Today, the staff at Riverside Automotive Repair were presented with one of the most unique…read morescenarios they will likely ever be tested with. Did they pass the test?
A little background: a week ago, my disabled wife and I were contacted by our dear friend who said that she was at the eye doctor. Her vision in her good eye was suddenly fading, and she had rushed in for an appointment. While at the appointment, her vision went black. She could see nothing. We scrambled to get to her as fast as we could. She received emergency eye surgery the next morning. Our friend happens to be the sole caregiver for her aged mother, so, we moved both of them into our home and worked and struggled to care of both of them, our young family, and our medical issues. Exhausted is a grand understatement.
Today, a little over a week after her surgery, her vision has not improved. They are contemplating another surgery. After a rough night of taking care of two adult patients, and three children that had trouble sleeping, I stayed with the kids while my wife took our friend to her fourth eye appointment in seven days, just to find out that they aren't sure if she will ever regain her sight. When they got back to the car, the unthinkable happened. It wouldn't start.
I got called in to save them, though none of the kids were dressed or had eaten yet, I raced and got us dressed, grabbed a few snacks and drinks, and jumped in the van off to the rescue. And then something even more exciting happened, something I had worried about. Our across the street neighbor has been re-roofing, and much of the debris was in the road over the last several days, and according to the alarm on my dashboard, one of those roofing nails had found its way into my tire, and my tire was going flat. Of course this would happen at the same time I was off to rescue my wife and friend from their predicament. I hoped I would get there before they had burnt to a crisp waiting in the car that would not start.
I was so relieved when I realized that Riverside Automotive Repair was a block away, and when I pulled up I saw the word written in bold on the building that was my deliverance, "TIRES". I pulled up to the front door, rolled down the windows for the kids, made two steps into the building and exclaimed,
"I have an emergency! My wife is stranded with my friend who just went blind. Their car won't start, and I am on the way to rescue them, but I just found a nail in my tire, and it is going flat. They are sitting in the hot car, and I have my children with me. Can you please take a moment and repair the tire?"
Without missing a beat, the front desk worker responded immediately with the words no one would never imagine to hear in a dire situation such as this:
"We don't have time. You would have to have an appointment."
My head sunk, almost in tears I turned around and walked out. The worker stood and followed me out for some reason, continuing to tell me that they can't help us in our emergency.
I got in the van, and drove a few feet into the shade to see if I could figure out how to access the spare. I have never had to get to the spare in this vehicle before. I watched as the worker went to the three or four mechanics in the shop, a glimmer of hope, maybe one of them would be sympathetic to our situation and come to our aid. Alas they did not. I sat in the parking lot for about 10 more minutes. I discovered that my van had a pump, so I pumped up the tire and prayed that I could make it to my wife and friend.
In a genuine emergency, something that would have taken 10 minutes to repair, we were denied the basic human decency and even the slightest bit of help.
Let that review speak for itself about Riverside Automotive Repair and their staff.
I feel sorrow for what occurred, and vow to do my very best to never allow someone in such dire need to go unaided.
