Partying is something that occurs a lot during college and it can definitely be fun but you need to be careful. Even as a designated driver, you need to make sure that you are always paying attention and being responsible. As a designated driver you feel responsible for the people you are driving home but try not to get too caught up in all of the craziness that you forget to do something important like turning off your car. Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way so take my advice in case you find yourself in my position one day. Even if you lock yourself out of your car for other reasons, this will be a helpful post for you.
It was around 1:00 a.m. when one of my friends can to my door to tell me that we needed to go pick up our friend and a bunch of other girls on our floor from a frat party. There was 7 of them so that was fun squeezing everyone in my little car. I brought a huge trash bag just in case someone got sick but no one did, thank goodness. I was so worried about one of them falling or something because they were all wasted that I completely forgot to turn off my car. I have no idea how that even could slip my mind but it did.
After everyone got out and the last door needed to be closed my car dinged at me that the door was open but I didn’t even think about it. I just thought, “Oh yeah, it’s just yelling at me because the door is open” not that the car is on and the door is open. My car wouldn’t make a noise unless it was on plus my engine is very loud so I have no clue how I didn’t hear it. I was just too worried about my friends I guess. I was definitely overreacting because everything would have been fine if I had just taken an extra minute to make sure my car was off before I locked it.
After I got them all back to their rooms and in bed, I noticed that I didn’t have my key when I went to go into my room. I figured I just locked them in the car so I could just go to the front desk and have them unlock the door to my room then worry about my key in the morning. I was afraid I might have dropped my keys though so I retraced my steps back to my car but that was when I noticed my car was on since I could hear my engine. I started freaking out and called the friend who had come to get me earlier. She came out there with me and we tried to brainstorm how to get my keys out of my car. I was extremely worried since I have an old car and it has been known to overheat and if it did overheat I wouldn’t be able to turn it off or anything. My mom has an extra key to my car but I didn’t want to call her that late at night.
I went back inside to see if anyone knew how to unlock a car door and the guy at the front desk knew how to but he wasn’t allowed to come out to help me since he was working. I looked up ways to do it but they all consisted of wire hangers or other things that we didn’t have. I have free AAA car service so I called them and someone was supposed there in about an hour. They seriously take way too long so I told her I need them as soon as possible since the car was RUNNING! About 30 minutes later I still did not receive a text or phone call saying that someone was on their way so I called back to see what was going on.
All the lady did was try to assure me that he would be on his way. At this point I was hysterical and I just wanted someone to get there already because they always take forever and I was way too worried about my car to be dealing with their horrible service. It didn’t help that the lady I had been talking to was an idiot and I was stressed. It made my mom’s crazy side of me come out. It was also freezing out and the friend who was staying out there with me is from Texas so she was extra cold since it didn’t even usually get that cold there.
Around 30 more minutes later so it has been an hour now, I call back and I am very upset. I get a different lady for once who was actually really sweet and she tries to help me as much as she can. She even got a manager or something on the line to help. All he did was say that the guy is going to be on the way even though I still had yet to receive any kind of notification from him that he was on the way like I usually do. I was reaching my breaking point. AAA has left me stranded in the middle of nowhere at 1 in the morning before so I was not having it this time where my car was overheating, the engine was probably getting messed up, my new battery draining, and a whole bunch of other issues that could have been going on.
I can’t ever cry in front of anyone but that night I was a mess. That friend, Brittany, is definitely someone who I cherish to this day. She could have gone inside and left me to deal with it on my own but she stuck through it with me. We even did some prayers and other craziness because I was just going psycho. I was pacing and practically having a panic attack. I told her that if they didn’t come in 15 more minutes that I would need to call my mom. When that time came I decided to call AAA once again just to check.
I got that lady and guy again. At this point I was beyond mad because this was just completely ridiculous. If I had been in the middle of nowhere, stranded alone then who knows what would have happened to me. The guy I guess finally, ACTUALLY checked on the person who was supposed to unlock my car and noticed that he never freaking responded to the call in the first place. Well that explained why I never got a text/call and he never came. Those idiots never actually made sure he was on the way so I was so annoyed. I am usually the politest person ever, even if someone were to accidently push me down the stairs and spill hot coffee on me. Unfortunately, my mom’s mean side was already out and I was no nice girl anymore. Although AAA is free for me, it is only free for a certain amount calls and miles. I demanded that they sent someone in the next few minutes and that it would not count as one of my calls or anything because that was just ridiculous.
They ended up sending someone who wasn’t even one of their employees because I needed my car unlocked as soon as possible. I guess they called some company closer to Lawrence to come unlock my car. That guy actually got there in barely 30 minutes and got my car unlocked in around 5 minutes. He started writing things down and said he was writing up a ticket so I asked how much I owed him. He told me I don’t owe anything but AAA does because they definitely dropped the ball on this one. Serves them right. They always have something going on that makes them take hours.
To avoid going crazy and spending hours out in the cold, just focus on what you’re doing so you don’t make a ridiculous mistake like leaving your keys locked in your car with your car running. It definitely makes for a great story but it would have been nice if I didn’t have to go through all of that trouble. Even when you don’t go out and party, you might do something stupid that a drunk person might do. Opps!
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