In the classic scene from “Five Easy Pieces”, Jack Nicholson manages to get dry toast by first ordering a chicken salad sandwich.
I am wondering how you have managed to get what you wanted (legally) when the establishment said you couldn’t.
Now and then on the SDMB I have seen an imaginative way around the rules. I would like to learn from you.
Here is my story; I’d like to hear yours.
A couple of years ago I underwent a breast biopsy (negative results). It required a local anesthetic and very minor surgery and about four hours in the hospital, total. For very personal reasons, I did not want my family or friends to know I was having a biopsy.
When I was discharged, the nurse asked who was going to drive me home. I said I would drive myself home since I had driven myself there and my car was still available. This, it turned out, was against all the rules. The nurse insisted I could not drive myself. Someone must drive me home. I was stubborn, as was the hospital. I understood the hospital’s position, liability, insurance, and all that.
Eventually an administrator showed up and even the surgeon got into the act saying she would drive me home, but I was not allowed to drive myself.
At this point, I realized I was not going to win the fight, so I suggested that they call a taxi to take me home.
“Great idea,” they said.
The taxi arrived; I was wheeled to the curb by the nurse and delivered into the taxi driver’s hands. Once the car door was closed, I gave the driver $5.00 and directed him to drive me to my car in the parking lot. I was happy, he was happy, the hospital was happy.
I play “design your own sandwich” all the time when I’m eating out. For instance, say that a place only has a chicken sandwich (fried breast) on a bun with mayo, lettuce, and tomato (or something). Let’s also say it’s a restaurant that’ll take specific orders.
“I’d like a fried chicken sandwich. No mayo, lettuce, or tomato on that. But could you put some ranch dressing on instead? How much for cheese? Bacon? Hey, could I have grilled bread instead of a bun? Thank you SO much!”
Additionally, I like shrimp. Plain, unaltered by grease or salt, yummy, shrimp. I also like fries and/or a baked potato. However, I have yet to find a place that’ll consider plain shrimp a meal, or part of a meal (without getting 15 gazillion other kinds of shrimp along with it). So what do I do?
“Could you serve the coconut shrimp cold? And could you take the breading off?..it’d just be easier to get me plain shrimp? Good idea; thanks SO much.”
I always accompany this kind of service with a good tip, though, and I don’t give the server crap if it comes out wrong; not her fault I’m picky.
I have my phone listed under someone else’s name (my cat’s) so that if I get a cold call from someone who is just trolling phonebooks, I know (and I can taunt them to my heart’s content). I was surprised to find out how much junkmail gets generated from your phone listing. Plus, anyone who knows me can still find my phone number if they need to.
So if I get phone calls or mail for Jack, I know it’s crap, and can be dealt with as such.
I used to apply for the sears credit card every time I got my car alignment done, just so I could get $5 off each time. I don’t do it anymore, because I’m afraid I’ll get approved.
I would order McDonald’s fries without salt and then add salt to them, just so I would get fresh fries.
I did the same for Big Macs, but asked for “extra lettuce”. (the excess lettuce fell off mostly)
It is dangerous because of the unforseen consequences that may result from surgery or anesthetic. They’re called “complications”. Even local anesthetic is likely to have a negative impact on people’s reaction time and perceptions. There are actually good reasons for rules like these.
She could have taken the cab home, and taken one back to the parking lot the next day. Instead, she risked her own and others live.
I was at a drive-in on a date, and a carload of kids next to us kept getting in and out of their car. They bumped our car with their door once. I let it go.
They hit our car again with their door. This time I got out and said don’t do it any more. They said, Oh, it wasn’t us, it was someone that walked by and must have bumped us.
They did it a third time. I got out, wrote down their license number, and then asked them who owned the car. Silence. I asked them again, and finally one said it was her mom’s car. I told them that if they didn’t move the car in 30 seconds, I was going to call the cops, and file an insurance claim against mom.
Nah, I’m with Ralfcoder. Mostly because there is a quarter-sized dent in my driver’s side door from some idiot swinging their door open in a likewise manner. Frankly, I could care less about a little dent, but it COULD lower the resale value, and that really annoys me. Plus, he verbally warned them, and didn’t threaten them with physical violence. I say bravo.
DougAB, If that was sarcasm, I approve. But I can’t tell for sure.
If not, keep in mind that they did do damage to the car. There was a cluster of small dents and chips. Ever had to pay for body work? Something similar to this cost me $50 to get fixed about that same time. This was maybe 20 years ago, so now your guess is as good as mine what the bill would be.
SwimmingRiddles, thank you for your support! I didn’t really want to start a fight, but I wanted them gone.
Years ago, I needed to renew my learner’s permit to keep driving. I went down to the DMV with my old permit to apply for a new one.
I showed it to the clerk as proof of age (after all, they gave me the permit before, so it had to be proof, right?). She didn’t want to accept it. I tried to argue with her, but all she said was, “Is it on the list?”
I looked. There was a list on the window. No mention of learner’s permit.*
So I looked at her and said, “Yes, it is.”
I got my new permit.
*Later I realized that it listed “license” and a learner’s permit was technically a license. Still, I was probably better off lying, since she was likely to say “it says license, not learner’s permit.”
