"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
- Blanche DuBois, A Streetcar Named Desire
Yesterday I had just picked up my son from kindergarten and was on my way to meet my husband for lunch. All of the sudden, Tyler started crying and screaming, "A wasp! A wasp! There is a wasp in my backpack!" The wasp crawled out of his bag and began to fly around the truck which of course escalated the screaming. After directing him to smash it with something to no avail, I pulled off the road into a parking lot, mostly so I wouldn't have a wreck with suck a huge distraction going on in the backseat. Stopping next to a dirt-filled divider, I jumped out of the truck, smashed the wasp and quieted the hysterics of my son and daughter. Mom, the hero!
I jumped back into my truck headed to meet my husband for lunch. I made a right turn intending to drive through the lot and back out onto the road when I realized I was driving over the median. I couldn't see it through the right window since I was parked right next to it and thought I had stopped next to the end of it when I pulled into the lot. Oops. No matter though as that is one of the benefits of having a large four-wheel drive Suburban: I can drive over things with ease. Usually.
Ka-chunk!
"Uh-oh. What was that?" I thought. I stopped the truck right away, hopping out to see what in the world made that sound. I looked under the truck to discover that Suburban was high-centered on a rock that apparently had been on the median that I had not seen. Not wanting to cause damage to my truck, I immediately called my husband for help. Being the avid four-wheeler that he is, this was not a problem that he had not faced in the past.
I climbed into the car to wait for him to arrive. I must say, I wanted to climb onto the floor so no one would see me as I was just a bit embarassed to be high-centered on a rock in the middle of a parking lot. Duh. Despite my embarrassment, I bravely sat in the drivers seat to wait.
While I waited, an employee of the Toyota dealership where I was "parked" ran out to check out what was going on. The first thing he asked was if we were alright, which we were, and then if we needed help. I told him that we were fine and that my husband was on his way to help me out, but that of course I could use all the help I could get.
He rounded up a couple of other employees and they started heading across the parking lot from the dealership with a big jack to help get my car off the rock. I thought of how nice this was, that they were so helpful and that my next vehicle would of course be a Toyota!
I wish I could say that that is the end of my tale, that the kind employees extricated my truck from the rock with no difficultly and I went on my merry way. I really wish I could say that. What transpired next completely changed the direction of my story.
As one of the employees wheeled the jack across the parking lot towards my truck, yet another employee came out to chat with me. He said that his boss told him that they could not help me because if they caused damage to my truck in extracting it from the rock that they could be liable for the damages incurred. HUH? I told him that I understood, but that he had better tell that nice man wheeling the jack my way the same thing.
A little frustrated but attempting to be understanding, I continued to wait for Joel, who arrived just a few minutes later. I am very grateful to my husband as he didn't laugh at me nor was he mad. Of course we could both see the absurdity of the situation, but he has been there, done that. I still remember him spending hours attempting to get the wheel of his Jeep out of a manhole, but I will let him tell that story.
As Joel was getting the jack out of the back of my truck, the same employee that told me they couldn't help me approached Joel to ask him if he was going to take care of the property damage to their median. Wow, what exceedingly bad timing. I must admit that Joel did not handle that question well and I won't repeat his exact words here. Basically he told them at the moment he was helping his wife -- which they had refused to do -- and that he would worry about that when he was done. My husband is ever the knight in shining armor and no one better mess with his damsel in distress... or her kids.
Climbing under my truck he began to jack it up with the tiny jack that came with the truck. This is not a quick task. While he was under the truck, two more men came out of the dealership to inspect our situation. That's my only explanation as to what they were doing because neither of them said a thing for five minutes. They just walked around checking out all the angles and pretty much just watched my husband work the jack to lift the truck.
After the inspection was complete, one of the men said to Joel, "I am trying to figure out what your truck is doing on my rock?" with a nasty tone. I must admit my sarcastic nature came up with all kinds of smart remarks to that question, but I refrained from speaking. The man did not start out "Are you okay?" or "Could you use a hand?" He just began verbally attacking us, all the while Joel is under the truck working the jack. When the man threatened to call a tow truck to have my truck impounded, Joel climbed out from under the truck and stood up.
Joel's six foot five frame makes an imposing figure, especially while holding a tire iron. I applaud his restraint in not hitting the man with said tire iron, as I'm sure both of us wanted to do at this point. With polite introduction -- not -- we discovered that this man who was verbally abusing us was the owner of the Toyota dealership. He got on his phone to call the tow company and Joel climbed back under my truck and pulled out the rock. Realizing that we were almost finished, the owner hung up his call and walked back to the dealership, never saying another word.
As we were checking out the truck to see what damage -- which was very little I'm happy to say -- my truck had received from its adventure, yet another employee came out to check on us. This man was very polite and asked if there was anything he could do to help. We started to clean up the dirt that my truck's wheel had dug out and to replace the rock where I had found it, but this man, who introduced himself as a manager, told us that it was no problem and that they would take care of it. We did of course call the police to make sure we would not be arrested for a "hit & run" by doing so, to which they said no. Oh, and we took names just in case.
I tell you all that to say this. How difficult it would have been for the owner of that dealership to approach us with kindness instead of anger and accusation? Obviously, it was an accident. I was not intending to take a four-wheeling trip through his parking lot. Second of all, no one was hurt and no property was damaged except a bit of dirt that could easily have been refilled with a shovel in 10 minutes. The only thing that the owner of that store accomplished was to aggravate an already difficult situation and to make sure that we never, ever, ever buy anything from his dealership. Ever. And to make sure that every one of our friends know our story as well.
All I can think is that because of all the issues that Toyota has had recently with all its cars, the owner was in a bad mood. I really miss the days where you could "depend on the kindness of strangers."
