If you see me waving for help, please stop....

The BBQ Pit
1

I’m not a serial killer. Nor do I look like one. I’m a 19 year old girl who has no concept of cars, or snow either for that matter.

I’m in Massachusetts, where we’re currently under a state of emergency due to this damn blizzard. The roads suck. I didn’t really want to drive in the weather. That said, I called work, and asked if they really needed my sister to come in, because I didn’t want to make the 15 minute (in good weather) drive. Yesterday we were so dead, they sent us all home anyways. I figured I’d save myself the trip. So my manager said she needed one of us there, she didn’t care who. They were getting their butts kicked. So I go, I take Sara to work, a 45 minute trip with the hazardous roads. I get home, watch a little tv, the phone rings. They’re not really busy after all, so Sara needs a ride home after a 2 hour shift. Yeah, that was real productive of me to drive all the way out there for her to work two fuckin hours!

So I get back in my car, after shoveling a good 3 inches off my windsields. I go to get on interstate, make the turn (going 5 mph), and go into a spin. I’m screaming, thinking I’m gonna die. I end up in a snowbank on the side of the on ramp. I put on my flashers, and get out of the car. I was stuck good. Just in case, I tried reversing out, and watched as I got up to 5 revs or whatever, and snow flew, but my tires didn’t. And of course, my cell phone was nowhere to be found. So I’m standing by the side of the road, trying to wave someone down, so I could get some help, or borrow a cell phone at the very least to call a tow truck. Even the fuckin snow plows drove by me!! I stood there for a good 45 minutes, in the cold, watching car after car pass me. Whatever happened to decency? So finally a cute guy in a sweet little Eclipse stopped, and then a cop pulled up too. The cop asked me if I tried backing out. No buttmunch, I’ve been standing in the cold for 45 minutes, and I didn’t think to try revrsing. Give me a little credit here! So then he asks what I want him to do about it. Umm, possibly get my fuckin car out of the snow?!? The eclipse guy thinks to try me reversing, while they push, and eventually my little saturn made it’s way out of the bank. I thanked them, and went on my merry little way. And when I got towork, Sara was like, “oh, you didnt actually have to come out. Shawn said he’d give me a ride home.” I’ve already told her, if the weather sucks this bad tomorrow, she’s not working. No way in hell I’m goin through that crap again…

2

Sorry Pammipoo! I woulda stopped, if that’s any consolation…

Get some snow tires or chains (assuming you don’t already have them…)! I’ve lived in the NE for years (in Maine), and they are a necessity if you plan to drive in the winter!

And please be careful! There are a lot of idiots out there who think they can drive at normal speed in the WORST snowstorm!

I remember once, in a blizzard, I was driving down the highway in my chevy station wagon, going about 25MPH. This moron in a jacked-up Toyota truck zommed by me going about 55MPH. and had the nerve to blare his horn at me like I was a road-hazzard! Remember, it was a blizzard!

About a mile or so down the road, I saw a loop-de-loop of skid-marks in the snow, leading to his truck, on the edge or the road, upside-down. He was standing by the truck, obviously un-hurt, and looking pissed!

Yes, I stopped, and gave him a ride; but the temptation to just wave and keep going was WAY strong…

FYI: I didn’t say anything… he looked too pissed, and I didn’t want to get punched! :smiley:

3

I feel ya pain, Pammipoo. ( Great name, by the way :D). On Dec 29th, I had to drive about 70 miles, into NYC during that MOST hellacious blizzard.

Same deal. While I didn’t lose it and spin out, numerous poor folks around me did. And, holy shit did I get honked at for doing 25 ( or, 15…). These assholes think they’re on a smooth dry Palisades Parkway? HUH??? Besides, the snow volume was so bad that I resorted to something I’d never had to do before. I drove all the way with my headlights OFF. Left the running lights on, so I could be sort of seen. Without the headlights on, I wasn’t snowblinded any more.

I feel bad that you felt you had to leave home at all. I hunkered down on this one, and haven’t left the house since…Sunday night? I’ve only eaten ONE of my young so far :smiley: :smiley:

Cartooniverse

4

[Clueless mode on]

Hey, didcha see that cute girl wave at me back there? She must think I’m hot!

[Clueless mode off]

5

Not exactly a snowstorm, but when my husband and I took out our (used) boat for the first time after we bought it, we didn’t realize that the gas guage didn’t work. So, first trip around the lake, and we run out of gas. In the middle of the lake, entirely too far away from shore. Any shore. Much less the dock where our truck was. So, hubby pulls out the oar and starts rowing. As soon as I see another boat cruising by us, I start jumping up and down and waving my arms wildly. The woman on the boat just waves back. Obviously I was just being friendly. And my husband was rowing an 18 and 1/2 foot outboard for his health. Yeah… that’s it. That’s how we like to spend our weekends.

On the up side, someone did finally stop and pull us the rest of the way to our dock.

6

Sorry, Pam. I ventured out long enough to dig out my car, remove the $50 parking ticket (no one told me there was a snow emergency and that I could only park on the odd side of the street), move my car 5 blocks over to a legal spot, and walk back home. Next time I’ll keep in mind dealy snowstorms are an excellent opportunity to cruise for chicks. :stuck_out_tongue:

7

If you think thats bad, you should trying getting someone to help when your a big ugly scary looking guy. Fortunately due to my Subaru all wheel drive, and Hakkapelitta studded tires I don’t have to worry about it much any more.

8

Pammi, I feel for ya. Mt story turned out somewhat different, but could have been a disaster.

When we were living in Colorado, I only had to drive a short distance to work, but I had to go over a big-ass hill in the center of town to get there. Snow doesn’t usually stay on the ground very long in Boulder, but it sure did that day.

To make a long story short, I lost traction and slid backward diagonally into a snowbank while at a stoplight on the hill (yeah, ok, I’m a retard, so what). I sat there for a minute, no cell phone(it’s getting dark), wondering just what the hell I was gonna do in my nice dress and Ugg boots, when a guy and his girlfriend who were walking on the sidewalk come plowing through the chest-high snowbank at the edge of the sidewalk. They asked if I needed help (duh), gave me some pointers about low gears and torque, had me put it in third and pushed. I WAS OUT OF THE SNOWBANK! FREE! And I didn’t even have to get out of my car! I thanked them profusely, which kind of embarrassed them, and they continued on their walk.

My point is this- those were the nicest people I have ever met, period. I’m from California, and I’m sorry, but no-one here would stop & help you for any reason, ever. It’s shitty but true. Yet here are these two people, walking around frozen Boulder, who see a lame girl in a pickup stuck in the snow (the CA plates had been taken off by then, but maybe they just knew). They could have kept walking and stayed a lot drier and warmer, but they could help so they did, it was that simple.

I wish you could have found some people like the wonder couple. I try to think of them when I see someone who needs an assist.

Stay warm! My sis-in-law is freezing her ass off in Lincoln, NE right now!

And Astroboy- there is now way I would have given that asshole a ride! You are a much better person than most of us!

9

lol, EJsGirl! When me and a group of friends first moved to Boulder from Michigan, we used to go out walking during the snow “storms” (it never just snows in Boulder - it’s always a STORM according to the media) and push people out of snowbanks. There were always so many people who just had no clue. The scenario usually went like:

(we see person in car, with the front end in a teeeny tiny snowbank)

Us: Hey! Need some help?

Idiot from Some Warm State: I can’t believe it! Look at all this snow! It’s ON MY CAR! It’s UNDER MY WHEELS! What am I to do?

Us: (looks at situation) Umm, did you try backing out?

IFSWS: What are you TALKING about? Don’t you see? There’s SNOW! Under my WHEELS!

Us: Get in the car, put it in reverse. Press on the gas.

About half the time that was all that was needed. The other half the time we gave 'em a push, or we came up with the ingenious solution of putting some gravel under the tires to add a little traction.

heheheee… you’d think, in Colorado, people would know about snow, but it’s just not true.

10

Ahh…roadside distress. A subject I know very well.

I’ve had very, very bad luck with cars for the past couple years, and nothing, I mean nothing, pisses me off more than people who don’t bother to stop when it’s quite obvious that I need help. I remember once, the transmission went out on my car, it’s starting to get dark, I had forgotten my cell phone at home, and NOBODY is stopping, and at the time, I lived in a tiny little town, the type where everybody knows each other and you’d THINK they’d stop to help, but nooooo, so there I am, hiking down Highway 9 in the middle of nowhere in a dress and high heels, it’s glaringly obvious that I am NOT out for an evening stroll, and I ended up walking at least a mile until I finally found a house where someone was home so I could call my father. (And God bless the very nice old couple who lived there and gave me a ride back to my car.)

I ALWAYS stop when I see someone in the ditch, or having car trouble. I may not be able to offer more than a ride, but it’s common decency, and you never know when it’s going to be you stranded helpless alongside the road.

Also, a hearty fuck you to everybody who drove around me, staring and pointing, when I sat stalled and sobbing at a stoplight on Highway 63 during freakin’ rush hour. I hope someone returns the favor some day.

And to the kind gentleman who, without a word, pulled in front of me and attached his chain to my car and towed me into the Walmart parking lot, thanks man…I’ll never ridicule SUV drivers again. It’s people like you who keep my faith in the human race alive.