Scooter Goes Down
So after all the fun of singing at PPMM on Tuesday morning, the rest of the day went seriously downhill from there. What should have been a quick errand to WAMU in anticipation of the Farmer's Market turned into a scrape for the scooter.
I found some shade on the corner of 21st & Capitol behind a parked car and positioned the scooter appropriately - perpindicular to the curb with the rear wheel almost touching the curb and at least two feet between the scoot and the car in front of it. No other vehicles were near the scoot, since it was a few feet in front of a parking lot entrance. I did my business at the ATM across the street, and as I was walking back, I didn't see the scoot right away. Then I noticed that its front wheel was no longer upright but was lying down on the street... almost under the rear bumper of the car that had been parked in front of it.
By the time I realized what had happened, another driver (I think he had been sitting in a parked car in the street on the other side of the parking lot entrance) had come over and righted the scoot. The driver of the offending car was standing nearby, smoking a cigarette. She apologized immediately and admitted to having no insurance when I asked the obvious question. After a quick look, I was relieved to see that the scoot didn't appear to have any serious damage, but the driver and I still exchanged names and phone numbers, since I couldn't be sure that it wasn't hurt in ways that weren't immediately visible.
All was going quite smoothly, and I was feeling less upset, when the other driver, who had retreated to his car, decided to re-insert himself into the situation. He came over and started berating me for asking about the woman's insurance, accusing me of parking too close to the car, and just generally being rather hostile and irritating. His presence only served to re-introduce tension into a situation that was gradually working itself out, and I'm still not quite sure what motivated him to re-enter the fray. I finally told him the scene didn't involve him and asked him to leave, which he did (phew!).
I was able to ride the scoot home, but I noticed that the left brake lever was bent and a bit wobbly. Since we actually have separate insurance on the scoot (gotta love the CA laws that require such things), I called GEICO when I got home to find out what to do. After spending over 45 minutes on the phone with the company, it turns out that we don't have property damage coverage anyway, so there's really no reason to file a claim, but since it was started, it had to be completed and closed out in the system. Arrgh! One of the first questions I asked was whether or not I needed to file a claim! So why did it take almost an hour and a second person to determine that it wasn't necessary??
Needless to say, this aggravation did not help my mood any. And the rest of the day continued in a similar fashion - lots of little irritations that accumulated to a mood of supreme grumpiness by the time E got home in the evening.
Luckily, the scoot is still driveable in its current condition. I took it to a nearby cycle repair shop, and the parts are $72 and labor will be $50-$100, depending on the amount of time the repair process takes.
Now comes the one really cool aspect of the whole thing:
The woman who backed into the scoot was very nice and apologetic at the scene and told me to get in touch if there was anything she could do (her son has a mini-scooter, so she felt very badly about damaging mine, especially since it's my primary mode of transportation around town). When I called her after visiting the cycle store, she continued to be quite nice and easy to deal with, agreeing to pay $70 to cover half of the repair costs. We met yesterday morning at the "scene of the crime," and she gave me the cash then. How cool is that!
So all in all, a rather difficult and unpleasant situation was resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Kinda restores your faith in human nature, doesn't it?
I found some shade on the corner of 21st & Capitol behind a parked car and positioned the scooter appropriately - perpindicular to the curb with the rear wheel almost touching the curb and at least two feet between the scoot and the car in front of it. No other vehicles were near the scoot, since it was a few feet in front of a parking lot entrance. I did my business at the ATM across the street, and as I was walking back, I didn't see the scoot right away. Then I noticed that its front wheel was no longer upright but was lying down on the street... almost under the rear bumper of the car that had been parked in front of it.
By the time I realized what had happened, another driver (I think he had been sitting in a parked car in the street on the other side of the parking lot entrance) had come over and righted the scoot. The driver of the offending car was standing nearby, smoking a cigarette. She apologized immediately and admitted to having no insurance when I asked the obvious question. After a quick look, I was relieved to see that the scoot didn't appear to have any serious damage, but the driver and I still exchanged names and phone numbers, since I couldn't be sure that it wasn't hurt in ways that weren't immediately visible.
All was going quite smoothly, and I was feeling less upset, when the other driver, who had retreated to his car, decided to re-insert himself into the situation. He came over and started berating me for asking about the woman's insurance, accusing me of parking too close to the car, and just generally being rather hostile and irritating. His presence only served to re-introduce tension into a situation that was gradually working itself out, and I'm still not quite sure what motivated him to re-enter the fray. I finally told him the scene didn't involve him and asked him to leave, which he did (phew!).
I was able to ride the scoot home, but I noticed that the left brake lever was bent and a bit wobbly. Since we actually have separate insurance on the scoot (gotta love the CA laws that require such things), I called GEICO when I got home to find out what to do. After spending over 45 minutes on the phone with the company, it turns out that we don't have property damage coverage anyway, so there's really no reason to file a claim, but since it was started, it had to be completed and closed out in the system. Arrgh! One of the first questions I asked was whether or not I needed to file a claim! So why did it take almost an hour and a second person to determine that it wasn't necessary??
Needless to say, this aggravation did not help my mood any. And the rest of the day continued in a similar fashion - lots of little irritations that accumulated to a mood of supreme grumpiness by the time E got home in the evening.
Luckily, the scoot is still driveable in its current condition. I took it to a nearby cycle repair shop, and the parts are $72 and labor will be $50-$100, depending on the amount of time the repair process takes.
Now comes the one really cool aspect of the whole thing:
The woman who backed into the scoot was very nice and apologetic at the scene and told me to get in touch if there was anything she could do (her son has a mini-scooter, so she felt very badly about damaging mine, especially since it's my primary mode of transportation around town). When I called her after visiting the cycle store, she continued to be quite nice and easy to deal with, agreeing to pay $70 to cover half of the repair costs. We met yesterday morning at the "scene of the crime," and she gave me the cash then. How cool is that!
So all in all, a rather difficult and unpleasant situation was resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Kinda restores your faith in human nature, doesn't it?
posted by jms | 2:48 PM
1 Comments:
LNJ said-
She paid you? Really? That's so cool. Man, I had to argue with the *$ kid the other day about 20 cents in change, ("Excuse me, but you own me 3 quarters and a dime, not 2 quarters, a nickle, and a dime" "I GAVE you 3 quarters"). That fact that she took control and ownership of her part in the situation is cool.
Back to *$ for a moment. I've been on the other side o' the bar and I know things get busy, but people are NOT gonna come in and rip you off for 25 cents. Sometimes, in a rush, you grab change, it looks like a quarter, but half buried in change, so you just give it... whatever. Well, if it's your mistake, ask for the nickle back, give quarter change, life rolls one. Especially at a place like *$. It's a multi-billion dollar giant, I don't think that they make a big stink out of 20 cents. If they DO make a big thing out of it, take 20 cents from your tips and regard me as asshole supreme. Why is that so hard?
Why can't everyone be like your nice bike bumping lady?
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