Hitting Someone's Car With My Car Door: A Nevin Barich Blog Experience

So I was leaving work the other day, going to the parking garage where my car was located, and when I opened my door, I did something that all of us have done at one time or another:

I hit the car next to me with my car door.

Now usually, hitting a car with your car door doesn't do any damage; at least, no visible damage. But sometimes, it does leave evidence of the act. A dent. A ding. A scratch.

In this particular case, my hitting the car with my door led to the rear view mirror being askew.

Now there are two things you can do when you ding someone's car with your own:

1) Leave a note on the front of the car, explaining to the owner what happened, and leaving your contact information in case any damages have to be paid.

Or 2) Get the hell out of there before anyone sees you and/or the owner shows up.

Political correctness tells us to leave the note.

I chose to get the hell out of Dodge.

Now I know what you're saying:

Nevin, how could you? You damaged some poor guy's car and rather than take responsibility for your actions, you run away like a thief in the night? That's just wrong, Nev. Wrong wrong wrong.

But here's what you're thinking:

I'd of gotten the hell out of there too.

Let's be honest with ourselves. Whenever you accidentally hit someone's car, your first instinct is to run. Run hard. Run fast. Run far so no one sees you. If you rear-end somebody on the street, you can't run but you sit there wishing that you could. It's just a fact. You don't want to own up to your mistakes. You want to get out of there before you get caught!!

And you want to know why?

Money. :-)

Simply put, I don't want to pay for the damages I caused!! It's an unnecessary expense I don't need. I got to pay for my own car, my home, my food, my video games, and I simply don't have any extra funds to pay for the damages I've done to someone else's car. So if I have the option of not getting caught for my mistake, I take it!!

I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking, folks.

Now: If someone dinged up my car real bad with their car door and didn't leave a note, would I be upset that they didn't?

Yes.

Is that hypocritical?

Yes.

Should others be expected to pay for damages they did to me, even if I avoid paying for damages I did to them?

Yes.

Is it right for me to feel this way?

No.

Do I care?

No.

Do you understand where I'm coming from?

If you're honest with yourself -- and listen to that little voice that says "RUN" -- then yes, you do.

Listen to that voice.

It will save you money.

:-)

And now for this week's:

SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Earlier this week, I was IMing (that's "instant messaging", for those older-generation readers of mine) with a friend of mine, and we were arguing over what she considered my bad eating habits. During this IM chat, my friend said the following:

Nev, I'm telling you this because I care. If I didn't care, I wouldn't say anything and simply watch you die.

She was coming from a good place.

I think.