Where are all the helping hands?

The other night, and I do mean night as it was about 9:00pm, J and C went to get hot dogs from our beloved Ben Franks drive thru (the best fries around, and the corndogs aren't bad either). On the way home they have a minor collision with a cement block. How did they happen to hit a cement block, you may ask. Well some very bored kids, with some very poor judgement skills, decided to place it in the middle of the road. Even still, you may say to yourself, how could he miss a big cement block right in front of him? The answer lies in the very bright headlights shining straight into oncoming traffic, which blinded poor J to the block until he was right up on it. Fortunately, he was able to swerve with enough time that it only ruined the tire and not the wheel or the car itself. Now you may be wondering who the headlights belonged to. They were the headlights of one of four (yes, folks, FOUR) police patrol cars on the scene. And after J pulled our car over to the side of the road, not one of those officers came to offer any assistance. Once J got C all loaded into the front pack he went and asked for help (for some reason we did not have a jack in the car) and they informed him that none (NONE) of the patrolers had a jack and they could not help in any way other than to call him a tow truck. You may think that the presence of a young baby on such a cold night might have garnered some sympathy, but no. It did seem to arouse suspicion, however, as they asked him whose baby it was strapped to his person (they might not have worded it quite that way...) Evidently he does not look old enough to have kids.*

So J and C walked the half mile or so that it took to get home. Later he rode his bike down there to remove any valuables from the car and we hoped to have better luck with the light of a new day. It did not come quite that quickly. The next day J asked at the dealership/shop, which was across the street from our abandoned vehicle, if he could borrow a jack or get some help. And they laughed at him! Evidently it is a big insurance no-no to lend tools to someone who doesn't work there or to work on a car not on their lot. So then he sees a tow truck, randomly, and asks if he can borrow his jack. The answer was no again, but for $65 the driver would help him. So J came home and we signed up for AAA online. About $160 later we call AAA only to be told that there is a 48 hour waiting period! T freaked out at this point and demanded that the expiration date be changed to reflect the fact that the membership wasn't actually in use until the 29th. They wouldn't do that. So she cried. And in between tears told them how the cops wouldn't help, and the dealership wouldn't help, and she has two babies... Low and behold and exception was made and 40 minutes later the tire was changed.

Moral #1: Don't depend on the kindness of strangers. At least not in California; evidently the sunny weather does not inspire sunny dispositions.

Moral #2: Don't underestimate the value of true emotions. If it doesn't inspire empathy, there is a very good chance that it will at least make them uncomfortable enough to help you quickly just to be done with you.

*We think its worth pointing out that, biologically, a person could have kids starting at about 13 years old. So J could have a 15 year-old, and could also be a grandfather by this point. That could have been his grandchild in the front pack!