AAA Wall of Shame

I spent the better part of today waiting for AAA to come jump start my car. Rewind to Saturday night, Nick and I return from seeing "Scoop" (good movie, by the way), and I get ready to get in my car and go back to Evanston to sleep, since his back is still on the fritz, and I'm tired of sleeping on the air mattress (subject for another blog). Oddly, the car doesn't start. So, I trudge back up to Nick's apartment, blow up the air mattress, and call it a night. Next day (Sunday) I try calling AAA, but they say that it being Sunday and all, there is nowhere to tow the car if it won't start with a jump, so I should just call back Monday. So Monday comes, and I don't manage to wrench my body out of bed until 11:30, which means I'm late calling AAA, which means I have to wait until 1:40 for the guy to come with a jump.

So, by 2:00 he finally arrives, and I meet him at the car. He asks me to try to start it so he can see what it sounds like. As I turn the key in the ignition, I notice out of the corner of my eye the gas gauge: well below E. The AAA guy starts to smirk, and I know what's coming: "Uh, miss, check your gas gauge, because it sounds like you're just out of gas."

Yep, I ran out of gas. Apparently I parked the car in the nick of time. I'd like to think that the gas somehow evaporated due to the extreme temperatures (can this happen?), but in all likelihood, I just plain ran out of gas. Because it isn't the first time it's happened.

In my old Cavalier (God rest her soul) I ran out of gas not once, but twice. The first time was shortly after the car was given to me for my 21st birthday, and I swore that the gas gauge was screwed up and that it ran out when I thought that I had quarter of a tank left. Then it happened a second time, and still nobody believed me. THEN my father was driving my car, and HE ran out of gas...and then everybody believed me. The gas gauge really was messed up, and from then on out I filled up when the gauge read quarter full.

This time, however, I don't have any real excuse (unless the evaporation theory holds true). But I think I've learned my lesson. Upon returning from the gas station with a full gas can, the AAA guy goes, "Now I'm going to take your picture for the Wall of Shame". I'm pretty sure he was kidding, and I never saw any camera...but he could have snapped it when I wasn't looking, and now I might be the laughingstock of the AAA office. That's enough for me to remember to fill up my tank.