Then all at once he heard the "crunch." A lady didn't look behind her when backing up and crashed broadside into the side of Trent's car. She damaged the metal piece of the frame above the passenger side rear wheel.
Trent hopped out of the car, asked her for her insurance papers, took a photo of them. And hopped back in the car. They probably exchanged fewer than 10 words. He came home pretty bummed about the whole situation. We talked about it, looked up dealers and body shops and then called the insurance company to find out which body shop they require you to use for estimating (I know that you can use any shop to do the actual work.)
We made a plan for Trent to drive the van to work on Monday and for me to take the car to get several estimates so that we could get back to the lady who hit us on the estimated costs for repairs. It's not super easy to switch cars since not all of our kids can fit in his car.
About an hour later our phone rings. It is the lady's husband. He is furious. He says his boys told him that Trent was rude. He is screaming through the phone. Trent stays super calm and tries to talk to him, but he just keeps yelling. And then he hangs up on us.
Trent looks at me and says, "Where have we moved? What kind of people hit your car and then call you and yell at you?"
I will have to say that we have been shocked at the lack of manners and "Southern Hospitality" that we have been shown here. This is not the first time that someone has exhibited absolutely extreme rudeness towards us. In both cases, they stated, "I don't know how they do things back east, but here in Texas . . ." And all I have to say is that being a "TEXAN" myself I have been surprised at people who claim to know the Texas way and yet clearly have no manners at all.
The man did call back and apologize about 2 hours later. But it is always interesting when you have a peek behind the facade and see people's true colors. So it is now being repaired, it is a huge hassle. It is a pain. I don't really want to look this family in the eye at church tomorrow, but I will. I'll smile at them. And I have forgiven them. But I also don't think we will be best friends either.
1 comment:
Having had an accident myself this week, I know emotions run high. For a long time. Sorry his emotions took the form of venting at Trent for being "rude." Even with "witnesses," he would have been much better off to "count to ten first"--a lesson learned. Personally, I was surprised and pleased that he called back to apologize so quickly.
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