Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Trapped Like a Rat in a 2008 Tahoe

I've been planning to share this tale for a while now, but I had to wait until the trauma of it wore off. Every Friday, I have the same routine. I take the boys' weekly letters over to the main post office in Sis-Town. I put gas in T-Hoe at the Casey's there. I go by the bank for our weekly cash allowance. I swing back by the School-Turn Casey's, and stop by Walmart if shopping is necessary.

Back on July 19, when I left home around 10:30 a.m., I was happily unaware that The Universe would be conspiring against me. Everything unfolded as usual, until I made my stop at the School-Turn Casey's for some scratchers. There's been road construction on the main street for about eight months now. So I come in from a side street. I was pleased to see my favorite parking space available on the side of the building. It's the space on the left end of five spaces, where my door opens up into a yellow-painted walkway.

I traded my winners for what later turned out to be not-winners, but that's not the issue. I'm okay with The Universe taking its share. I know I can't win every day. No, my issue was with THE BEER TRUCK BLOCKING T-HOE when I returned!

Who does that? Here's the view out the back and passenger windows of T-Hoe. I guess I was supposed to wait until the delivery was over! I had the brick wall of the building three feet in front of me, and the side of the beer truck three feet behind me. Let the record show that I was NOT happy.


There's a view from my side mirror. The one that works. Not that taking pictures was going to help me free T-Hoe from his hopped-up prison. Good thing I've been piloting a large SUV for over 20 years! It took some finesse, all without a backup beeper, but I managed to get T-Hoe parallel to that beer truck, to make my getaway across the empty parking spaces, going the wrong way out the drive-thru lane that runs behind the store.

I took a picture of the company name, just for shaming purposes. That lady walked into my shot at random. She came from the alley across the street. Sorry, anonymous lady, for putting your face out to single digits of readers!

As you might imagine, I was pretty ragey on my drive over to Walmart. After ten minutes of shopping, and twenty minutes in line, my parking lot ire was abating. Until I unloaded my groceries and climbed into T-Hoe.

I always try to park next to a cart return. I can judge how much room I need for my door to open all the way, and I know that nobody is going to park too close and give me trouble trying to get back in. This cart return was overflowing with carts when I came out. They were sticking way out of the metal rails of the cart corral. Not a big deal. I knew I'd have to back up farther, straight back, before I cut my wheels to go up the aisle.

What I didn't count on was the cart-retriever with his trolley. I saw him up above me as I was unloading my groceries. The car beside me left as I was buckling my seatbelt. I looked around for that Cart Jockey, and he was ON FOOT, across the cart corral, talking to people in a car in the row across from me! Of course he'd abandoned his trolley in an awkward position for my navigational purposes! 

So... without a backup beeper, I had to maneuver far enough past the line of carts jutting out of the corral on my left, look out for pedestrians darting behind me, and avoid the cars parked in the row behind T-Hoe, until I could cut my wheels to proceed up the aisle without hitting the trolley.

I hope The Universe had a good laugh at my expense. I don't know what I was supposed to do with that abandoned bottle of laundry detergent. I'd probably have run over it and popped it, if the long line of carts wasn't jutting out of the corral, keeping my from cutting my tires sooner.

I am grateful, though, that The Universe probably kept me from some more serious catastrophe or calamity, by delaying my drive home with those two trappings.

8 comments:

  1. The beer guy would not have upset me, they have a job to do and sometimes they have to park like that to unload. The cart in the lot would have been like aluminum foil on my fillings.

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    1. I've seen that beer guy there before, blocking in a whole row of cars. I think he was sitting at the counter inside, having lunch. I can't believe all those people would have been un-upset, knowing that he was not actively unloading while they were trapped. But that's just me. I hate wasting time when I don't really have a set schedule or anywhere to go.

      If only I could predict when the beer guy is coming, I would avoid that place like I do on Tuesdays, which is "truck day" when their supplies arrive on a Casey's semi, and they block the door unloading on a rolly ramp.

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  2. The universe is just keeping you on your toes. They, whoever "they" might be, don't like us getting too complacent down here. We need to be more mindFUL when going about our usually mindLESS routines.

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    1. Yes. It's The Universe's world, and we just live in it!

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  3. This is why you need air conditioning and a good book in the car.

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    1. Good advice. I have the air conditioning, and I never let the gas go below half a tank, but I DO need to put a book in there. I have a stack of books yet to read. One might as well languish in T-Hoe as on the shelf.

      I suggested the unplugging of FRIG II to Hick, to fix the ice dispenser stuck on CRUSH. He says that FRIG II has manual controls, not electronic. So when you push on the CUBE or CRUSH button, you hear a click as it switches from one to the other.

      When I reach into the dispenser (not while it's on!), I can feel the blades in place. Hick thinks it might work on a magnet, and maybe the blades are frozen in place and can't retract. He suggested running it under hot water to test that theory. I haven't done it yet.

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  4. I want one of those things that law enforcement has on the front of their vehicles, so that I can push stuff out of my way without damaging my vehicle ….

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    1. I call it a cow-catcher, but I wouldn't if they were using it to push ME!

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