Weird situation: would you have stayed?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Had a strange thing happen yesterday.

I own a business located in a rural setting, with mostly farmland and homes on the road. Usually I am the first to leave at the end of the day, but yesterday I was putting new stuff on my iPod and so I left 30 minutes or so after everyone else.

When I walked out of the building, there was a woman standing by a car screaming, “HELP”. I walked over and saw that her arm was caught in her car. She had pulled into my lot to make a phone call, then got out to see if she could use my bathroom. She locked her keys in the car. Driver’s side window seemed down far enough so that she could squeeze her hand in and get her keys. She got in to her elbow and could get no further. She wound up with her elbow swelling so that she could not move any way.

As I approached her, she began yelling at me. “COULDN’T YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING!!??” Um, no, I couldn’t. No matter what I said/asked/offered she came back very nasty, calling me an idiot and worse. I suggested I could call AAA. She screamed that she didn’t have AAA, and wanted me to call the cops. I suggested alternatives and she got more and more nasty.

So I said I’d call the police. I went back into my building and called PA State Police. The area where my business is located has no township/local police. I called the non emergency number, identified myself and explained the situation. The dispatch guy said they would respond, but it would be 30 to 45 minutes.

When I relayed this to her she began calling me an idiot for not telling them this was an emergency. She said she had to use the bathroom and couldn’t wait 30 minutes. At this point, her screaming had totally gotten to me. It had been a long day. I said, “whatever” and got in my car and went home. She was screaming the whole time, “GET BACK HERE YOU MOTHERFUCKER”.

When I told my gf what happened, she said in my shoes she would have stayed until the police showed up. She pointed out that if the police never showed, she would be there in the morning when I went in. I told her I feel I did my duty by calling the police, in fact the way she was treating me I very nearly just walked away and drove home without calling.

What would others do? Personally, I minimize the amount of time I spend with people I do not like. Plus, what help would my being there do? Plus I never knew if she meant #1 or #2.

2

BTW, when I came in to work this morning, she was gone.

3

As inconvenient as it would be, and as obnoxious as she was, I would have stayed until she was unstuck.

4

This sounds like something out of a Stephen King short story.

5

Couldn’t you have tried to reach your arm into the open window crack and get her keys? Or reach in and unlock the door? Grab a long stick or something and try and unlock the passenger door across the car?

6

The bitch had arms like pipe cleaners. When I offered to try with a coat hanger (I’m skilled with coat hangers) she got nasty.

7

From a strict moral perspective you probably IMO should had stayed.

From a practical point of view you didnt really do anything wrong. Throw the fact in she was being a ragging bitch and you did just fine IMO :slight_smile:

Personally, I would have gone back in, got on the web, found a recording of rabid barking dogs, cranked it up to 11, gone back to door outside, looked at her, then looked inside and started yelling “sick her boys, sick her…kill kill KILL!”. I suspect that would have freed her arm post haste (hey, I just like to help people, what can I say).

I also guess you could have stayed to perform you good moral citizen duty but made fun and teased her arguementative ass the whole time to make it worth your while.

8

There’s gratitude for you. Instead of spending the night stuck with her arm in her car, which she might have been if you hadn’t been at work, she spent 30 minutes with her arm stuck in her car. There’s just no pleasing some people.

I probably would have stayed to make sure the police came, too, but I would have gone back in the building and put my headphones on so I couldn’t hear her ingratitude any longer. Actually, you should have stayed to watch the show when the police showed up - I’m sure they enjoyed her attitude, too. :slight_smile:

9

I would have stayed (granted, I might have hung out in the office where she couldn’t berate me).

10

Huh. My gf just emailed me. She says she has thought about the situation off and on all day and she now thinks that her “staying until help arrives” is a weakness on her part. Heh. I thought she would be pissed at me.

11

If she hadn’t been abusive towards me, I’d probably have stayed. However, since she saw fit to pour abuse on your head, I think that you did your duty by calling the cops, and you were justified in refusing to stick around for more abuse.

12

Some people react strangely to situations like this. I’m sure she was scared and that’s how her brain dealt with the stress.

There’s a very good chance she woke up the next morning feeling rather embarrassed. Then again there’s just as good a chance she’s just a total bitch.

I don’t think any less of you for leaving but you probably should have stayed. Bitch or not.

Also, as grating as she was, she did have one valid point: You should have called 911. I consider that an emergency.

13

I’m not totally sure about this, but if you call a non-emergency number with what is actually an emergency, wouldn’t the dispatcher turn it into an emergency?

14

And vice-versa?

I would have stayed (unless I had a deadline of my own, like picking up the kids from school), though certainly not after the abuse. kayaker, you may want to follow up with the police though, and make sure she didn’t sign a complaint of some sort against you - she sounds like the type who could make up a story about you groping her or something just out of spite.

15

Do you have AAA? If so, they’ll assist you with any vehicle as long as you’re present. They might not have gotten there any faster than the police though.

In your shoes I would have waited as well, even if I hung out inside the store to avoid the woman’s nastiness. I wouldn’t feel right leaving her alone.

Sometimes I think we should have Duty to Rescue laws in this country but that’s a whole other discussion.

16

(kayaker, while pulling down his fly) “Lady, looks like this just ain’t your day.”

17

From what I understand no. The people answering the non emergency phone don’t have the ability to dispatch it as an emergency. (It’s a computer network thing) A smart dispatcher will tell you to hang up and call 911 though.

I have no cites to back that up. It’s just what I heard.

18

I’m usually an exceptionally nice guy but when someone I’m trying to help is being nasty toward me for no reason, I can become unconscionably cruel. Not only would I not have stayed, but before leaving I may have even called the police back and told them they weren’t needed anymore. FUCK. HER.

19

I would have taken a few cellphone pictures and then left.

20

Fuck no, I wouldn’t have stayed. I can be exceptionally nice, but you can’t make me care, especially not if you are a crazy bitch.