No Good Deed Goes Undented.

Every time something bad happens to me or my family, which is pretty much every other day around here, someone will say something like “It’s about time your luck starts turning around!” Or “Something good is bound to happen soon! Hang in there!”
I know people mean well when they say that, they are generally hoping for good things to come my way. And, I want to believe it! I need some goodness to rain down from heaven and into my life– But, I don’t believe it. Good things are NOT headed my way and I’m just tired of trying to pretend like they are.
(Oprah’s all “You get back what you put in! Be positive! The Secret!” Rainbows! Ponies! Love! Schools in Africa!”)
You know, I’ve tried to remain positive in the face of all the negativity in my life. I’ve tried to keep a sense of humor about it all. “Bulging disks! HILARIOUS!” “Uninsured motorist? HAHAHA!”
But yesterday was the last straw. Yesterday was the day that I cried uncontrollably while shaking my fists at God.
(My Dad’s all “This is not God’s fault. This is your fault for turning your back on God. If you would repent and re-commit your life, things would start looking up for you! Why do you keep running from God?)
Truthfully, I’m not angry at God. I don’t blame God for my problems, but there’s something very liberating about lifting your fists towards the heaven and screaming “Whyyyyyyyy?”
Yesterday, I was out doing some grocery shopping for The Annual PigHunter/Sons camping trip. As I was out and about, I decided to stop at the gas station and fill the tank up with gas so Tony wouldn’t have to do it early in the morning. (Filling up the gas tank is almost as thoughtful as giving an unexpected blowjob around here!) I pulled into the gas station and opened the car door carefully, as there was a stone pillar type thing a few inches away.
I got out of the car, and reached in to get my purse. As I was taking my wallet out, I heard the voice of a man directly behind me.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
I jumped and turned to see who was behind me and why there were all up in my personal space and when I did, I hit the car door with my enormous ass and BAM! It hit the stone pillar.
I was afraid to look. We just bought this car. We just fucking bought this car.
“What do you want?” I snapped at the man.
“well, me and my girlfriend and my little girl just ran out of gas and I swear, we’re not homeless or anything, we just ran out of gas and I have no money and is there any way you can help us?”
I looked over and saw his girlfriend and daughter sitting in the car and while my first reaction was to say “SCREW YOU” because seriously, dude, you just made me dent my brand new used van door and I hate you so much. But then, I thought about all of the things that have happened to me in the past few months and what if I had run out of gas and didn’t have any money to put more in? How could I NOT help?
I told him I didn’t have any cash, but I’d go inside and get him $10 with my debit card.
Before I walked away to go inside, I looked at the damage to my door.
It was bad. A huge dent AND a gnarly scratch.
I held it together while I went into pay for a strangers gas, but I did tell the cashier what had just happened.
“Why did you help?” she asked. “You shouldn’t have done that. There are scammers out there.”
“I know.” I said, as I tried to hold the tears back. The tears for MY VAN DOOR. “I know, but what if it wasn’t a scam? I would hate for that to ever happen to me, so I wanted to help.”
“Well, bless you.” She said. “It’s going to come back to you 10 fold.”
(My Inner Bitch is all “HA! Sure it is! Remember that really nice thing you did for your friend last month, because you love her so much and now she’s not speaking to you?! 10 FOLD MY ASS, lady!”)
As soon as I got back to my car, I lost it. I saw the dent and I just lost it.
I know! It’s just a DENT.
“At least you’re alive! I mean, at least that man wasn’t a psycho killer who came up and stabbed you in the liver! YOU STILL HAVE YOUR LIVER! It’s a dent, dude!”
But that dent represents all of the bad luck that I’ve had these past few months. I look at that dent (because you know I can’t stop looking at the dent, right?) and I get so angry. I was trying to help a stranger out and really, I didn’t want anything in return, except for maybe THE DOOR OF MY USED NEW CAR TO NOT GET JACKED UP.
Is that too much to ask?
Apparently, the answer is yes, it is too much to ask because well, there’s a dent in my car door.
Tony was mad when he first saw it “Oh well, it’s your car and if you want to drive around in a car with dents on it, then that’s your problem.”
Because, you know, I did it on purpose.
He quickly realized he was being a bit of a jerk and so he hugged me and told me it was an accident and that we’d have it fixed. Which, no we won’t. I can’t justify fixing a dent in my car when he’s driving around without air conditioning in his car.
I don’t know, it sounds pretty stupid now that I’m typing it out. (Wahhh, I did something nice for someone and I got a dent in my car in return.) But when I first started writing this, it just felt VERY Serious.
It really did.

83 thoughts on “No Good Deed Goes Undented.

  1. Jennifer

    Oh, Y, everything I think to write sounds trite. It’s awful when you feel bad about how things are going in your life (we’ve had years, multiple years like that, too, so I do feel for you) and then you feel guilty for feeling bad because, you know, things could be worse. The guilt on top of the fear/anger/frustration, etc, of the situation makes it all the worse. I think you should let yourself mourn your situation, at least for a bit, and not feel guilty about it at all.

  2. AlwaysCurious

    I totally get it. Stuff like that happens to me all the time and I’m so ANGRY and then I feel dumb because I have money for rent and subway and cable and I know there are Ethiopians living under a detached car hood that have like 1.31/week to feed 12 people. But still, whatever it is seems important to ME and I’m a nice person and IT’S JUST NOT FAIR. /tantrum. 🙂
    This morning on my way to school I played blocker in traffic to allow a clearly novice driver to merge in front of me as we came upon a car parked (illegally) in one of the lanes… my reward? She flipped me off. Fucking great. Sometimes we gotta just cry.

  3. CRYSTAL

    I had a decade like this but then it just…stopped. I don’t know why and i don’t ask.
    but, here. Do you have car insurance? If you do, call them and tell them you were swerving to avoid hitting a (deer/dog/cat/moose/whatever) and you hit a pole after hitting the animal. It’s considered a comprehensive claim and you can pay your deductible and get it fixed without it raising your rates in insurance. I’m an agent, so I’m 100% on this. This message will self destruct in twenty seconds.
    xoxoxoxoxxo

  4. Karla

    I commend you on your generosity and thoughtfulness.
    So why is that when you try and so something nice for someone you end up getting a kick in the ass instead?
    Here is my fist shaking at the heavens moment:
    In December of 2005 my husband and I decided to go away around Christmas time because we had just lost our daughter and the whole being childless at Christmas time, you know, the time meant for kids, was too much to bear. Anyhow, there we were, swimming in the ocean when some guy lost his surf board. Being the nice guy that he is, my husband dives over for it and right then and there, a giant wave ripped his wedding band right off his finger and sucked it into the giant abyss of the Atlantic Ocean.
    Considering the divorce rate for people who lose kids is something like 90% and we were having some marital problems on the topic of trying for another baby, seeing his ring taken out to sea like that stung. Kind of felt like an evil omen actually.
    And the guy, whose surf board my husband rescued, didn’t even say thank you.
    Hopefully the man you helped at least said thank you.

  5. hello insomnia

    You’re a far better person than I for following through and not shrugging those people off. I am super cynical about strangers asking for my money and reading this today makes me think that I should be more charitable.

  6. Katie

    I’m not sure I would take Crystal’s advice, but since being an honest, good-hearted person hasn’t helped, what the heck? lol
    Actually – I was going to say – maybe you can find some neighbor or something who can fix it up a little. My dad hit a pole with the back of their van and after we got home I took a nap. When I left, he had mostly fixed the dent. Something about taking off the panel and hammering it out. But apparently it wasn’t TOO hard. It won’t fix the scratch, but it might look a bit better. Maybe Judy knows someone in the neighborhood who can do it?!

  7. Katie

    What Crystal said about having a bad decade reminded me of something else. I recently stumbled across something about the astrological cycles of Saturn causing people to have a few bad years in a row. Though of course your dad will freak out if you even think about something related to astrology 😀

  8. Anne Glamore

    We had a run of bad stuff (years) and I swear to God, after a while I asked God why he was picking on me. And when my mom dropped dead, other people started asking, too.
    I think you deserve to wallow in it and rent a sad movie and cry for a couple of days before you face it all again. Sometimes that helped me.
    Sometimes I didn’t need the sad movie!
    Thinking of you.

  9. cassie

    I’m really impressed that you still gave that guy money.
    I’m so sorry about your car. I won’t say that it’ll get better, but there’s really no way to go but up, right?

  10. Susan

    Nothing pisses me off more than when I’m doing something selfless – out of the goodness of my heart – and I get screwed in the process. Believe me, it’s happened numerous times to me, as well.
    I feel for you, Y. My life has been an unbelievable soap opera, as well…. parents getting diagnosed with cancer 30 days apart from each other (and dying), sister committing suicide, brother becoming severely brain damaged and disabled in an accident, cousin getting killed in a hit-n-run, current husband having a heart attack at 34 right before I was due to meet him (for the first time), one remaining brother who’s mentally ill and I’m his only relative to care for him, etc. etc. etc. There’s actually much more, but you get the gist. 😉
    My husband is convinced some people have a black cloud following them. Some days I see his point.
    For the most part, I’m still the eternal optimist, and take that “laugh or cry” stance as often as possible. Doesn’t mean sometimes I don’t shake my fists violently at God too and scream, “WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!” Hey, we wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t. We deserve to do that every so often! A person can only take so much, you know? And sometimes it’s the littlest things that set us off the worst. That’s sure the case for me! A lot of times, I can handle the life-altering serious shit just fine… but see me break a nail one day and watch me come unglued! LOL
    Here’s to TRULY good things happening for you ASAP. I am sick of you having to wait on some blessings!!!!!
    ((HUGS))

  11. Amanda Regan

    Ah the power of a good rant to make us feel better, I’m sure we could all tell you of a good turn we have done & the bad things that followed.
    It doesn’t detract from the fact that you are a very nice person for helping that guy out, I’m sure he appreciated it I know I would have.

  12. Mrs. Chicken

    I know EXACTLY how you feel. I have that kind of luck and people are always, oh cut it out, you’re blessed blah blah.
    I’m sorry about your dent.
    And scammers or not, you did a good deed. God saw you do it.
    xoxox

  13. Mrs Butter B

    OK, not to drive you nuts, but look at the positive side:
    1. You helped a stranger (God smiles on that right, feed the hungry, help the naked, etc etc)
    2. You had the satisfaction of knowing you shared your “widow’s mite” (the last little bit of money you had) with someone in need (Also in the Bible, but probably out of context, I think the widow lady gave it to church, but you get the idea)
    3. A can of Aqua Net aerosol hair spray and a white papertowel will remove the paint that is on the scratch on your door (that and a little elbow grease). How do I know this? Because I am the QUEEN of hitting posts- gas stations, banks, car washes, random parking lot-protecting-fire-hydrant posts.
    4. Use a rubber mallet (Tony should have one) to tap around the “dent”. In most cars today, it should start to push back into shape (don’t tell, I learned that from a mechanic relative). It won’t be perfect, but it will definitely reduce the dent.
    5. Take some clear fingernail polish and “seal” the scratch that remained after you un-dented it. It will keep the paint from peeling and rusting. I use Sally Hansen’s clear coat protective type.
    6. No one was injured!!!
    7. I can’t really think of a seven, but um…well, you still have your abundant readership, and we love you!

  14. Mrs Butter B

    Hey, FYI…
    on #3 above, I’m talking about removing the paint that the post left- that doesn’t match your car’s paint. Don’t try to remove car paint. And don’t use polish remover etc. It will take off paint that NEEDS to be there.
    Love ya, hon. You can do this!!! Just keep that Y smile going and don’t let it all get you down!

  15. Mrs Butter B

    Oh and please don’t get pissed at me for being positive. I just saved $604 (yes $604) on books, and I’m still on an emotional high from it. You know we’re waiting on our new foster care license from the state, and we’re prepping our extra bedrooms for the new kids, and I’ve really stressed about not having enough/the right kind of toys/books for them. I found a new 2nd hand store yesterday, went in and found 80 something almost new (as in, never opened!) kids books- all Christian from Harvest House, bethany etc, and all the ones from the series that my kids already read- regularly 25 cents, but 50% off. So I got 80 something books for 12 cents each- a whopping $10.84 for all that. Cheaper than one from Barnes & Noble.
    I absolutely love thrift stores.

  16. AmyM

    I think we are on the same level of Sucky Lucklessness. Because that kind of bullshit happens to me all the damn time. And my husband always gives me that defeated, raised eyebrow ‘I’m-not-even-going-to-tell-you-what-I’m-thinking-because-you’re-either-going-to-cry-or-get-really-pissed-at-me’ look.
    The Universe…it can really hold a grudge, no?

  17. Angella

    Is it bad that this entry made me smile? It’s only because it seems (for me) that these things happen when you are already at the end of your rope and A DENT IS A BIG DEAL.
    Also? The Oprah reference made me laugh out loud.

  18. Helen

    Tell your dad that Helen said she is loving God, is worshipping Him and going to church and hosting water parties for 30 church going children and her life is still one big arse boil. We are moving ( again) 2nd time in 8 weeks and this next house is only for 3 months, I just learned my daughter was taking drugs, had to rescue her and hope she doesn’t unrescue herself ( as is her wont) my car is a big pile of rusty poo. I have an autistic son, I’d go on but hell, I am depressing myself. If what your dad says is true, well if I were to turn my back on God…I would be SO stuffed. Loving the Lord does not guarantee a happy clappy existance with trouble free days…..life just sucks. As my ex used to say Life’s a bitch and then you live.

  19. Helen

    Oh and I so wish it had been Judy that called you and made your bum dent the car, you could have punched her right in the head and put it down as a reflex action. Damn. Life is so unfair.

  20. ~nell~

    Sometimes life just sucks. Hard. I’m caught in the middle of that suckiness right now too. I feel for you and I know that nothing can be said to make it better – but…
    At least you haven’t *just* finished living with your in-laws for the 4th time (yes, you read that right – 4th!!)
    You are loved out here in the mist and ether of the internets!

  21. Dawn

    Now how are you going to explain this one to Judy eh? Cause you KNOW you’re gonna get the whole “Well, if you would have let me help you yadayadayada…..”
    Sorry about the dent in your door, that really does suck!

  22. Nicole

    First time commenter here (I think) although I’ve been reading for quite awhile.
    Do you remember that saying about the straw that broke the camel’s back? I think You’ve been holding up remarkably well (although I don’t know your day to day activities) given your circumstances over the last several months. I’ve been down those bad roads where nothing seems to go right – and sometimes all it takes is the smallest thing to make us snap.
    Its ok to feel like you feel about this. Really.
    And were it me, I would not have been a big enough person to give those poor stranded people any money.

  23. girlplease

    Girrrlll you got the West Coast covered and I have the Midwest covered when it comes to our cars.
    1. driving through the ATM I hit the pole on my mirror while driving on the way out.
    2. Dunkin Donuts. 7am. Out of it due to hormones. Decides to go full speed in reverse because I’m feeling cool as shit. So cool that I slam into a guard rail right behind me. Full speed, dude. Full speed.
    3. Muthafucking RV parked in the driveway. Can’t judge distance for shit so I continuously bump into the hitch. And then one day I drive THROUGH the hitch leaving a 5″ gash to the point where I discover that beneath the shiny plastic bumper lies styrofoam!!
    4. Some muthafucking cuntbag muthafucker hits my back passenger door so hard that he leaves a gouge. This fucke must have swung open his/her Delta ’72 (or whatever steel door car it was) so hard that it could have launched the space shuttle into orbit.
    5. Desperate for work, low paying, shitty-ass job driving 2 hours each way back and forth for nearly two years put 52k on my NEW car and I have 3 years to pay it off.
    So girl. Me an my 04 Maxima know your pain. Trust me. We know.
    *don’t ask me about my Rebel camera. Let’s just say: open backpack + rocky embankment = flip, roll, crash, crack,into a crevace to the point where I had to get a stick to reach it, goodbye $1,000 rebel because now, it doesn’t fucking work.
    So when Pig Hunter “blammed you” for an accident, I totally know the feeling.

  24. Kristabella

    I totally know how you feel. Sometimes it’s like the straw that broke the camel’s back kind of thing and you get SO upset over something you KNOW is SO stupid, yet it just doesn’t matter.
    And it was nice that you lent a helping hand to those strangers.
    And I’m glad you still have your liver. Livers are helpful. For the drinking.

  25. Louise

    I swear to Gord, we need to start some kind of club.
    The “I Swear I’m A Good Person So Why Is All This Shit Happening To Me” Club.
    You can be president. I’ll be treasurer or something. Or I could make posters. I make awesome posters.
    (my little rant:
    1. I just had nearly $200 stolen from me– I tried to buy a wig, because I HAVE NO HAIR, and the person took my money and disappeared. Paypal refunded $200 but WHERE IS THE OTHER HALF?
    2. My inlaws — AT THEIR REQUEST we bought them plane tickets to come visit, and now they can’t come during the time period the tickets are good for. Non-refundable tickets.
    3. Someone hit our car, too! And left no note! For crap’s sake!
    4. Camera. Expensive. Neckstrap broke. Camera fell to concrete. Only semi-working now)

  26. Kristen

    You’re a good woman, Charlie Brown.
    And God was watching. From a distance.
    (heh)
    I’m singing it for you but you can’t hear me. That’s a good thing.

  27. Nancy

    Y … FIRST : ((((hugs)))
    Last time you posted about the other accident, I wrote the following…
    I am not sure where you live ( there, proof I am not a stalker) .. but in Michigan, if your car is PARKED (yours was) UNOCCUPIED (yours was) and it gets hit (well shhhhh, you don’t quite know what happened *wink*) … it is a non chargeable loss, no deductible, no rate increase … IF you have full coverage. We are a no fault state … check with your agent, they should be able to tell you.
    SECOND: I was the queen of bad luck, begging, cursing, praying for help all the time … when I finally quit asking, but prayed with THANKS for the good things in my life, va-wella! positive things started happening for me, creepy as it sounds, it’s true.
    Im’a gonna include you in my prayers for a few weeks *smiles*

  28. Sueb0b

    Yeah, I feel you. I would have walked around with 5 pounds of lead in my stomach and tears in my eyes all day, too. It just feels so damned unjust…
    My mantra: life is random. Good doesn’t follow good. Bad people don’t always get punished. it is just random. That’s the best we can hope for. And the only thing we can change, hopefully, is the way we look at it.

  29. AA

    see, that is why writing is good. it makes you feel better.
    I so totally know how you feel. Once I threw a walleyed fit because a guy I was seeing did something to my new used car automatic door locks- like he tried to open when I was clicking or something and it quit working. You would think after that fit he would have dumped me, but it took me a year or two more to get rid of him. But it just seemed so serious to me at the time it was a new to me car and it was the first time I ever had automatic anything (sadly this was 1995 and I was 35 years old).
    You should drive north and let Susan’s husband fix it for you. It is probably not a big deal for someone who knows what they are doing and has the right tools. OR you can drive to TX (just a tad further) and I can get Ramiro at my Sig. Other’s business to fix it for you. He has done several for me and my truck. Really, contact Susan and let her hub work on it. There is good in the universe too- absorb it.

  30. Jennifer/The Word Cellar

    I was so hoping that story would end with something like this:
    When I gave the guy the money he noticed the dent in my car and said, “You know, I work for an auto body garage across town. Bring your car by sometime and I’ll fix that dent in your door for free.”
    Alas.

  31. takin changes

    I feel you on the dented door thing, not because I’ve dented anything lately, but the frustration level. Sometimes I just wanna hit something with a Louisville Slugger. Maybe if you hit the other side of your van with a bat, people would think it was what you were going for, a new style. Maybe all the cool kids would start beating the hell out of their cars.
    Or may you could just keep blogging it out. 🙂

  32. Galestorm

    You are so young, when you mature you will realize that your “Luck” will never change, just the way you handle and look at things change. For instance, you give alot to people, so you don’t feel guilty when you say, I’m sorry I am out of cash. On the dent thing, you realize that your child or somebody could have been between the door and post, and relieved when just the car is dented.

  33. KTP

    I did the SAME THING, although I drove into the thing that dented my car. Like a total dumbass. No excuse. It was a year ago and we didn’t get it fixed, so I have a daily reminder of what a dumbass I am. I hate it.

  34. Kris

    It’s God’s fault, you know, because you turned your back on him and all. And when you finally turn around to Jesus (or whatever the fark his name was), you dented the door.
    See – all his fault. Ask your father to explain that one.

  35. Snoskred

    I totally understand what you’re saying here. We just got a new car, replacing one that had a big dent in MY door – the passenger door. That had been annoying me for two years now. Every time I looked at it I felt angry.
    With this new car I’m being so careful, we don’t park it in carparks unless we can get a park nobody can park next to.
    My advice to you is this – get the door fixed. Whatever it costs to do that is going to be a small price to pay compared to the years of anger anytime you look at the dent. We are already determined that this is what we will do if the car gets damaged. I’m not going through that again.
    I think when you go shopping they should have little garages, where you can pull down the door and nobody can get near your car. Perhaps that sounds obsessive, but people are so careless of others property these days. 🙁
    Snoskred
    http://www.snoskred.org/

  36. jeanie

    I second the above comment:
    “My advice to you is this – get the door fixed. Whatever it costs to do that is going to be a small price to pay compared to the years of anger anytime you look at the dent.”
    There is nothing worse than having it remind you – and if Susan’s hubby can do it, pronoia because no doubt you will also meet some wonderful people.
    BTW – Don’t know whether God watched or not – but I don’t believe he is stalking you zapping you with bad luck. I think sometimes the universe conspires – but I also think blogging it out is silver lining.

  37. sylvia

    I arrived at your blog for the cheeseburgers. This entry made me want to hug you. Honestly. WTF? Assisting strangers is NOT supposed to put dents in your car.
    *hugs*

  38. Kimberly

    Awwww shit, Y. That sucks. But Karma’s got your back. You were a really good person today. I know I would not have been able to hold it together and get $ out of an ATM but I would have wished I did later. Let that dent be a reminder of how good hearted you are.
    And for the record, those freaking pillars suck! A few years ago I was at the mall getting my JLo velvet sweatsuit and totally screwed up the whole side of my car. Got the sweatsuit though…after I dented the car. Fuck it.

  39. T

    My uncle has a sign in his mud room that says, “People always told me to Cheer Up! Things could be worse. So, I cheered up and sure enough, things got worse.” Kind of funny….
    But seriously, cheer up!!! We all love you. : )

  40. heidi

    You know, I know the feeling. I had a friend once tell me, “Heidi, if it wasn’t for bad luck you’d have no luck at all.” I seriously wanted to slap her, but it’s so friggin true. I don’t know how to change it, but I also know that if the universe keeps sending me crap (because the crap, it still keeps on coming) then I just have to learn to deal with it….but wouldn’t it be nice if things would just go our way for ONCE?

  41. Incognito

    I didn’t read the other comments, but you know? At least it’s done. Kinda like when you buy a fresh new squeaky clean pair of white sneakers. You prance around and walk gingerly as not to mess up those nice starch sneakers. Then it happens. Scuff mark. Stain. Dirt. Something… Your sterile shoes are now broken in. Then you can start wearing your almost clean, new white sneakers comfortably. That’s how it is for the van. You can now drive it comfortably and enjoy it.

  42. elizabethsheryl

    the astrological thing is usually Saturn Return and happens in late 20’s, around 28 but can last around 3 years (not sure on how long it lasts, am sure it is in late 20’s)

  43. elizabethsheryl

    um..also, Cookie is full of it. God does not punish people for not repenting/going to church/baking cookies for the annual Jesus Bake Sale..you dont have to be the perfect person for God to love you, he(it) just DOES. So..no. You deserve only good things in your life, and don’t let comments like that seep into any thoughts! Grr to that person.

  44. Laura

    Damn girl. If you were here that van would be in our shop on Monday. But AR is a long drive for a dent.

  45. Not The Mama

    Ugh. I’m so sorry. I know it’s “just” a dent, but it’s really so much more than that. Our car has a huge dent in the side ride now from where someone hit us and drove away. Our insurance doesn’t cover it since we don’t have comprehensive coverage and since we’re in the middle of a move, we don’t have the money to pay it out of pocket. Everytime I see it, I want to strangle someone. And I don’t even know who to strangle.
    I have no advice and I won’t offer platitudes. But you have my sympathy.

  46. Lily

    That totally sucks. I would have dissolved in a heap on the pavement. Two thoughts, besides a bonus one, that “Rescue Remedy” (Google it) is worthwhile keeping with you in your purse for moments like that. One, I was totally confused by the sequence of events. Didn’t you get out of your car, the person talked to you, you got rattled and banged the door on the post by accident, THEN decided to help the person who asked you for help? So it was technically getting punished for doing a good deed — you weren’t there yet. At least that’s how I read it. And the second thought: maybe you just wanna revision the event. Picture that you got your door dent from opening it up absentmindedly and hitting JUDY in the ass! THEN you could begin to look at this with glee not as a major bummer. But seriously, I feel for you. Some days are seriously like that. I hope you have way more good ones and SOON.

  47. Lily

    Oops, I meant “wasn’t technically getting punished for doing a good deed,” not “was.” Rats. I wish this had an edit button 😉

  48. metalia

    Oh, Y. I totally understand that it’s not “just a dent.” Someone recently cracked the shit out of our bumper awhile parking, and drove off without leaving a note. And while we have, y’know, our health and all that, IT STILL SUCKED.
    Here’s hoping things turn around soon!

  49. Kristie

    You know that saying about “the straw that broke the camel’s back” ?? Well, yeah, it’s only a dent, but you’ve been riding a pretty stinky camel for the past few months and if you want to cry for a day or two over this straw, then that’s your business and more power to ya!
    The thing to remember (for ALL of us to remember, because we all get served shit sandwiches from time to time) is that it WILL pass. What’s great is that you have a sense of humor about yours in the meantime. That just means when things turn around for you, we will all be that much happier for you because we love you to begin with. 🙂
    (I hope that didn’t sound too stalker-ish.)

  50. Lisse

    When the guy came up behind you, I seriously expected him to take your purse. I’m sure that says something about how my mind works, or the kind of luck you’ve been having.
    Get the car fixed if you possibly can. You’ll feel better.

  51. Robin~Thrifty Miss Priss

    Awww! I’m so sorry! I know it’s disgusting that it happened, but technically the dent happened BEFORE you helped a stranger! Nof AFTER so there is still time for that “what goes around comes around thing”! and yes, your sad your nice new car is blemished but things could be worse, it could be you sitting in that car with your family needing gas with no gas money……just a different way of looking at things! Cheer UP!

  52. Marriage-101

    I had the same thing happen to me, except for my butt hitting the door, it was a windy day and the wind threw my door all the way open as I was getting out and BAM right up against the concrete pillar. Those things are hazardous. I look at it every day and it pisses me off, but I just don’t have the money to get it fixed. I feel your pain.

  53. kbn

    Aw, Y, that blows. I totally know where you’re coming from too – my sweet, thoughtful boyfriend decided to scrape two inches of snow and ice from my car one night last winter, and put two nice big scratches in my hood while doing so. I knew it wasn’t the world’s biggest deal, and that it happened when he was trying to be nice, but I was still totally pissy about it (and am, a little, to this day – though I keep those thoughts to myself). So sorry something happened to your car as well.

  54. Heather

    Y, I feel for you woman. I shut the garage door on the bumper of my beautiful 6 day old van and scratched it all up. I was in tears and 3 years later I look at it and want to kick my own butt over it. Things happen, I never fixed it and now I just roll with it when I get the gravel in the windshield or little paint knicks on the hood. I am sorry it happened to you.

  55. Audrey

    What are those stupid posts at gas stations even there for? I am convinced that their sole purpose is to dent people’s car doors. I mean, what other purpose could they possibly serve? They just sit there, right in car-door opening range, waiting to cause dents. Those asshole posts.

  56. Jenn

    About fourteen years ago, I stopped at a lemonade stand in a very rural part of the state, where two little girls sat. I couldn’t imagine how long they’d been there, or how many cars they’d even seen that day.
    I bought a cup of the lemonade and folded up $20. “It’s only 50 cents” said one of the girls. “I know, but now you’ll each get 50 cents”. They smiled and hugged each other.
    I walked to my car and watched through the rearview mirror as they unraveled the bill and looked at one another in astonishment. Then, at the same time, they began chasing my car to let me know my error. They were nearly delirious when I told them that I knew what I paid. They literally skipped back to the table.
    Fast forward to about one month ago, when I was laying somewhere, feeling, well, extremely sorry for myself. And out of nowhere, a sudden act of kindness that made me cry it was so sweet.
    And the image that came to my mind was of those two girls, skipping in the sun. I hadn’t thought of them, literally, in about a decade.
    I guess the long of the short is, hold on. Continue to follow that heart within you, even if your feet are kicking the tires on the new van.

  57. Amy

    I know. I so know how you feel. It sucks. Sometimes it’s just the little stuff The little stuff that adds up to the big stuff. This too will pass.

  58. bitsy parker

    Oh, you’re a nice, nice person. I wouldn’t have given the money. SO nice of you!! I’m taking a lesson.
    P.S. My friend had worse luck than you – long story but she doesn’t have much money and wrecked her car. Had to buy another one and it was a huge struggle. The new (used) car was parked while she was sitting in church. She heard a crash and a car had careened off the road and hit her car. The driver had no insurance!

  59. kate

    ugh. i feel for you, really. see my bear door bit and watermelon and we can cry and comiserate. i’m sorry for your new used van. such a bummer.

  60. aimee/greeblemonkey

    I came over from Perfect Post and this really spoke to me. I am having a rough time emotionally right now, and for you to be able to go in and get money from your debit card for those people.. DAMN. That rocks. Even if you get nothing from it, you gave me something. And the post was hilarious to boot.

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