<p>So Sunday, H and I had to take out some job candidates for his work to dinner. The company really wants them, so we were supposed to really impress them. Pulled up in front of the nice, tony hotel where there was a five minute passenger unloading/loading zone. I sat in the passenger seat while H ran in to get the couple. Before he got back out, the car had been rear-ended by an elderly (early 70s) man, who we later found out is a big shot attorney down in Chicago. When I got out of the car (after it had been hit) and went to examine the damage, all the guy would say is, “It’s OK… everything’s OK… it’ll be alright.” But he wouldn’t volunteer any information, etc., In fact, it almost seemed as if he were just going to walk away. Yes, the scratches to my bumper were minimal, but I was p***ed beyond no end. He was so arrogant about the whole thing. Then he started insisting that, because his bumper was so much lower than mine, his car couldn’t have caused the damage we were seeing. His wife chimed in, agreeing with him. I said I could call the cops and file a report, and I’m sure they’d see it my way (I was certain because I knew that damage wasn’t there before). She laughed at me, so I really started to lose it. Thankfully H came out about that time and I told him what happened. He inspected the damage and noticed the Mercedes-Benz emblem on the grille of his car was cracked. I asked H to handle it as I knew I was too upset to think rationally at this point. All I kept thinking was, “I’m sitting in the passenger side of a legally parked car, am hit, and you won’t admit it’s your fault?” So H handled it, but because this is all taking place in front of these two job candidates, he kind of overlooked getting some key information, such as insurance, etc (yea, I know… duh!). Didn’t even occur to us to take a picture. But the guy gave H his card (which is when we found out he’s an attorney) and we left. Of course, H called him yesterday and he never returned H’s call, but we do know we have the right guy because I googled him and found a picture on his firm’s website. So I took the car in today for an estimate, and was told that, although the damage appeared to be very cosmetic and minor, where the guy’s bumper sort of went under ours, it bent some sort of steel support rod that will also need to be replaced. So the estimate was for $850.</p>
<p>And you’re all wondering why I’m telling this story on this thread now, right? I’ve been very upset about it since Sunday night, but since we had to impress these people, I shoved my anger down. Didn’t have much of a chance to vent to anyone yesterday, so today when I had my session with my personal trainer, I started to tell him the story. He could obviously sense I was still very angry and before I knew it, he had me doing things beyond what he thought I was capable of doing. He kept saying what a great work out I was having and I joked that he was taking advantage of my pent-up anger. He laughed and said, “Yea I am, and it’s working.” </p>
<p>Then I proceded to tell him about my history of car accidents (honestly, I’ve been in several, but I’ve had 0% fault in all of them; two of them were hit and runs) and how the last one (three years ago this month) left me rather scarred because I was rear-ended by a semi-truck on an interstate in Philly (while taking D2 to her freshman advising session) less than a week after we’d buried my 25-year old nephew who’d been killed after falling asleep at the wheel while not wearing a seatbelt. So as I worked through my story and history (and was reminded of why I react so viscerally to even the smallest inconvenience when it comes to car repairs) the hour flew by. </p>
<p>Then I thought to myself as I was leaving, I hope I don’t have to have another car accident to have this kind of work out again :eek:</p>
We ALWAYS were bike helmets here, even if we’re on trails with no car traffic. </p>