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Monday, July 9, 2012

No Place For A Pony

This past Saturday, I rolled out of bed, headed out the door to meet friends for brunch, walked into my parking garage and found:

My Mustang had been stolen.

At least that’s what I thought had happened. Turns out, I was towed. Which is a story for another day (when I’m supposed to be doing homework but I procrastinate and blog instead, which is how this blog gets written most of the time) but until then, I thought I’d reshare why my brain went immediately to theft for those of you who missed the original post here.

See below. And feel free to share in the comments if you’ve ever had anything stolen – would be nice to know I’m not the only one who has this kind of “luck”….

Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Mustang Sally

You all may have read the account HERE of the time I reported my Mustang ("Sally", of course. She looked similar to this:)




stolen after forgetting I had driven it to the gym. But that wasn't the last time I'd report that car stolen.

Many of you know that I miraculously landed my first job out of college at The White House. Trust me, this was God's doing, because I actually had to ask someone who Dick Cheney was when he walked past me shortly after I got to DC. I was THAT oblivious about politics and this career path literally fell in my lap in spite of myself. Anyway, during my 2nd week on my job - where I'm trying desperately to act smart and capable - my car gets stolen from Union Station. And the joys do not end there.
I'll back up to when I parked to begin with. I was awaiting my official parking pass to use the garage at work, so I parked at Union Station and took the metro. That morning, as I parked next to BMWs and Mercedes, I looked at my steering wheel "Club" and thought, "I'm being paranoid. Who is going to pick the Ford to steal?" and I put the Club in my trunk.... When I got back that evening, my car was gone.

And the police and insurance company gave me no hope of recovering it since they believed it'd be sold to a chop shop immediately, so I got a rental car through my insurance. By then, I could use the garage at work - which is valet. So you drive down into the garage, then just exit your car with the key in it and the (mean!) garage attendant parks it for you. Easy enough! I jump out and walk across the street to my office, get through Secret Service, up the elevator, to my desk...where my phone is blinking.

And on the voicemail, is an IRATE message from the garage attendant YELLING something difficult to understand. But I hear "key in the car" and I hear "you locked the doors"....

So I scurry back over to find a LINE of White House staffer cars behind mine who can't get in the garage, and I have to face Mean -Now Livid- Garage Man, and call a locksmith.

And you know what is easier to break into than my generic rental car? ABSOLUTELY EVERY OTHER CAR IN THE WORLD. I can't even remember the model, it was something akin to a Ford Probe, and the locksmith is DUMBFOUNDED. He CAN NOT break into this bad boy and he even tells me how he's had no problems with high-end vehicles, how there are certain points in a car you can compromise, but nope! Not this one! This one has thought of EVERYTHING and you can not break in.

So he breaks the door handle to finally help me. On. My. Rental.

And at this point, I'm feeling so embarrassed/frightened that I would've smashed the window and slid in Dukes of Hazzard style if it would get Garage Man to stop glaring at me. So I pay the guy. And walk back to my office.

And since I'm still trying to put on a charade of dependability, I begin to brief my boss on the day's tasks. And she stops me. "What's wrong with you? You've broken out in hives."

I didn't even know I COULD break into hives, but apparently red splotches had creeped up my neck towards my face as I'm trying to suppress the stress of the morning.

And I burst into tears and explain the whole thing.

Thankfully, my boss was a very cool lady and everything worked out. My dad came to help me finagle the handle back on my rental before returning it and my insurance settled with me for a good amount and I bought another Mustang.

Then they found my old one.

Apparently, punk teens had just taken it for a joy ride and abandoned it in an alley in DC. I was even able to go to the impound lot and recover what belongings (which is another story for later) they hadn't taken with them. But guess what they did take?

My Club.

Oh sweet irony.....

2 comments:

  1. That’s a relief! I probably wouldn’t be able to take it if my Mustang were stolen. Not a very nice thought at all. In any case, I’m sure you just laugh at this incident when it crosses your mind now. :D You know, I love red cars! It kinda tells people that you’ve got the spirit of leadership within you. By the way, have you always preferred Ford cars? I wouldn’t be surprised if so, since they’ve always come up with distinctly original ideas.

    Leisa Dreps

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  2. I know some local auto locksmiths that can break into high-end cars because they are allowed by the famous brands to have access. The locksmith that you called seems like he belongs to a company that wasn’t allowed or doesn’t have knowledge in unlocking high end cars. It is better to contact famous locksmith service so that we can ensure quick and safe service for our car.

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