Oh, fer cryin' out loud.

PattiTheWicked · Aug 31, 2006

Have you ever had one of those moments of alarming clarity where you just stop and think "I'm an idiot"?

This morning, I got in my truck, started the ignition, and without even thinking backed straight down the driveway.

Until I heard the crunch.

I had plowed right smack into the front end of a car my husband has just spent three months rebuilding. A car that I drove last night and parked right there, so you'd think I'd remember it was there. A car that I would have freakin' NOTICED if I had just taken a moment to look into the rearview mirror.

My neighbor came running over to make sure I was okay, and then I called my husband to make my confession, and promptly burst into tears because I feel like the worst person on the planet. I mean, who runs into a car in their own driveway -- that they parked there in the first place!? Who the hell DOES that?

Me.

And the worst part is, this is the second time in six months I've done it. Back in April, I took out the rear quarter panel of my husband's BMW -- again, I had parked it in what was not its usual spot and completely forgot to look for it when I backed out.

I think I'm just going to go to bed and stay there the rest of the day.

Cath · Aug 31, 2006

Ooops.

dclary · Aug 31, 2006

PattiTheWicked said:
Have you ever had one of those moments of alarming clarity where you just stop and think "I'm an idiot"?

This morning, I got in my truck, started the ignition, and without even thinking backed straight down the driveway.

Until I heard the crunch.

I had plowed right smack into the front end of a car my husband has just spent three months rebuilding. A car that I drove last night and parked right there, so you'd think I'd remember it was there. A car that I would have freakin' NOTICED if I had just taken a moment to look into the rearview mirror.

My neighbor came running over to make sure I was okay, and then I called my husband to make my confession, and promptly burst into tears because I feel like the worst person on the planet. I mean, who runs into a car in their own driveway -- that they parked there in the first place!? Who the hell DOES that?

Me.

And the worst part is, this is the second time in six months I've done it. Back in April, I took out the rear quarter panel of my husband's BMW -- again, I had parked it in what was not its usual spot and completely forgot to look for it when I backed out.

I think I'm just going to go to bed and stay there the rest of the day.

If it makes you feel *any* better, my mother did the exact same thing.

Except it was to Rusty, our puppy, and not another car.

MidnightMuse · Aug 31, 2006

Well, that there's whatcha might call an Oopsie

dclary · Aug 31, 2006

Hope you're not in California. In California, the person in back's at fault -- no matter what. My niece backed into my nephew's PARKED CAR in the driveway...

Nephew was found at fault.

Stew21 · Aug 31, 2006

OOH Patti! How mad was he? (just thinking of what my husband would say would make me feel like going to bed for the rest of the day too)

I backed into a mailbox once, when I was lost (at night) and turned around in someone's driveway. Their mailbox was across the road (?) it was dark - SMACK!
oh God - late at night too, going up to someone's house - just knocked your mailbox down....hangs head in shame.

Soccer Mom · Aug 31, 2006

Oh, I feel your pain honey. I lived in a house with a circular drive with a huge tree in the middle. One morning I was backing up my car. I couldn't see out the rear window because it was iced over, but I certainly wasn't going to run into the huge tree. I knew right where it was. So of course I smacked the tree good and hard. I had owned the car for about two weeks.

Hope DH wasn't too mad. Have some chocolate.

PattiTheWicked · Aug 31, 2006

dclary said:
Hope you're not in California. In California, the person in back's at fault -- no matter what. My niece backed into my nephew's PARKED CAR in the driveway...

Nephew was found at fault.

Nope, I'm in Ohio. We're not going to bother filing a claim for it, but I'm the one who parked the car back there anyway. I'm sure insurance companies have a word for this sort of thing. Oh, yes, they do... it's "Patti, you're a dumbass."

Trish: He wasn't as mad as I thought he'd be. i think the fact that when I called him I was in hysterics and sobbing like a five-year-old must have thrown him. He kept asking if I was hurt, and telling me it was okay and we'd just fix the car. Of course, that just made me feel worse.

SoccerMom: See? that's just what I mean. You KNOW you're not going to run into a 2500-lb Dodge Intrepid that's sitting behind you, and then BAM. There it is. Of course, you at least can say your window was iced over. It's 80 degrees here... I really have no excuse except my own dumbassery.

Soccer Mom · Aug 31, 2006

I've also backed into a column in a parking garage, the tractor, the barbeque grill, and our garbage can. The tree is just the biggest thing I've hit.

And I can only blame that one on the ice.

ChaosTitan · Aug 31, 2006

Back in high school, a friend of mine drove a old, monster Suburban to school. It was the size of a U-Haul and we called it The Tank. One day she backed into the school (don't ask). Chipped the brick, not a scratch on the bumper.

I knew a girl who hit a parked car while she was driving. Just driving down the road and BAM. Of course, this is the same girl who ALWAYS drove with the windows up, because she had a real fear of being sucked out (I guess that happens when you're only 4'9").

Up in Lancaster many years ago, my dad took out the mailbox of an Amish family as we left the yard sale next door.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Aug 31, 2006

Whew. Remind me not to write insurance for any y'all!

MidnightMuse · Aug 31, 2006

I drive a diesel (beetle) and every time I pull in to fill it up, and have to pull out the green nozzle, I get at least one GUY trying to tell this dumb blonde that it's the wrong hose !

But last summer, there I was filling up, minding my own business, and this lady drives up in a big pickup truck pulling a huge trailer with horses in it. She gets out, looking all rushed and upset already, and starts to fill up, and I remember thinking to myself "Wow, I can't believe a truck that size isn't a diesel."

She was putting Regular in it.

Then she jumps in, I see her pause - she gets out, stares at the pump, then starts SOBBING ! Then a few minutes later she's on the phone to her husband, admitting she's just filled up his Diesel truck with Regular fuel.

As many of you know, you can put diesel into a regular tank and the engine will survive. But if you put regular into a diesel, then start the ignition - kiss it bye bye !

Luckily she hadn't started it up, so it could be drained and okay. And two big trucker-dudes came over and assured her it was okay. When I left, she was waiting for her husband to come.

Perks · Aug 31, 2006

I took out my best friend's mailbox - the very first time she ever invited me over. I sat there at the end of her driveway trying to think if I could just keep going and wondering what the odds were that she'd know it was me. I confessed. She forgave me. I'm sorry you're having a crap day.

persiphone_hellecat · Aug 31, 2006

I'm sending you over a huge box of Godiva chocolates -- the ones with the creamy centers. Girl, you NEED chocolate.

DamaNegra · Aug 31, 2006

I know that, when I drive, that's the sort of thing that's going to happen to me.

For example today. I took off my watch so I could wipe water out from it and when my friend asked me the hour, I looked at my wrist and was surprsied when I didn't find the watch!! I HAD IT IN MY HANDS, I WAS WIPING IT, AND IT STILL TOOK ME MORE THAN 20 SECONDS TO FIND IT!

Of course, my friend was laughing so hard she could't tell me where the watch was.

allion · Aug 31, 2006

I managed to get stuck in a parking garage beside a large concrete post. Somehow I was able to drive into the spot, but to back out meant I had to scrape the side of my car against the concrete to escape (there was a car next to me, so angling the car out was not a good idea). Not a good sound.

I also had an accident the first day I had my car, within about two hours of taking ownership. Yep, I too suck much with vehicles.

Karen

jbal · Aug 31, 2006

I wrecked a Honda that I had for only two weeks, whole front end destroyed. Thinking I was very clever, I decided I could fix it, and nine months and two thousand bucks later I was right. almost. One day I'm under the car (it was already running at this point but not moving) when I noticed the whole transmission was cracked in half! So I clamped it together with that JB weld crap and drove it for six weeks before it exploded while I was driving it. My birthday, three in the morning, driving a friend home, poof, whole car on fire. So we tried to put it out with Jim Beam, and I bet you can predict whether that worked. I ended up leaving the car in a parking lot, still burning and making the hour walk home weaving. I don't even know which part of this is the stupid part.

A. Hamilton · Aug 31, 2006

Aww Patti, at least he was understanding about it. One day you'll laugh, right?
My brother ran into the corner of our house when he was learning to drive. We all teased him mercilessly for years, and then 20 years later, our oldest brother ran into the same spot with the family motor home.

Christine N. · Aug 31, 2006

I dinged a brand new van full of softball team into a parking garage pillar thing at the entrance. Yeah, I put a big 'ole dent in the door.

I also drove into a parked car, on the opposite side of the road, with my pickup truck. I think I must have taken my eyes off the road for a second to do something. I don't remember, I hit my head.

Yeah, I got a ticket too. But I was only 17, so I had that teenage stupidity thing going for me.

My husband hit the house with the lawnmower. That was funny. Of course it was my Dad's mower, and we had to pay the $100 to replace all the John Deere green plastic. But it was still funny.

Shwebb · Sep 1, 2006

When my mom was about 25, she was driving a little Opal around town. She stopped in an empty--yes, empty--parking lot to turn around. She backed into one of the support posts for the front of the store! The post was bent quite markedly across the middle.

She was certain no one had seen her do it, and there was little damage to her car, so she just drove off.

The next day she drove by the store, and the post had been replaced. There was also a sign, "NO BIG TRUCKS ALLOWED."

That Opal must've been built quite well, eh?

Sorry, Patti, about your brain malfunction and your husband's car. My husband did that to my car once, too. It's easy to be on automatic pilot when you're doing the routine stuff.

Carole · Sep 1, 2006

I hit the hot water heater in our garage so many times that one day I came home and found a STOP sign (one that ex-jerk had stolen in his youth) attached to the front of it!

Maryn · Sep 1, 2006

Let's all remember, too, that our cars and trucks are just things, and that in the Big Picture, things don't matter at all.

Maryn, who's got a dent and a nice strip of peeling paint on the driver's door

earthshoes · Sep 1, 2006

I feel your pain.

I have twice (count 'em--two times!) backed into the only other car in an otherwise empty parking lot. backed into my own mail box and over my own trash cans. With respect to the cars, I was tired and distracted and would have loved to have just driven away, as there was no one around either time. But there's that voice in the back of my head--you know the one--whispering, "WWJD?" Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . Jesus didn't have to face my husband's incredulous expression and his "You did what? Again? Do you ever look before you put the thing in reverse?"

I am a marked woman. My insurance company hates me--as evidenced by the raise in rates after the second time. The insurance agent has this guarded way of speaking to me when she recognizes my name now.

Aubrey · Sep 1, 2006

My mother is infamous for running over things with the car. She's run into mailboxes, garage doors, and sideswiped cars next to her in cramped parking spaces. Between her and my dad, Mr. Speedy, is it any wonder I'm all grown up and still dragging my feet about making myself learn to drive?

Jaycinth · Sep 1, 2006

When I'm in my car I try to aim for things I'm not supposed to hit. I ALWAYS miss.

That's why I'm not a Major Leage Pitcher. ( That's why I can't even join the local softball league.)

My ex, on the other hand...hits EVERYTHING. He's on his 3rd car this year.

Oh, fer cryin' out loud.

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