I know there have been many movies/tv shows where a car was alive. "Herbie, the Love Bug", and the car from "Knight Rider", are two that come to mind, but what if my van was alive and I didn't know it?
First a little back story: Last year I was delivering very early in the morning(3-4 am) and I jumped out of my van with the ignition on and tossed some magazines at a door and walked a few steps back to my van. I know you're not supposed to do that, but I've never really believed there is a "supposed to." This was a few steps away on an empty main street, not a big deal, unless you close the door and it's locked. I didn't lock the door or touch the key as far as I could tell. A police car driving by ten minutes later saved me and easily got into my car and I was on my way. From that day on I've carried a spare key in my pocket, because I was afraid that "technology" or the van had locked me out.(stop laughing it gets worse)
Yesterday, I went to make a big delivery at Medieval Times, a restaurant/show place that I believe is nationwide. I had to move my van a few hundred feet up and I shut the trunk, moved the van up and went to the trunk to open it. It was locked. The van was completely locked. It does not lock by itself, or does it? I reached into my pocket for my spare key and it was not there. It was right next to my regular keys in between the seats. Every once in awhile I grab the spare key from my pocket and this time I didn't put it back. I had locked my key and my spare key in my van.
Two employees came to my rescue and went way beyond what you would expect. The maintenance guy, who reminded of Macgyver(an old TV show) said he's done this before and in no time he had a thin pole inside my car. Unfortunately, the end of the pole was not solid enough to open the lock, the handle would not open when it was latched on to and we could not grab the key or the spare keys to get it open. He spent about an hour working on this and he was so close to getting it done.
Finally, I decided to call the local police since they rescued me in NJ, but I got an answering machine.
The sales manager offered to use her Triple AAA and she made the call and they arrived in ten minutes and I was saved. It was a very generous thing for her to do and she even texted me later on to make sure everything was okay. Being as tech savy as I am, I did not realize that I have an app on my phone with my new insurance and I could have gotten road side assistance from the beginning.
How did it all happen? The only logical explanation is that when I took the key out of the ignition I hit the lock key and did not hear it lock. It's not possible the van locked by itself, is it? But that was yesterday and this morning I went out early to wash my van. I took the key chain and put it down in the garage and walked towards my van. As I got closer I heard a click inside the van and I saw a light.(not the sun) I reached into my pockets and did not find a key, since my spare key was in the house. I looked back at the key in the garage and it was face up, so I did not set it off when I put the key down. The van was locked which I think it was last night.
How did that click happen and that flicker of light in my van? The salamander in the garage is not the answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment