Of TVs and Tow Trucks

This is one of those ranting, complaining posts. I apologize if you were looking for something funny. Feel free to skip it.

So, to get my weekend started, I came home Friday night to a broken TV set. My set was an engagement gift from my mother 8 years ago. I wasn't too distraught, but with all the money I'd been spending lately I certainly didn't need another unplanned expense. And yet, there I was planning to go to Best Buy and spend a few hundred of my hard-earned dollars.

My friend Tom and I drove out to Best Buy to shop for TVs in his big, older model Mercury or some such. They had a set I was pleased enough with, so I bought it. It's nothing fancy, just another 27" JVC direct view TV. The only improvement is that it's a flat screen, which reduces the glare a bit. I get away with spending just over $300. Not too bad. We wrestle with the thing, finally taking it out of the box and into Tom's car.

I asked Tom to park in my next door neighbor's driveway, since she doesn't have a car. We have an understanding that my guests can park in her driveway without having to ask permission or anything like that (this is an important point, as you will see). We unloaded the old TV and load in the new TV pretty much without a hitch (except for the re-wrenching of my lower back - that's another rant altogether).

After that, Tom, I, and our respective wives decided to go out for dinner. Of course, we drove in my car since the carseat is setup there. When we returned, to my horror Tom's car was no longer in my neighbor's driveway. Nor was my neighbor home. There was, however, a scrape mark on the concrete where the car was.

We saw another one of my neighbors there a few minutes later, who explained that there was a "suspicious-looking car" that they had towed away. I can just see it now… My 3 neighbors (all women) talking about this strange car in the driveway. Yes, there's a cracked window, and yes, the doors were unlocked. Fine, but she knows my friends park there all the time. Why not wait for me to get home and ask me about it? Are you really that scared of there being a dead body or bomb in there? The conversation must have bordered on hysterics.

So the car was towed. I then had to call the tow company, drive Tom down to the worst industrial ghetto in Staten Island, pay $108 to for the tow fee, and sacrifice an hour of my Saturday evening in the process. Great. That's just what I needed.