Friday, October 1, 2010

Now i have you wondering.....

In my last post i mentioned locking my keys in my car and now you're wondering, "Wait i don't remember that story." And you're right i haven't posted that one but now i will. A couple weekends ago my friend Josie came to visit and the friday she came into town we met up with another friend at a lobster festival in Long Beach. We arrived earlier than the other party of people and decided to just wait in the parking lot in the car until the others showed up. It was kind of cold outside and we wanted to listen to the radio. We got the call from Martha that she was there waiting at the gate and so we got out of the car and headed to the festival. The festival itself was pretty small but we got an entire lobster dinner for $18 and i'm not talking just tail. This was a full blown lobster antennae, eyes, legs, everything. Josie and i struggled at first trying to decide where to even start or how to break the thing open and i wasn't really sure where the actual "meat" of the thing was. But we figured it out and soon had lobster juice running down our chins and fingers. And i think the over all consenses was that lobster isn't really that great of a meal. i think i rather prefer crab. After our meal we went to go see the band that Martha had wanted to hear and consequently the only reason we were there. the band was pretty good and Josie and i decided to compare the band members to celebraties. it started because Josie thought the bass player looked like a young Dan Aykroyd and i thought the drummer looked like a young Charlie Sheen only with a bigger head. The other guitarist we decided could have been Jackie Chan's nephew but could never quite place the lead singer. We walked around the couple of booths they had and i found that if you wanted african masks or bongos this was the place to get them. almost every booth there sold some sort of wood carving. Josie and i played the squirt gun game and she won a googly eyed blue lobster and that was about the extent of activities for the festival. we were walking back to the car and when i started looking for my keys i couldn't find them. i started frantically searching my purse but had a haunting feeling they were locked in the car and most likely in the ignition and when we got back to the car my fears were confirmed. and there it was the radio lights on still playing the Old School hits. so we converged amoung our little group seeing who had a lock smith covered under their insurance. i called my carrier, Martha called hers and another girl called AAA. mine covered up to $100, Martha's didn't cover other cars and another girl called AAA. Mine covered up to $100, Martha's didn't cover other cars and AAA dispatched an agent to come open the door. As we were waiting for help to arrive we tried to find a security guard or police officer that could help us. I asked a family that was walking by if they had a slim jim in their car and was answered by one guy, “I have a rock.” And then he tried to convince me that breaking my window and replacing it was cheaper than having a locksmith coming open it. but he was soon corrected by his friend that a locksmith is only $40 and replacing a window was more expensive. And then the family began to strongly discuss the best solution to the problem and the daughters were convinced that the slim jim was the jerky you buy in the store. Anyway they provided a bit of entertainment while we waited for the locksmith. I then flagged down some police officers on a couple of Segways (and in a totally unrelated note check out this totally ironic news story). They told us that officers were no longer able to help people with keys locked in cars due to legal ramifications. So there we waited in the cold misty night air in the middle of a parking lot at the end of a street in the Port O’Call. Martha did keep us entertained with demonstrations of what here ice dancing would have looked like had she actually participated in the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Utah. When we hit 30 min I called back my insurance company and asked what the status was of getting a local company dispatched, “Oh, we already called one and they said their ETA was 45min.” “Ok, well why didn’t you call me back and tell me this?” “Oh, we only call the customer back if the cost will be over $100.” “But then how I’m I supposed to know that there is a person on the way?” “Um……” Yeah, I buy cheap insurance. The other girl called AAA back and they said that there was someone on the way but they were lost. Another 15 min later we finally see the AAA tow truck. He pulls up to the car, “Are you here to unlock my door?” “Um, what? I was dispatched for flat tire. I don’t have the stuff to unlock a door.” WTH?!?!? Are you SERIOUS!!! I can’t believe this. Then I get a call from the guy that was dispatched from my insurance, “Where are you located?” “At Port o’ call in the middle of a parking lot.” “Do you have an address you can give me?” “Not really, I’m in the middle of a parking lot.” “Well I’m not from this area. There’s no address you can give me?” I then try to explain the directions the best I can from memory and eventually this beat up white small cab pickup pulls up and opens the door. It was past 11pm at this point and we were cold and tired and had about an hour drive back to Martha’s. I really need to purchase an extra key to my car and keep it in my wallet. Then next time I won’t have to stand there in a freezing parking lot with my fingers smelling like a bad sea food buffet.

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