Through the Eyes of a Delivery Goddess |
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You know your town, where you live, you know where the bad places are and you avoid them. Have you ever gone out of town, on vacation, and pull into a gas station or convenience store, and before you get out of the car, you toy with yourself, "Should I leave the keys in it or not? I'll just be a minute. These people don't look bad. This place looks safe. I'll be right inside..." Finally, you decide not to take any chances, and you take your keys in with you and lock the doors. Just like the next guy, I'm guilty of leaving my keys in the ignition and the car running while I run into BP or Sheetz or Sunoco to pay for gas, or get a drink, or whatever. I live here, I know the area, I know most of the people, it's not likely anything will happen to my car while I'm inside. Afterall, I'm just going in for a minute. Right? Many people who are on their way to work get out of their vehicles and leave it running in the mornings while they go in and get coffee... it's not like I'm unique. This is not going to go where you THINK it's going, so, read on... One night, unlike me, Bob's son had gone into Sheetz for a snack. He had taken his keys with him, but didn't lock the doors - after all, we live in a fairly safe area. When he came back out of Sheetz, there was another young fellow sitting in his car, obviously searching for something. Chad checked his pocket to make sure he still had his keys. He knocked on the glass, then opened the driver's door and said, "Hey, man, what are you doing?" The fellow responded that he had gotten into his car to use his phone. Chad said the guy oveiously had a little too much to drink, and even supposed that he'd ridden to Sheetz with someone else, since there was not another car like Chad's in the parking lot for this fellow to mistake Chad's car as his own. Chad said, "This is MY car." The fellow disagreed a couple of times, then finally got out and appologized. Chad got in his car and left while he could see the young guy wondering around in the parking lot from his rear view mirror. And, no, I STILL do not take my keys with me, or shut down the car while I go inside. Well, it depends on how busy Sheetz is ... but typically, when I stop someplace, it's fairly empty. Someplace else I typically leave my car running while I run inside with a newspaper is at Saint Barnabas, the retirement village. I have never given it a thought; they have security guards, and I'm there at 3 or 4 in the morning - what can possibly happen to my car outside while I get on the elevator, toss one NY Times, and ride the elevator back down? Well, a friend of mine who delivers Post Gazettes and Tribs there a bit later in the morning, (around 5:30 - 6am), said that one of the guards told her she should take her keys with her when she leaves her car sit out front. Occasionally, an alzheimers patient has been known to get into somebody's car and try to escape. I would NEVER have thought of that! I usually leave my NY Times for her to deliver now, but on Sundays, I shut off the engine and take the keys with me when I deliver a paper inside. You just never know... |