Couch 171: Scams R Us

My mom was introduced to me drinking by visiting the house I lived in senior year of college and having her mind blown. It was the party house for the rugby team, and there was still a keg in one of hte party rooms...we had two

My dad took me out to a bar for my 21st birthday

I'm having a major self-hatred spiral this afternoon I can't seem to pull myself out of. I f'd up royally. I know I f'd up, I totally admit it, and feel terrible, and h is just rubbing salt in the wound as per his usual. Y'know how I was in that car accident when I was on my trip, the guy rear-ended me on the highway, well I reported it and filled out the paperwork at the rental place and filed a claim with the other guy's insurance since it was his fault, and then tried to not worry about it and tried to get over the being afraid of driving thing so I could get myself to work and back and I guess I did too good at not thinking about it because I forgot to call the car rental place this past week to make sure they got the vehicle back. OMG I am so stupid!!!!! How could I not be responsible and check up on that?! Especially after I got back home late Wednesday night, I should have called Thursday. I was just lamenting about this to h earlier and he said and I quote "Well I tried to talk you out of renting the car in the first place." Thereby implying that this is all MY FAULT for renting the car. How could I have been so stupid to not call and check up on the car rental place to make sure they got the vehicle back? Of course on the weekend I can't get ahold of anyone on the phone back there. I tried. I just want to cry and fall through a hole in the ground. I'm a stupid, dumb, crazy ****ing idiot who can't handle life and I guess I better find a new t because i'm obviously not to be trusted with anything at all by myself out here in the wild.


****.

I'm confused, Artie. You don't know that anything is wrong, do you? Why the panic?

On my 21st birthday, my mom poured me half a glass of wine cooler, giving herself the other half (even though she doesn't generally drink). After I drank mine, she was like, "Normally you shouldn't drink it that fast." It was a wine cooler! Also, I was home from college at the time, and a few high school friends too me out to TGI Friday's (I was the first of them to turn 21). My friend had made Jello shots, but the only alcohol they had was peppermint schnapps, so it was like cherry Jello with peppermint. Which was...as awful as it sounds. They ordered me a Long Island iced tea, but I couldn't drink it--think it was the sour mix more than the alcohol. Think I ended up having a sex on the beach and some other drink, probably some girly thing. OK, that's it for story time! Oh, except my first hangover, in college (I was a goody goody in high school...), was of course a morning when my parents were visiting and wanted to go out to lunch...

(((Art))) you aren't stupid or dumb and it's not your fault you got rear-ended. Breathe. We're here if you need to talk this out.

Art, try to chill. Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you, like my Irish nana used to say.

My brain has somehow decided that the vehicle that I was driving, that was supposed to be towed back to the car rental place this past Monday, is still sitting in the tow yard racking up storage charges. That alone would not be the end of the world of course. But my brain has gone beyond that and is now afraid that they have lost the vehicle and I will be responsible.

I will never rent a car again as long as I live.

I don't know why I am in a panic over this today.

I doubt they have lost the car. Sorry your brain is running away with you like that.

I would think they would have contacted you right off if they hadn’t gotten the car back.

No, don’t resolve never to rent a car again. Just remember to check next time, if there is a next time, and the odds of that are slim.

Ah, motherland has (or at least had) no ID checking for alcohol. So, good times were had with vodka and gin from 17 or so, graduating to really crappy cheap domestic whisky and rum by 20. More than anything else, I’m grateful I still have a functioning stomach given the terrible quality of most of the alcohol I consumed early on.

Art — rental car companies like all businesses care a lot about the location of their product, namely, rental cars.

I seriously doubt they’d have been sitting around twiddling their thumbs and not trying to hunt you down to the ends of the earth to get a hold of their car.

Also, was the towing company sent by them or did you find one? Because if it was sent by them, seriously it’s so not your problem any more.

And, even if you found your own towing company, I’m assuming you passed on all that info to the rental car place — in that case, they’ll just take it from there.

Having a rental car banged up is a new experience for the customer but it’s really super routine for the car agencies — when it happened to me, I realized there’s a whole totally efficient system that automatically kicks into place to take care of everything pretty smoothly, including dealing with the other person’s insurance and whatnot.

It was the towing company that the police called. I told them I had AAA and would have them tow it right back to the rental place, but the cop said not to. I should have argued for my own peace of mind and done it anyway and just worried about collecting the charges from the other guy's insurance later. Damn it. Why can't i stand up for myself to authority?!

But you're probably right, they would have called me by now surely if they didn't get it back already. And you're also right that it may be a new experience for the customer, but for them they probably see it all the time... I guess most of all I hate the not knowing part

That’s even better.

Having the cops call the tow truck to pick up the car is like the absolute ultimate best thing ever — the rental agency would have to deal with the cops and you’re so out of it, it’s a pretty incredibly frickin’ sweet spot (in my case, the cop deigned to appear only after a full 45 mins and was cross as heck that his Sunday afternoon was spoilt it seemed and then I had to wait bloody hours until the tow truck sent by the rental agency showed up).

As far as rental car accidents, trust me this sounds like white glove treatment.

Seriously though, the rental agency would’ve gotten the cop’s report directly and that would have this info along with insurance stuff and whatnot. You’ll likely just be called to verify any details and that would be it.

That's no consolation. I want my pay to be about me!

That is indeed progress. Congratulations!

That's the scummy scumbags in your brain talking.

Whoa Art, I am sorry your brain is spinning out of control.

I literally would have NEVEr thought to callt he rental place to see if they got the car back. I would just have assumed it had happened. And they most definitely would have called you by now if they didn't get it. You did what the cops said to. I would have too.

And your H is being a d!ck about it. Seriously. Don't let this ruin the rest of your life if you need a rental car. I get it that accidents are traumatic, mine was too.

Admit it, art...you flirted with the cop, didn’t you?

Stressed, when my daughter turned 21 it was a little freaky for both of us the first time she ordered a glass of wine. Having adult children is so different.

You mentioned board games a few pages back...we have a pretty wide age span in our family. We all enjoy Ticket to Ride, Yahtzee, Exploding Kittens, the Fluxx card games (we have Zombie Fluxx and Monty Python Fluxx) Settlers of Catan. Our new favorite is a collaborative board game, Pandemic.

well he did have a cute bald head...

I hope he didn’t try that line from Seinfeld on you: “I would like to dip my bald head in oil...”

He was very professional.

I took the opportunity that was presented me to tell him, "this is why I stayed in therapy for so long, because when I try talking to you for support you end up saying something like that and upsetting me instead of being supportive and L is always supportive."


He didn't know what to say to that really.

If I’d known that’s what it would take, I’d have totally done it too