Sue was at home yesterday with her 17 year old daughter, Mary. They live in attached rental condos. New neighbors were moving in next door. At some point, she was at her window looking out and heard a crunch, and saw her new neighbor’s car hit Sue’s husband’s car. Sue goes outside to see what happened. At this point, she sees the damage is not bad and plans on not making a big deal out of it until:
1. Two adults climb out of the back seat of the car and high tail it,
2. The driver appears young,
3. The driver says when confronted that she did not hit Sue’s car, the damage was already there,
4. Sue asks to see the girl’s permit, and the girl replies, “You want to see my permanent?”
5. When the girl’s mother arrives after Sue had the girl get her, the mother replies in clear English, “Oh, the damage is not bad, we’ll take care of it.” And tries to send her daughter away,
6. Sue asks mom, “Where’s your daughter’s permit?” Mom says, “She’s only 11.”
Now, Sue calls the police.
When the police arrive, so do about 30 people who claim to be relatives of mom: men, women and children. Also, mom can no longer speak English.
No one knows who owns the car. The girl claims she was the only person in the car (besides the two adults that ran away, the girl’s younger brother and their dog were in the car, too.) Mom is playing the “I don’t understand, I’m a poor foreigner” card. All of the bystanders, who are not witnesses, are confusing the matter by conversing in their native tongue. And while Sue is trying to sort things out, three grown men, related to mom, are giving Mary the eye and licking their lips at her.
When we were growing up, we were taught that it was rude to speak another language in front of people that couldn’t understand. Whether we were here or in Germany, we spoke the language of the host country or we waited until we were alone to speak to each other. In case you ever wondered: people are suspicious of people when they can’t understand them.
In case you ever wondered: eleven year olds are not allowed to drive cars in this country. We tend to frown on that. And if thirty people can arrive when the police show up, can’t thirty people watch your kid? Oh, that’s right, you had two adults watching her, they just didn’t have the balls to stick around, when, as one might imagine, an accident happened.
In case you ever wondered: you’ve already got the selfish, “I’m out for only me” attitude, so welcome to the US, you should fit right in.
I guess if the parents are screwed up enough to let their 11-year old daughter to drive a car, you can't expect anything else out of them.
ReplyDeleteSo how was it resolved eventually?
Holy crap! That's about all that I can say. This lot are a menace to society.
ReplyDeletewhat was the conclusion??????
ReplyDeletewondering. hope the police didnot get deceived by mom and her 30 relatives.
btw liked the end of times post. and even though i got it, somewhere it seemed more real that just a joke.
That seems to be some stupid family. What the hell were they thinking? And trying to intimidate the police by appearing en masse like that. I hope they got fined and had to pay damages.
ReplyDeleteTo All: The outcome is pending. The police could not impound the car becasue the accident happened on private property. No one would tell them where the owner of the car was, they didn't know the owner, yeah, right. The police gave the owner until 8am yesterday to show up at the police station or they'd put out an arrest warrent. The mother was given several citations and will have to go to court.
ReplyDeleteI’ll don my devil's advocate hat, which I picked out of a dumpster earlier today.
ReplyDeleteIn some other countries and even in the rural areas of this country, preteens routinely drive.
Eleven year olds of any country are more likely to tell falsehoods when confronted by an upset adult, especially to one who is a stranger.
From the perspective of the girl's mother, she offered to make good on the damages and Sue blew her off and chose to involve the police. Translation: I don't trust your word. That's a grave insult in most cultures. Money, hospitality, and consideration will not be readily forthcoming from the neighbors toward Sue's family from here on out.
In some other countries, one cannot assume that the police are there to protect and to serve and often the only way to circumvent a situation scaling from inconvenient to seriously scary is to have a mob of your family members there to back you up.
Ditto above for the dragging of feet over giving information to the authorities.
I'm not saying that the girl should be driving. She clearly should not be as in addition to being under legal age in the country in which she resides, she's also a shitty driver. Nor am I saying that newcomers to America should not bother to learn the ways and customs of their home country or that they should be absolved from adhering to our laws, which include restitution for damages. I am saying, however, that given Sue is going to be sharing a wall with these folks for some time, she might have considered the longer term picture and treated them first as neighbors and not as a threat.
Escalation. Use it wisely.
Fury: All of your points are well taken and I understand what you are saying, but I think Sue had a legitimate cause for concern since she encountered untrustworthiness not just from the 11 year old from the beginning but also from the 2 adults who jumped out of the car when she came outside to investigate. I think their leaving the scene of the accident and never coming back set the stage for Sue's suspicions. Having children of her own, she is well aware that children try their best to get out of trouble.
ReplyDeleteIf she couldn't trust the adults who were with the child to stick around (they left before any hint of the police being called) how was she to trust anyone else?
Lemontree: Thanks. End Times predictions really piss me off. I had just heard another one that day.
ReplyDelete