A wind from the north blew the OC home for the weekend. I set off in good time this morning to fetch him from the airport, making sure I had plenty of gas and money for tolls. Turned on to the parkway and realised, too late, that even though I had money, I didn't have a quarter for the entry booth. Frantic scrambling in my purse for change turned up only a nickel.
"Better than nothing," I thought, tossing it in.
There was a loud, angry "brrrr!" from the machine. I shrugged and drove on. It's been known to gyp me in the past, so I didn't beat myself up with guilt over it.
When I got to the next toll booth however, as the attendant was handing me my change, I remarked that she might want to keep one of the quarters as I hadn't had one when I got on.
"Oh no," she said. "I can't do that."
She handed me a card and said
"You'll have to write a check and send it to this address."
I looked at her incredulously, searching her eyes for the twinkle that would tell me she was pulling my leg. I didn't find it. She was totally serious.
"So," I said. "You want me to write a check for twenty five cents and spend thirty nine cents on postage to mail it, instead of just giving it to you?"
"That is correct," she primly replied.
"Well, thanks a lot," I said, and drove bemusedly away.
Between you, me and the wall, it ain't gonna happen!
17 comments:
Molly Bawn, renegade. I imagine the FHP will be at your door before too long.
Very funny...you and I are partners in crime. When returning from a vacation one year on a very hot summer day with a cranky two-year old in the car, my husband and I ran through a coin booth during rush traffic in Chicago. We too did not have the correct change. In those situations, going forward is the only choice.
Does that make you a criminal? Oooo, how exciting. Can I tell my friends that I know a criminal? :)
Ah, you rebel!
If it truly eats at your soul, you can pitch another coin in the hatch when you take the O.C. back to the airport. However, based on the fact that you've been gypped in the past, you probably needn't worry about it.
Not losing any sleep here folks! Thanks for the gentle spelling lesson T ---thought "jip" didn't look right! Steps shall be taken....
Are you often rendered speechless? No, didn't think so...
Ah you Devil!! Did you tell the OC?
Here in Melbourne, Australia, they really get us - we have to pay in advance and they deduct it from our account when we use the toll way. Better yet - you're not allowed to let your account go under $25.00 (just in case apparently - in case of what I'm not sure!)
Bureaucracy run mad.
Hahah hilarious! Talk about a supreme waste of efforts, time and money -- no matter how trivial! I would so have totally done the same thing!
I read an amusing article about toll booths...the unmanned ones with videos to catch the cheaters...how people go to great lengths to go through without paying....one man had run a cord from inside out to his license plate to lift it up and hide it from view.....another, a motorcyclist, would wrap his legs over it to cover it as he went through...:-)
Love honest folk!
on the subject of Eagles....I have a video cam link to a nest at present
I'm gobsmacked at how cheap your tolls are, 25 cent, is that normal? Here they are about €2.
Dear molly. What a funny story. A cheque for 25 cents? What a waste of part of a tree. PS we paid up to 10 euros for tolls in France! Holy shimoley.
Too funny!
I remember once I had to mail in a check for 32 cents and was appalled just like you that it cost more to MAIL the darn thing than what I needed to pay. Some people LACK common sense!
By the way, so happy to hear you're enjoying Antonment.
I plan to start Water for Elephants soon - didn't you & Liz both enjoy that one?
On some of our tollways if you don't have an electronic tag and you don't ring up and pay straight away (some of our tolls are quite high - in the order of $4 and $5 a go) they will send you a bill for nearly $20 - which you can conveniently pay by internet. So kind!
Atonement is my all time favourite McEwan! Runner-up is Enduring Love. On Chesil Beach is well written but leaving me a bit "cold" - which I believe is his intention ;-)
The toll for the Golden Gate Bridge is $5.00, and I think they throw you off it, and your car, if you don't have the money.
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