Walkin' After Midnight

In the category of, 'this could only happen to me. . ." So it was a usual Friday night.  I worked until midnight.  It was only a four hour shift but it felt like a lot lonnnnggeer then that.  Finally, finally, finally it was midnight and I was out of there--the moment I had waited for all week.  I went (more like bolted) upstairs to the breakroom, punched out, put my coat on and grabbed my purse.  (As I think many of you girls out there can relate to) I have a bottomless pit for a purse.  I put stuff in there and it seems to get sucked into a black hole.

At first when I couldn't find my keys I wasn't too worried.  As I kept digging some more around at the bottom of my purse I got a little annoyed.  Hmmm...I couldn't find my keys in purse.  So I checked my jacket pockets--nope my keys weren't there.  I looked through my purse again and I still couldn't find my damn keys.  Now I was starting to get worried.  They definitely weren't in my purse and they weren't in my jacket pockets so where the hell could they be?  Then, (unfortunately) it dawned on me where they were...they were in my car.  Crossing my fingers that I hadn't locked the car door, I put on my jacket, grabbed my stuff and went out to the car.  I peered in the window and sure enough there were my car keys--sitting right where I had left them, on the driver's seat.  I pulled the door handle...locked (but you figured that out already, right?)

So, here I was...standing in the parking lot of the grocery store locked out of the car.  The night crew guys were standing outside smoking--so I walked back to the store and sheepishly told them I had locked myself out of my car.  I laughed a little about how stupid I was and asked any of them if they had any ideas about breaking into the car.  Nope.  I tried calling a few people but it was after midnight and noone was answering their phones--either because it was Friday night and they were out or because they were asleep.  I left a few voicemails and waited for a few minutes in case anyone called back.  Keith, the night manager, asked what was going on and I explained that I was locked out of my car and waiting to see if anyone I had called would call back.  "Oh."  he said.  He took a quick look at the car and said he wouldn't be able to break in for me.  He also said he would have offered to drive me home but he couldn't leave the store.  At that point I was still sort of holding out hope that one of the people I had called would get my message and call back.  I said, "No, that's ok.  Don't worry about it."  I stood around for a few minutes staring at my cell phone and trying to figure out what to do.  

By this time it was close to 12:30 and faced with limited options I decided I wasn't just going to stand around all night and that I was going to have to just suck it up and walk home.  Keith saw me getting ready to leave and he asked what I was going to do.  "I'm going to walk home."  I responded, much in the same tone I would have used if I had burned myself and he asked my why I was putting ice on it.  "You are not seriously going to walk home."  he said.  "Well, there's really nothing else I can do."  I responded tartly, because it had become readily apparent to me that Keith was not going to do anything to help me.  And I'm as much of a feminist as the next chick but a whole night crew full of guys and not one of them offered to help?  "Well, I guess I could take you home."  he said hesitantly, but he stood rooted to the spot where he was standing and it was obvious from the tone of his voice that he wasn't really willing to leave the store.  Maybe I was just being stubborn because I do think that he would have driven me home at that point if I had pressed the issue but I just knew it wasn't a sincere offer to help.  "No, don't worry about it--I'll just walk", I told him quickly.  And with that I marched away from the store and out of the parking lot with as much pride and determination as I could muster under the circumstances.  "Call the store when you get home and let me know you got there ok."  Keith called after me.  I shook my head, kept walking and resisted the urge to give him the finger.

I walked the approximately three miles back to my house at 12:30 in the morning and with each step I took I became more and more angry with myself for being so stupid and frustrated with Keith for being such an asshole.  I understand he is the manager of the store and he can't just leave the store unattended--that is corporate policy.  But it seems to me that sometimes there are extenuating circumstances.  I also understand that it wasn't his fault that I was a dumbass and I locked my car keys in the car.  But I just don't understand what kind of person lets someone walk home by themselves in the middle of the night.  It took my over an hour and half to walk home--it would have taken him about 15 minutes to drive me there and get back to the store.  If you have the ability to help someone why would you not do it?  Am I being unreasonable here?  Or was Keith an asshole?  Or a little bit of both?  Maybe it was Karmic payback for times in the past when I could have helped someone but I didn't--like the time I could have/should have offered Miguel a ride to work but didn't.

But all's well that ends well...I walked home (good exercise), crawled into bed, slept like a baby and we went with the spare key and unlocked the car door the next day.