes there was an accident, which we tried to make right, but I don't think that excuses this supposed adult woman's behavior. I truly hope she has some redeeming qualities, because otherwise, she's sucking up oxygen that something useful like a toad could be using. As it stands, I kind of hope she contracts Super Ebola.