I came out of my office at 7 o’clock tonight, got in my car and proceeded to back out of a parking space. After backing out I realized that the wall of the building was too close so I pulled back into the space to back out at a steeper angle. As I backed out again I heard that sickening crunch of metal on metal…I somehow hit the car next to me. I’m still not sure how it happened. The parked car was a Dodge Magnum – just like mine. Our office has a fleet of Magnums, so I called my boss (Harris) to see if we could brainstorm and figure out whose car would have been left there at night. We eventually figured out that the car belongs to Reyn – one of the vice presidents of Ingersoll Rand. Harris was laughing and said, “It’ll cost you a lot of money but we’ll keep it quiet.” I said, “What do you want me to do now?” He said, “Leave the scene immediately!” and cracked up. So I did.
It’s not as bad as it sounds…I have known Reyn for 20 years and he is Harris’ brother and was my boss until he climbed the corporate ladder and became a VP. He’s currently in Scotland so he’s going to come home to a little surprise. Oops. Oh well…dents happen. I feel bad that he’ll have to deal with it but it really was an accident. I wasn’t eating, drinking, talking on the phone, text messaging, buckling my seatbelt, adjusting the radio, or slapping at someone in the backseat. I haven’t had an accident in 14 years. Hopefully this one will fill my quota for the next 14 years and Reyn will be gentle with me.
Update: I just received an email response from Reyn (we have international Blackberry service) and he said, “No worries…it’s only a car…we’ll get it fixed.” He’s the best!
Update 2: The estimate for Reyn’s car was $1500. Eek!