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Grand Theft Auto

Picture this....you dash into the grocery store to grab a few needed items, run out in a hurry, unlock the van door with your clicker-thingy, hop in as you toss the bag into the passenger seat next to you and attempt to insert the key into the ignition. The key doesn't fit. WEIRD. You take a quick glance around and realize your groceries are sitting on top of some papers that you don't remember leaving in the passenger seat. You glance behind you quickly, only to realize there is a car seat in the back, and your kids haven't sat in a car seat for several years. It suddenly dawns on you that you are in the twilight zone....No, you are in the wrong vehicle.

That actually happened to me today. The strange thing is, it is the second time it has happened to me in the last four years since I bought my van. When we originally shopped around for a van, my first one ever, I had only a couple of requirements. One was that we had to have a passenger door on each side of the van so each kid could get in their respective side. The second was that the passenger seats had to be bucket seats rather than a bench. The third, not a requirement until I saw it, but I wanted the beautiful 'Patriot Blue' one sitting in the lot. At the time the color seemed unique. Since I drove it out of the lot, I realized myself and every other person owning a 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan Sport had fallen in love with Patriot Blue.

I have often caught my children yanking on the door of somebody else's vehicle while they admonished me that I had forgotten to unlock the van. I have often walked up to the wrong vehicle only to realize that my remote entry gadget wouldn't work. But twice, both in grocery store parking lots, I have mistaken somebody else's identical vehicle for my own, opened the door, plopped my butt in the seat and tried to stuff my key into their ignition, only to find some little detail, like rubber floor mats or a car seat, that doesn't belong in my van. In both instances, I slinked out of the van, my eyes darting around to make sure nobody was observing me, and nonchalantly meandered to the correct wheels, entered like nothing out of the ordinary was going on, and drove away. In both instances, I had the fleeting thought that perhaps my remote entry clicker did in fact, unlock their car. But upon trying to relock it with my clicker, it didn't work either time.

I don't know why I'm the one whose embarrassed. What kind of moron leaves their car doors unlocked?! Next time I make this little blunder, if their car is cleaner than mine, I'm takin' it.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have yet to enter the wrong vehicle but have frantically tugged on the door of the wrong one wondering why in the world it wouldn't open and why my clicker wasn't unlocking it!!

Me thinks others that read your blog, if they are willing to admit it, will have similar stories.

On the upside, it gave you another funny blog for the day! :-)
Anonymous said…
That's funny. I would like to see the look on the person's face and hear you try to explain to the person who owns that vehicle if they arrived while you were in it.
Hee hee!
-Charlene
Anonymous said…
That's too funny! I have the white 2002 Ford Explorer and a similar thing happened to me 1 time. The funny thing is that I had my little clicker thingy all ready and was using it to unlock the door. I was within earshot of it and heard the door unlock. I grabbed the door and opened it no problem, but it did not have the tan leather seats that I have. I was in shock when all of a sudden I heard two ladies laughing. It was their car that I was trying to get in and she was the one who was using her little clicker thingy. My car was right next to them. We all ended up having a big laugh over that one.

- Debbie Stewart
Anonymous said…
I am way late on reading this but I'm catching up on your blogs. I believe there are as many grey Honda Odysseys as there are blue Caravans. I am ALWAYS walking up to the wrong Odyssey and the other day I was getting so annoyed because my clicker wasn't unlocking my door. When I stopped long enough to inspect I realized that my van was, in fact, the next row over. abb

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