Digging out

Much of the snow melted recently as snow showers turned to rain. Unfortunately it didn't all melt and then the temperature dropped dramatically, creating an ice skating rink out of the city.

On my way to get coffee, I saw three people carrying gifts, being led by an elderly looking woman who was loaded down with bags like everyone else. Yep, you guessed, boom, right on her keyster. Actually, she didn't go ALL the way down, but most of the way. I ran over and grabbed her and then took her bags from her so she could start to get up with my help. Her granddaughter was close behind and her daughter was with the car at the curb. After re-establishing her balance, I took her to the entryway to their building and set the gifts down inside and told them to be careful.

On my way back from getting coffee, I see the daughter attempting to maneuver into or out of a parking spot which she shouldn't have tried to negotiate. The granddaughter was trying to push the car back out into the street. The wheels were turned one way, they weren't rocking the car, it was a mess. Don't people know how to do this? I've already helped one guy out of a spot this year and anticipate several more before the winter is out. You HAVE to know that the only way to move a huge freaking car without traction is to get it rocking back and forth and hope that you can push it onto something the tires can grab.

This woman was clueless. She was gunning the tires so all they did was spin. She would hit the brakes while we were rocking the car (that started to piss me off). She went forward instead of backwards (which almost ended up with Joe getting run over). Finally, with two other guys who stopped when they saw me pushing, we got the car out. I took the opportunity to explain to the mother and daughter that they need to find a parking spot without the huge ice bank to climb. You wouldn't think you'd have to explain that to someone, but you'd be wrong.