I always depend on the kindness of strangers OR A blistery, blunderingly Danielle day
April 24th, 2007
Sometimes I think I’m an idiot savant.
I mean, all in all, I consider myself highly intelligent, but mostly in the book smarts area, I’ll admit. I’m really good at memorizing things and standardized tests and all of that stuff that doesn’t matter for shit once you leave school.
Street smarts, common sense, whathaveyou–I have serious problems. It has to do with my dreamer gene, I think, which I recently learned may have a name.
Anyway, on with my story. Yes, on with the story. (not-so-obscure Sesame Street News reference)
So I’m applying to B-School, doing the GMAT etc.
Frankly, I’m not as gung-ho about the whole thing as I was a few weeks ago (didn’t end up finishing Two Weeks to a Breakthrough) but I was hoping the GMAT Strategy session I was going to would get me back on track.
And so, I printed out my little Mapquest map, left work early, and off I was to the Kaplan Center in Westwood.
First let me say, Westwood is a fuck-all when it comes to parking.
And of course, I didn’t have a red cent on me. I knew I should have probably gone to the ATM beforehand but I pushed that niggling little voice to the back of my head (BAD SIGN #1) and was on my way.
Well I was annoyed but not surprised, per se, when I saw that parking was a $5 flat rate, pay as you enter.
Bloody hell.
So now I had to find an ATM, which of course, entailed finding a free parking spot so I could run to said ATM.
Bloody effing hell.
So I drive around for 15-odd minutes (already late for the session, natch) until I see a Bank of America (my bank) so I pull into the parking lot, which states that every 15 minutes will cost me $2.20.
Pure robbery, I know, but what choice did I have?
Fortunately, the very nice (you’ll learn just how nice soon enough) parking attendant said I could park 10 minutes for free. So I found a spot and am on my way to the ATM when, lo and behold, I realize–no fucking bank card.
I’d misplaced it. Wanted to shoot myself.
But, you know, these things happen. Especially to me.
It had still been less than 10 minutes so I thought I would just leave the lot and be on my merry way home. The class was a far, far, away thought at this point.
But something very mysterious happened in that short trip (like 30 feet, seriously) from the lot to my parked car.
Well, very mysterious in a very typically Daniellian way.
Alas.
Alack.
I had lost the parking ticket.
That’s impossible, you say.
Aaahhh, but you do not live in my world, I counter.
After searching frantically with one eye on the clock and coming up blank, I drive to the parking exit with my best smile on hoping and praying the attendant wouldn’t ask for the parking ticket.
ha ha ha
She tells me, well now that you’ve lost it, you’ll have to pay the full day’s fare, $17.
And you know, it’s not that I would have minded paying at this point. I’ve been in these situations before. It’s totally my fault and my duty to pay.
But, in case you’ve forgotten–NO BANK CARD, NO MONEY.
A little hysterical at this point (and I do feel bad at this because I am prone to shrieking), I shrieked at the parking attendant, “I can pay you with a credit card but I don’t have anything else. WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DOOOOoooooooo????”
God bless her soul.
She broke protocol and let me out.
An angel in disguise she was.
And now I’m safely in my house, having lived to blog about my harrowing experience.
So… just what is the moral of this long and somewhat rambling story?
Well… I’m an idiot.
And… don’t go looking for parking blind in Westwood.
And… if it weren’t for nice people like that lovely parking attendant at the BofA building, my life would be a lot more screwed than it actually ends up being.
And… writing is my catharsis. Balls to you.
April 24th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
what else need to be said ??
April 25th, 2007 at 3:18 am
you should send a commendation to the BOA attendant. They’ll give her a spirit award. LOL
April 25th, 2007 at 7:36 am
you know, I was thinking about that but I didnt want to get her in trouble for not making me pay… I might just pass by there one day with some flowers or something…
April 25th, 2007 at 8:28 am
If u do pass by with flowers…she will fall head over hills…cause no one does that in LA…ahahahahaha…yes…parking is an issue from downtown all the way till Santa Monica…I got the parking tickets to prove it…hahahahaha
April 25th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Yeah whatever D, it’s only because you have boobs. And it has nothing to do with the attendant’s preferences either. Not that she isn’t a nice person, but if you were a guy, you’d probably still be standing there.
Girls are allowed a lot of leeway with being absent minded; it’s almost endearing or even cute, especially to the opposite sex. Guys who are absent minded are simply called retarded.
The moral of the story is that there are probably plenty times you remember something like this happening, and probably many more that you’re not aware of. You CAN make these slip-ups BECAUSE you’re female. Obviously for someone like yourself, you tend to exhibit more smart tendencies than not, but you have a bigger safety net, or to be blunt about it, a lower expectation.
I present both angles of the same aspect to suggest it’s a blessing and a curse. How SHOULD you feel that you got away that day? The relief of being let off the hook is clear - you were in a bind, and you got help. I don’t expect any strangers will ever give me that kind of help, and I play to suit.
Anyway, this is getting abstract, and it’s going to annoy a lot of people if I stay on this train of thought. Smile and thank god for small mercies.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Very interesting point you make, Weso.
Interesting, but WRONG.
While I could be persuaded to agree that women possibly at times may exhibit more outwardly absent-minded-type behavior than men, I have a very different and infinitely more compelling interpretation of such a hypothesis.
Personally, I have no time to crowd my mind with such base considerations as, “Where did I put my keys?”, “Did I leave the stove on?”, and “Did I really just lose that damn parking ticket for real?”
Surely other highly evolved women like myself agree that we must direct our precious brain power to the real issues at hand: world peace, reducing carbon output, and of course, losing that last five lbs.
And in any case–as you pointed out yourself, dear Weso–why should we, the fairer sex, pay mind to these trivial pursuits when our smiles and our skirts are all we need to sail through life?
Touche, dear Weso, touche.
April 26th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Firstly, the phrase “to not crowd your mind with things like did you leave the stove on,” is frightening to me, and I’m really concerned about your well-being, if you’re serious. I think you are. Relying on the kindness of strangers to bail you out of situations you’re knowingly going to put yourself in, because they’re beneath you to pay mind to, is just very lazy. A dependence on someone else - for any reason, at any time - is a nauseating prospect. No man is an island, but you could have very easily NOT been handed a get out of jail free card that day. Anyway, I’m sure a) you may have heard that speech already, and b) I’m not the best one to give it to you anyway.
Anyway, I keep reading through your reply, and the only thing I’m seeing is a regurgitation of the first angle I presented, not a counter to it.
I’m not saying don’t do it, don’t enjoy it, or even don’t revel in it. I’m asking how does it make you feel, that it SEEMS like women have a lower level of expectations than that of men? You’re only looking at this one example right now which worked out well for you, and that’s good that you’re okay. But there may be a day in the past or future, when for instance you’ll be passed over for something in a role of responsibility, simply because you’re a woman. On that day you’ll be disgusted with men or people on a whole, and curse being a woman because you’re constantly being discriminated against. What I was trying to show, was that this the same societal role.
What you’re saying is that you’ll advocate it when it works in your favour, but I know you’d glare scornfully at it when it’s doesn’t. The fact is that “it” is the same thing.
Women think they want equal treatment. I think the treatment women really want, is very unequal to that of men. I say EITHER enjoy both the good and bad side of what we’re seeing here, OR accept the bad gracefully with the good. It’s hypocritical to censure society for “mistreatment” of women, when the same mode of thinking allows for events such as yours to happen.