So............I drive 30,000 miles a year. Yep, that is a lot of time on the rump, in a car, behind the wheel of whatever it is I am driving at that point. I have done a lot of speeding. Going to Cleveland everyday during rush hour means you need to do 10mph over the speed limit to just stay with traffic. I was always surprised when I really thought about how I never got pulled over for speeding.
Well, life is funny. I have had a Lincoln LS with the V8 engine for about 3 years. It was fast and I would let it out occasionally. To be fiscally conservative, I got rid of the Lincoln and bought a beast (95 Honda Accord), with a 5spd and 4cyl. I thought I would save some money at the pumps. I started calculating mpg's everytime I filled up. I wanted to see how many mpg's were possible so I decided to go 65mph and try not to top 70mph during my daily commute.
Along comes Saturday. I have to work bell to bell (9am to 9:30pm) and I am actually doing 60mph up 71N. Cars are blowing by me and against all of my machismo, keep it at 60. Then I see that all the cars behind me start slowing and moving into the right lane. I soon see why... a highway patrolman is coming up. Since I am not speeding I continue steadily and the guy pulls past me. He stays a car length in front of me, then slows and falls behind me. Again, I have done nothing wrong (that I can think of) so I continue trekking to work.
Then the lights..... I pull over to the side of the road and realize that I just submitted my application for my conceal carry permit. Remembering this, I keep my hands on the wheel even when he is at my passenger window. He waits, I wait. Did I mention I am driving a POS 95 accord.......with crank windows!!! Crank windows. UGH! So I ask the patrolman if I can roll my window down. He looks at me like I am nuts. I rolled it down and first thing I told him was that I had just submitted for my application for conceal carry but had not received it yet.
He asked if I had a fire arm in the car and I replied no. He asked where I was going. When I told him work and it was in N. Olmsted he commented "that is a far drive for work everyday". I agreed, but wanted to say "you're telling me. Look at what I am driving. If I worked close I would drive an Expedition". Instead I stayed polite and watched as he looked all over the inside of my car while we sat there. He let me know that he pulled me over because I did not have a front plate on and asked why that was. I explained I had just gotten this car and that I had not made time to put the plate on yet. He then spotted the front plate in the passenger seat. He proceeded to ask me why I was not wearing a seat belt, and if I normally wear a seat belt. I told him I did normally, and there was no good reason why I wasn't today. "It is a law" he exclaimed.
After a few minutes he came back up and said he would give me a warning on the front plate but that I was getting a seatbelt violation ticket. $95 Ticket later I was on my way to work.
I kept a happy attitude all the way to work. I had driven that Lincoln for nearly three years, WITHOUT ever having a front license plate and no issues. I also ALWAYS wore my seatbelt in the Lincoln because it beeped until I put it on.
At work we had a $20,000. Sales goal for the day. First guest in returned for $5,000 then an hour later a $3000 return. To add insult to injury we were very slow and took another return. To end the day we actually finished negative and dropped over $20,000 on the last day of the month!!! Obviously not my day!!!! I am trying to look at days like these as character builders. Certainly tough to stay positive when everything goes sideways, but I think, Anyone who is winning will seem to have good character, but when the chips are down true character is revealed.
I will continue to try to look at days/situations/experiences like these as a learning tool.
However, I hope there aren't too many more coming soon.
Til next year....
Mike
Well, life is funny. I have had a Lincoln LS with the V8 engine for about 3 years. It was fast and I would let it out occasionally. To be fiscally conservative, I got rid of the Lincoln and bought a beast (95 Honda Accord), with a 5spd and 4cyl. I thought I would save some money at the pumps. I started calculating mpg's everytime I filled up. I wanted to see how many mpg's were possible so I decided to go 65mph and try not to top 70mph during my daily commute.
Along comes Saturday. I have to work bell to bell (9am to 9:30pm) and I am actually doing 60mph up 71N. Cars are blowing by me and against all of my machismo, keep it at 60. Then I see that all the cars behind me start slowing and moving into the right lane. I soon see why... a highway patrolman is coming up. Since I am not speeding I continue steadily and the guy pulls past me. He stays a car length in front of me, then slows and falls behind me. Again, I have done nothing wrong (that I can think of) so I continue trekking to work.
Then the lights..... I pull over to the side of the road and realize that I just submitted my application for my conceal carry permit. Remembering this, I keep my hands on the wheel even when he is at my passenger window. He waits, I wait. Did I mention I am driving a POS 95 accord.......with crank windows!!! Crank windows. UGH! So I ask the patrolman if I can roll my window down. He looks at me like I am nuts. I rolled it down and first thing I told him was that I had just submitted for my application for conceal carry but had not received it yet.
He asked if I had a fire arm in the car and I replied no. He asked where I was going. When I told him work and it was in N. Olmsted he commented "that is a far drive for work everyday". I agreed, but wanted to say "you're telling me. Look at what I am driving. If I worked close I would drive an Expedition". Instead I stayed polite and watched as he looked all over the inside of my car while we sat there. He let me know that he pulled me over because I did not have a front plate on and asked why that was. I explained I had just gotten this car and that I had not made time to put the plate on yet. He then spotted the front plate in the passenger seat. He proceeded to ask me why I was not wearing a seat belt, and if I normally wear a seat belt. I told him I did normally, and there was no good reason why I wasn't today. "It is a law" he exclaimed.
After a few minutes he came back up and said he would give me a warning on the front plate but that I was getting a seatbelt violation ticket. $95 Ticket later I was on my way to work.
I kept a happy attitude all the way to work. I had driven that Lincoln for nearly three years, WITHOUT ever having a front license plate and no issues. I also ALWAYS wore my seatbelt in the Lincoln because it beeped until I put it on.
At work we had a $20,000. Sales goal for the day. First guest in returned for $5,000 then an hour later a $3000 return. To add insult to injury we were very slow and took another return. To end the day we actually finished negative and dropped over $20,000 on the last day of the month!!! Obviously not my day!!!! I am trying to look at days like these as character builders. Certainly tough to stay positive when everything goes sideways, but I think, Anyone who is winning will seem to have good character, but when the chips are down true character is revealed.
I will continue to try to look at days/situations/experiences like these as a learning tool.
However, I hope there aren't too many more coming soon.
Til next year....
Mike
3 comments:
Stay positive Bub.. but always buckle up. It is the LAW you know.
BTW, why do you drive so far to work? ;o)
Late, late posting, sorry.
So sorry about the costly lesson; when the seat belt law went into effect it drove me crazy! I hated wearing that darn seat belt. But I did it because it was 'the law'. I didn't want to set the example to the young drivers I had coming up that we could pick and choose which laws to submit to and which ones we could break because we didn't like them. So I got used to it and buckled up... because it is the law.
And you're right again - these tough times reveal true character, for all of us.
Oh yeah...still trying to train that heavy right foot to submit!
JM (Jo Momma)
Just seeing if you updated - guess you really DID mean next year!
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