Have you ever had some incensitive pricktoid open their car door onto your car, leaving a dent and scratched paint? Have you ever approached your car in the parking lot only to discover a new dent, scratch, snapped mirror or mangled bumper? How often, when this happened, did you receive justice? How often did the jerk get away?
Doesn't it just piss you off??
Well do I have a story for you guys!
Today I went out to lunch with my husband and two of our friends. We ate in the outdoor sitting area, which looked over a small loop road. The loop road has a few 90 minute parallel parking spots as well as a taxi rank. This is an upmarket area, and the cars that were parked out the front of the restaurant were relatively nice. Of particular interest- a BMW and a Mini, or more specifically, the not-big-enough gap between them.
We were all sitting at this table, discussing the menu. Our attention was drawn to the loop road when we saw a car pull up to attempt a parallel park between the BMW and the Mini. We watched anxiously as this guy reversed the back end of his car slowly in. It was apparent very quickly that there was no way on the face of this planet that this guy was going to fit his car in that gap.
"Oh god, he's not seriously going to try that, is he?" My friend said.
No sooner did he finish saying that, the car driver reversed square into the front bumper of the Mini. We were all in shock. He was stupid, and now he'd stuffed up. Everyone was watching him, including the waitress who was supposed to be taking our orders.
It got worse.
Despite what must have felt like a very noticable prang, the guy kept trying to squeeze his car in. Someone got out of the passenger seat to help direct the driver into the spot. The passenger proceeded to laugh and flap his hands about, waving the guy in.
The driver had the rear end of his vehicle firmly in the parking spot (he'd pushed the Mini out of the way with his rear bumper), and began to swing the front of his vehicle in. There was not enough room, by a foot.
Instead of giving up, this guy drove the corner of his front bumper into the back bumper of the BMW, sliding it across, pushing the BMW forward until his car was in the gap. When his car finally broke contact with the BMW, the BMW's bumper bounced back to (somewhat crushed) shape.
Our mouths were hanging open. The waitress stood there in shock. The guy wanted to straighten his car in its spot. He reverse a little, bumping the Mini again, pushing it backwards, and then drove forward, hitting the BMW. The passenger was still laughing and flapping his hands around.
Total. Blatant. Disregard.
The driver got out of his seat, locked his car, and started to walk off. That was until he saw half the restaurant gawking at him, and he walked back to examine the BMW. He smiled smugly, rubbed his thumb on the broken bumper, then walked off.
We all exploded. The waitress told us that the guy was a regular at the restaurant, and he was the most obnoxious, hurtful customer she'd ever seen. She said that what he'd just done totally fit his arrogant personality.
Patrons at the restaurant approached the car and took photos with their phones, gathering evidence. The staff members wrote down the details of the license plates and contacted security.
Security drove past. We could see their heads crane as they checked out the damage, but they just laughed at each other (at the stupidity of the driver, I'm hoping, and not out of respect for the guy's perserverance) and kept moving.
My friend was determined to thump the guy when he got back, refusing to drink any more wine with his wife lest it weaken his ability to put up a good fight. He wouldn't act on it, we knew, but we all understood where he was coming from. We were all so pissed at this guy, reflecting to every time some jerk damaged our cars without so much as a note on the windscreen.
Well.
The owner of the BMW, a young mother with a preteen daughter by her side, came back to her car. She saw the damage, and flipped out. She started taking photos with her phone as well.
My friend hurried over to the woman and told her what had happened, and that there was half a restaurant of witnesses. The woman promptly headed over to the Police Beat of the mall and fetched an officer. The police officer looked over the damage of the cars, took some photos, and spoke with the lady at length. The security guards, who had looped back to this area of their patrol, saw the fuss and stopped. They started taking photos too, and tried to look like they gave a stuff.
One of the waitresses mentioned that the guy who'd done all the damage- the obnoxious restaurant regular- was actually in the restaurant, and was finishing up his meal and drink. Sure enough, soon the guy headed back to his car, only to be greeted by the police officer.
One of the witnesses who had been talking to the owner of the BMW told us that the guy had told the police that he "noticed he'd already accidentally bumped the car, so decided to hang around until the owner got back".
Yeah. Right.
We watched in anticipation. The police officer talked a little while on his two-way, then to the guy. Then the police officer pulled out a pair of hand cuffs and snapped them on the guy's wrists.
YEAH!! We all cheered and clapped. You should have seen the sulky death glare we got. It was so rich. The police officer lead the guy back to the Police Beat, which meant walking past the whole restaurant stretch in cuffs. Ahhh, the walk of shame.
The guy is going to be made to pay back all damages done to the BMW and the Mini, as well as any other associated costs (I sniff a court case by that statement) and will also be made to answer for the other warrants the officer discovered on this guy.
Ain't justice grand?
~Belinda
