Misadventure - At the Car Park

For those drivers or owners of vehicles, I am sure most of you would have experienced in one way or another......locking your keys in the car. Well......I never thought this would happen to me.....but it did!

It was one of those "unlucky" days (happens on a Thursday), as U would call it that "THE" incident happen to me. I was shopping downtown at Civic area and as usual I would push the trolley of groceries to my car. As I opened only the boot of my car, I had left the bunch of keys in the boot of my car (for convenience) as I unloaded my groceries into the car. After transferring all the groceries from the trolley into the car, I did the most automatic response....close the boot of the car. Imemdiately I realise my deadly mistake!

The 2nd deadly mistake I made was to pay at the ticketing machine before wheeling the trolley to my car. How am I going to get out of the underground car park with an expired ticket even if I managed to retrieve my spare car key from home?

First things first, I had to sos my husband to help me to retrieve my spare car key from my house. Fortunately, I had my handphone with me and I could call him for help.

He had to drive from his office back home, pick up the spare key and then drive to the civic shopping centre's car park to pass me the keys. Next was the wait. I had to wait patiently for my husband to turn up. The wait seemed an externity....minutes were like hours and each car that drove past the gantry raised hopes only to be dashed when it was my husband's car.

Finally, after waiting for a good 35 minutes, my husband turned up with the keys. He then drove off and returned to his office.

Next, I had to solve the expired car park ticket. I went to the machine and explained to the person at the other end of the intercom what had happened. After some clarifications and explanations, the lady at the other end of the intercom understood what had happened and decided to let me go without having to pay additional penalty of 60 cents. I had parked for 1 hr 5 mins and had already paid the 1 hr limit. This meant that I had exceeded by 5 minutes which would have cost an additonal 60 cents. Given the miniscule amount, the lady probably made the decision that it was not worth her effort to make me pay for the penalty....I would assume it would mean more work for her. So, she suggested I drive straight to the barrier and buzz the intercom and she will open the barrier for me. You can imagine the relief when I was told of it.

With the heavy load off my mind, I headed back to my car and drove towards the barrier. When I buzz the intercom, I was shocked to hear another voice at the end of the intercom. This person was not the same lady that I had spoke to....and when I explained to her my situation, she suggested I drive back and pay the penalty! I argued with her for a good 5-10 minutes and held up a queue of cars behind me before she gave in and let me off by lifting the barrier.

What a relief!

What's the morale of the story?

1) Lesson number 1 - Do not put your car keys in the car boot! Put in your pocket or handbags

2) Lesson number 2 - (only those with car keys that give U option to only open your car boot). Open all car doors instead of opening the car boot

3) Lesson number 3 - Do not pay at the ticket machine prior to U emptying the grociers in your trolley. Do so only after U have emptied your trolley.

4) Lesson number 4 - Do take down the name of the person at the other end of the intercom.....U never know if its the same person when U are at the barrier

5) Lesson number 5 - Know and insist on your rights. Do not give up easily especially when U know that U can create more havoc if do not give in.