Arrive Alive
I’m a mechanic. I had a woman come into my shop today, and she drove me to do something I have never done in my life. I was talking with my service advisor at his desk since it was a slow day and I was waiting for our appointment to finally show up for her alignment. This woman was claiming her vehicle pulls and she constantly needs to correct it to stay on the road.
She shows up three hours late. OK, that’s fine, no big deal. She stumbles out of her car and opens her back door, and a little boy who wasn’t even two years old gets out. No car seat in sight, and the seat belt was buried under her clothes, so he was literally just sitting back there. I held my tongue with her but went and said something to my boss, who told me he’ll call CPS.
I thought that was the end of it. It wasn’t The advisor pulls the car into my bay to look over the vehicle, and he has a look on his face and he’s shaking his head. I look inside and see a roach still burning, a tall can of Mike’s hard lemonade with condensation pouring down the side, an empty bottle of something else and more empty cans on the passenger-side floor.
I started shaking with anger. I test drove the car. Lo and behold, it drives perfectly straight. I pull back into the shop to fill out my paperwork and then proceed to get into the car, still shaking with fear for the kid. I couldn’t wait for CPS to eventually show up at her door. Remembering I saw an officer posted up by the traffic light right outside the shop, I saw a glimpse of hope and got an idea.
I pulled the car around, but before I made it back up front I stopped where cameras could not see, then opened the trunk and quickly disconnected the woman’s right side taillight. I pulled the car up, handed over the paperwork, and told him not to bill her for the alignment check. I walked outside to have a smoke where I could see the intersection.
She got stuck at the red light. I look over and see the officer start pulling out; he turns his lights on and pulls her over. 15 minutes later, two more officers show up along with a tow truck. I feel like I did the right thing, even though it felt wrong.