I’m not really sure I would adhere to that title, but it was a return to a routine if nothing else. In many ways it was nice to be back at the office, but I felt especially unproductive as I spent most of the day working on catching up (or rather, filtering out communication (read: spam)) on everything. Tomorrow will be better, but it will still likely be a bit on the overwhelming order.

I don’t really have anything unique about my day to write about, but I do have a rant or two that I will write about, seeing as how I can. 🙂

The first I’ll start with relates to a previous post in which I wrote about the situation with damage to the car. Accidental, of course. Well, after sitting on the $266 and change estimate I received to fix this damage, I called the girl responsible for said incident today to discuss the estimate and determine an appropriate course of action.

What I discovered almost immediately once I got in contact with her is that she seemingly intended to find whatever way possible to bypass responsibility for the issue at hand. She first stated that I was parked in a no-parking area (which is technically true, but the lot was full at the time and without any overflow parking available, we were well out of the traffic area and some distance on to the grass). Now, I’m not trying to claim the ‘everyone else was doing it’ defense, but this situation (people parking in the technical no-parking area) was going on all day. And I’m guessing that it wasn’t/isn’t just on the particular day we were there, either.

To make her point, she stated that ‘If the cops had been called, you probably would have gotten a ticket for parking there anyway…’ In hindsight, I really wish we had called the cops, because it probably would’ve helped to have some sort of police report, ticket or no ticket for me. But I’ll get back to that later.

Then, on top of it all, she referenced things that her brother (whom she noted was a cop) and uncle (whom she also noted is her insurance agent) told her about the incident. Long story short, she was trying every route available to bypass the fact that (regardless of parking situation) she ran into an object which in turn made $266 damage to my car. She even went so far as to imply that she was less at fault because the boat trailer in question wasn’t locked down, which was the middle link in the chain reaction.

Anyway, she said she’d get back to me later in the day (after consulting her parents about the damage amount) and we’d proceed from there. At the time I figured she was looking for more advice, which I can respect.

It turned out (at least it’s pretty obvious that this is the case) that it appears her parents intend to bail her out of this situation, because she/they offered to pay for $100 of the damage since I was parked in the wrong place and would’ve gotten a ticket anyway.

Now, I’m pretty sure that if I’d received a ticket for illegal parking, it sure as hell wouldn’t have been for $166.

You know, the part that really pisses me off about the entire situation is not that it was an accident. That sort of thing happens. What really gets me going is the fact that something happened, accidental as it may be, and the person ultimately responsible for the incident itself is looking for any sort of way to appear to have no responsibility for the issue.

I can deal with the fact (and admit) that the car was in the wrong place. Fair enough. But I fail to see how the fact that an item I don’t own or have responsibility for that was rammed into my car by another driver who had plenty of room to maneuver and was clearly not paying attention means that she’s only responsible for approximately 1/3 of the repair cost.

The repair itself is purely cosmetic; it’s mostly labor intensive. I’d consider fixing it if I only had a minimal personal expense (loss of car for a while and perhaps up to $100 out of pocket due to the situation). But I’ll be damned if I fix it when I’m going to be ‘responsible’ for the bulk of the expense. I keep thinking to myself that it’s awfully fortunate that there wasn’t a small child or the like in that position of the boat trailer, because I’m pretty sure $100 wouldn’t do a thing for the family of an injured (or worse) child, regardless of where said hypothetical child were ‘parked’…

You know, there used to be a time when people could take responsibility for things, even accidents. And again, I’m not claiming to not be at least a little bit at fault for the situation. But it’s pretty clear to me that there’s a misalignment of the burden of responsibility in this case.

I’m likely going to just let this go, because I have wasted enough time just getting to this point. All I was hoping to get out of this situation was not even money, but a lesson of responsibility for this girl (who is under the age of 20, I might add) to note that you always pay attention to everything when you’re in a busy place with a car. I’ve clearly failed at that. I’m not pissed about the car (as noted, it’s cosmetic and is actually hard to see at a glance), I’m not pissed that an accident like this happened. I’m pissed because the attitude is always ‘it’s some other asshole’s fault, not mine…’

I guess one could easily read what I just wrote and point out my last sentence. For pretty much everyone who may personally know me, I’m pretty sure that the understanding of ‘that’s not how I operate’ applies here.

Anyway, I’ll keep rant #2 brief. I get a weekly newsletter, and this particular week’s edition included an editorial on whether or not the presence of the Internet is leading to antisocial tendencies, etc.

The editorial writer essentially brags how nice it is to stay at home for days on end without needing to go anywhere. Then the claim is made that the writer is more social now than previously, thanks no less to the Internet and whatnot. While I can see this point, there’s something to be said for daily personal contact outside of your ‘circle’… Perhaps I’m too much a Gemini. Who knows, but I know I’d go nuts if I knew I had to do everything I can do (down to ordering pizza!) right from home and through the Internet.

Don’t get me wrong, the Internet is a fantastic place, but when people use it to order pizza rather than calling to order…that is what I would easily qualify a complete waste of good bandwidth.

Anyway, it’s getting late now, so I’m heading for bed. Until next time…

“Criticism is prejudice made plausible.”
– Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956)

–MZ