suckerpunched

After a long day of work, I went down to get into my car last night and ... it was no where to be found.

I had arrived to my office building around 10 am yesterday because I'd had another meeting at another building at 9 am. So the place I normally park was all filled up. Adding to the parking problem, is that there is absolutely no parking available after 9:30 am because there are 50 million people who work in my building and only 10 parking spaces. Ok, I'm exaggerating a little, but it's still a pain in the ass.

And so it becomes a game to be as creative as possible to find places to park when all the legitimate spaces are filled up. This has been an on going problem for some time now, and other than trying to remember where I last parked, I've never "lost" my car before.

As soon as I realized my car was not where I had remembered parking it 8 hours earlier, I retraced my steps. Did I park on another parking level and forget? Did I leave for lunch? What day is it? Completely confused, I walked back up to my office, and fortunately my colleague was still in her office. I quickly shared with her my dilemma.

The catch? In my effort to be creative in securing a parking space earlier in the morning, I'd parked in a "motorcycle only" parking area. I know, I know. I avoid handicap spaces and fire lanes, but when you're down to the wire to get to your next meeting, and people park there all the time, you're not exactly concerned about your choice of parking. Afterall, no one's riding their motorcycles to work in the middle of winter anyway.

So when the conclusion came down to two options, either my car was stolen, or it was towed, I called Security. They asked me a few questions: Where I was parked?, What kind of car I had?, I was then put on hold. After a few minutes, the woman returned to the line and said, "Yes, we know where your car is. You will need to call Ibsen Towing."

Uggh. I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY TOWED MY CAR! I promptly got on the phone with Ibsen and they confirmed that they had my car, and that they closed at 5 pm. "Uh, it's past that time now." The tow guy was nice enough and said that he'd have the lot attendant hang around until I got there, and my colleague Carol was nice enough to drive me over to go get my car. She couldn't believe that my car had been towed. I was quietly fuming as we drove over there.

"That'll be $227. We take credit cards." Oh goodie . For that much money, I could buy another pair of designer jeans, or a fantastic pair of boots, or better yet, I spent less than that to get three airline tickets for me, Rick and Richard to fly from Dubrovnik to Budapest in June. The more I thought about the money, the more it burned me up. And the more that I thought about that fact that my own company called the tow company to remove my car while I was working just boiled my blood.

I got my car as fast as I could and sailed out of there, trying to keep my composure. I broke down last night from pure frustration and anger.

I know I need to take responsibility for parking in the motorcycle parking area, but seriously....instead of calling the tow company, Security should have dialed my number and at least given me a warning to move my car or it would be towed.

I tried to move beyond it, but I was in a downward spiral. Driving over to Rick's, I saw a tow truck on the freeway and I just lost it. Tears flowing everywhere. I felt betrayed. Turned in by my own "family" for what? I bet my employer got a kick back from the tow company.

I'm still fucking pissed.