# AAA incompetence and Mass state police **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 15, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198 "2009-09-15T18:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198/1 "2009-09-15T18:20:13Z")
I just gotta share this. I am a member of the Quebec affiliate of the Canadian Auto Assoc, which has a cross-agreement on road service with the AAA. I got a flat in northern Mass a few weeks ago. Since I am 72 with a heart condition, I called AAA. I had just seen a sign that I was 13 miles from Barre, MA. The computer I dealt with understood Massachusetts, but kept not understanding Barre (pronounced like Barry). Eventually I got through to a “human”, so to speak. I described my location pretty exactly, but she could not find either Barre or Route 122 on her maps. Try it on Google maps; if it takes more than five seconds, I would be surprised. They kept calling me back to try and find my location. No luck. Finally, about 2 hours later, I decided to change it myself with the poor equipment that came with the car. I got the nuts loose and the car jacked up about half way when a state trooper drove up and asked our problem. (I might mention that several other people stopped and asked to help including a teenager on a bike.) Anyway, the trooper said he would put on his flashers to protect me. When I had the car about halfway up he came over and asked if he could finish the jacking. I gratefully accepted his help and removed the lugs, pulled the bad tire off and got out the spare. He mounted the spare using his far superior wrench while I undid the jack. That was just as tedious as doing it up in the first place and when I was about halfway through, he took over while I put the dead tire away. At some point, while I was distracted he even put my luggage back in the trunk! After I was back on the road, he followed for about five miles, presumably to make sure I was ok. Two hours later I got a phone call from a garage owner in the town north of where I was asking if I still needed help. No thanks! I wrote this up (not the part about the trooper, although I sent an account of that to the Mass state police headquarters) and sent it to AAA and a copy to CAA. Two weeks later I have no reply from AAA, but I got a call the next day from the CAA. The woman I spoke to found Route 122 through Barre in no time. Finally, in recompense, she sent me card good for $25 at a local convenience store good for either gas or merchandise! That’s service! So I guess I have seen the best and the worst. Incidentally, the trooper remarked that he hoped that if this happened to his parents they would find someone to help out. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198/2 "2009-09-15T18:44:48Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I might mention that several other people stopped and asked to help including a teenager on a bike Are you sure you were in MA that sentence seems to indicate you weren’t maybe that why they couldn’t find you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198/3 "2009-09-15T18:49:36Z")
I’m from central MA and this isn’t uncommon. It’s a very nice area with a strong sense of community. Plus, town cops in MA are ass. The State Troopers are almost always awesome to deal with, unless you’re caught be an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198/4 "2009-09-15T18:58:41Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Are you sure you were in MA that sentence seems to indicate you weren’t maybe that why they couldn’t find you. 😉 Yeah, maybe you were actually still in Canada? A State Trooper changed a tire for my dad in a thunderstorm once. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198/5 "2009-09-16T12:29:04Z")
Many years ago a New York state trooper changed a tire for me (the only place I could pull off the road was an exposed narrow median). When he was done he asked for $20. He was pissed when I explained I had little cash on me. I didn’t get arrested though, so that was a plus. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198/6 "2009-09-16T13:47:02Z")
People must be nicer in Georgia - my dad tried to tip his trooper and the guy wouldn’t take it. We wrote a nice letter, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198/7 "2009-09-16T15:51:46Z")
AAA can be hit or miss. A few years back, I was on a Scout trip in Shenandoah National Park (in western Virginia) and one of the other parents locked her keys in the car. It took quite a while for me to convince the AAA operator of our location, she had no clue where we were. Ultimately turned out to be unnecessary as another mom found a coat hanger and solved the problem that way. I too have had a policeman stop to help with a tire change when I was a) waiting for AAA and b) starting to change it myself. I was very grateful. And the AAA / CAA coordination is generally a good thing, notwithstanding your experience. They saved our bacon one time when our car died near Niagara Falls (I’ve told this tale here before. I wonder if they got bulk rates; there were _two_ US-based Dodge Caravans dead in the same parking lot that evening, both waiting for CAA assistance. The other car couldn’t be sorted out, we were lucky that ours could). ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aaa-incompetence-and-mass-state-police/510198/8 "2009-09-17T01:13:06Z")
When you type Barre, MA into Google Maps, the pointer lands right on the corner of MA-122 and Mechanic Street. I wonder where the mechanic was?