I'm currently 28 years old and by my math i figure i've been driving for about 13 of them (probably more like 14 or 15 if my parents aren't around). And during all of those years, not once did i ever lock myself out of my car. I was always the guy walking by thinking, "poor bastard". Well today, i was that poor bastard.
Not only that, but i must say my timing is impeccable. Could i have chosen a nice, warm July afternoon for my first time? Oh no. I did it on a windy, chilly day when it was, oh, about 18 degrees outside -- and yes, that would be Fahrenheit. To make matters worse, i chose a Home Depot parking lot on the Saturday before the Super Bowl so calling it a tad busy would be a bit of an understatement. And that awesome front row parking spot that i scored when i got there, when i so clearly remember thinking "man, it must be my lucky day!", was now assuring that every customer of the Bloomington Home Depot got themselves a great gawking opportunity; many of them giving me that awkward half-smile half-frown and shaking their heads as if to say, "poor bastard".
But then i thought, "hey that's right, i signed up for AAA a few months ago!". So after waiting for a good 45 minutes or so, my savior arrived in the form of Mike the tow truck guy. Or so i thought. It turns out that BMWs (see my car, right) are exceptionally hard to break into. Normally, this little factoid would give me some quality peace-of-mind. Unfortunately, on this particular day it was preventing Mike from getting in despite using a variety of different methods.
Probably around 15-20 minutes into the ordeal, as i was starting to lose faith in Mike the tow truck guy, i thought that i had a new savior in the form of a guy that i can only describe as a fatter, drunker Santa. Or maybe Kenny Rogers if he were to gain about 150 pounds. I first noticed him a row over in the parking lot just staring in my direction. As i was getting ready to ask him if perhaps he'd care to take a picture so he can laugh at my expense later on too, he walked over and informed us that he runs a towing company down in Miami. Before i know it, he's digging into Mike's vast inventory of tools and attempting a little open car surgery. Unfortunately, drunk Kenny Rogers Santa didn't do much better than Mike the tow truck guy. Argh!
So i was left with the options of letting Mike break a window (which he seemed way too eager to do), wait for hours/days for a locksmith to unlock my trunk, or let Mike tow it 12 miles to my condo at $3/mile. The clear choice seemed to be option #3.
Fortunately, i knew the security guard working the front desk of my building so he did me a solid and let me into my apartment (since those keys were also safe and sound inside my trunk) where i got my extra set of keys.
On the bright side, once i was finally inside my car, i resumed my errands with a trip to Surdyk's (my local liquor emporium) to get some essentials for tomorrow's Super Bowl party and there just happened to be a cute girl handing out free samples of Samuel Adams!
