I had a co-worker (that I thought was a friend) do something rather crappy to me last week at work.

We aren't supposed to park the vans (that are used to transport employees back to base at the end of our shifts) on the sidewalk because it's against ADA Policy.

I was happy to see our university finally enforce this because I've seen many a wheelchair bound person have to go out of their way to get somewhere due to this thoughtless (and illegal) practice.

I'm not in a wheelchair yet (thank goodness), but I do have a limited range of motion in my hip joint and utilize a cane to help provide stability and ease the pain when walking around, but when the van is parked on the sidewalk I am still unable to safely access it, even with the little step stool I use because it's way too high on the driver's side and the passenger side is on rough, uneven terrain.

So, I asked the driver ( the coworker I thought was a friend) would they mind moving it over to the parking lot because ... 1. It's not supposed to be on the sidewalk, and ... 2. Because of limited mobility in my hip joint I can't access it from where it's parked on the curb.

Well, they must have had some kind of wasp in their pants because they jerked the van around and exited it leaving it even more inaccessible than before and stalked off. I asked the other occupant of the van would they mind moving it and was basically ignored.

I walked away and waited nearby for several minutes (hoping another coworker would come along and do the right thing) ... Finally the other employee opened the door and shouted over at me ... Hey!, aren't you going to move the van to which I replied I can't get up into the damn van in order to move the damn van, and that is when they finally (yet grudgingly) moved it back over to the parking lot acting like it was such a taxing task to their able bodied little self!

I'd done walked over there (in pain) to where the van was illegally parked, then been left standing there (in pain), and now I've got to walk all the way back over to where the damn van should have been parked in the first damn place (in pain the whole damn way the whole damn time)!

Apologies for all the damns, but ... Dayum!

After this dog and pony show, I'd had enough and when I finally got myself up into the van, I immediately called a supervisor and told them that I was sick and damn tired of my co-workers blowing off the ADA Directive about not parking on the sidewalk and disrespecting my mobility issue to boot! ... I also informed them that I would be writing an e-mail to our operations manager to see if he could make the directive have a little more impact because it'd better damn well never happen again ... Ever!

When I finally got back to my car and went to activate my music app on my phone before leaving, there was a text from the guy I thought was my friend stating that what they did wasn't intentional, to not take it personally and to take care ... I muttered under my breath, EFF YOU!

The next day he said ... Hey, didn't you get my text? ... I don't want to lose our friendship over a sidewalk and you didn't respond, so ... Then he started trying to issue a backhanded apology for his bad behavior by blaming me for him acting the way he did!

Boy was I steaming, but I simply replied, we're cool ...

I didn't even try to make him see what he was doing was wrong ... I didn't even tell him I'd already deleted his number from my phone.

You see, it wasn't about the sidewalk, or the violation of ADA Policy ...

It was about someone who's supposed to be a friend - that knows their buddy has a mobility issue - and instead of helping that buddy out, they left them hung out to dry.

So to heck with them and their apology.

Pfrog ain't got time for friends like that!