The Right Keys

I was distracted from paperwork on my desk today by an irregular honking in the parking lot adjacent my work place. I'll admit that I am easily distracted from "work."

A young male co-worker,TH, was also intrigued and walked with me toward the windows.

There, in the parking lot, was a very elderly woman struggling to unlock a car door. She continued to push the keyless remote and pull unsuccessfully on the handles. We watched her attempt to open it manually with the key and then walk to the passenger side and repeat all of the above.

TH decided to be a boy scout and do his good deed for the day. I remained inside, but started snickering when it became apparent that he, too, was fruitless in his efforts with the lock.

A telephone call saved him from further investigation and he passed the keys off to me along with a baffled expression.

"See what you can do, " he challenged.

I walked out to the car and pressed the unlock button on the remote. I heard a click. I pushed it again and cocked my head sideways. The click was coming from another car. I turned around and pulled the door open on a four-door white sedan in the stall right next to the obstinate one.

"Is this your car?" I asked her with a sweet smile. If nothing else, I can smile very sweetly when fighting the urge to bust a gut.

"Oh dear, Oh dear," she gasped, and busied herself from the other side of the wrong car.

By the time she reached me and her keys, she was giggling like a kid.

"I'm 91 years old. " she chortled and slapped her knee. "I sure hope you don't tell anybody what I did!"

Who... me?

Comments

Beccy said…
ROFL, were the cars similar in anyway?

Should she be driving if she doesn't know her car?
Anonymous said…
I could see that coming a mile away. She's not the first one to suffer that embarrassment, and age isn't always the main culprit. Just saying.
Anonymous said…
Yeah, I'm with WT. See, I've done the same thing, and I'm NOT 91.

Just a sleep-deprived mommy.
Kelly Curtis said…
BAHAHAHA! She'll never know;)

My kids tried to get into the wrong car in the walmart parking lot yesterday. I was chortling at them a bit too;)
M@ said…
OH! Okay! And I get arrested for drunk driving. Hmmmmm.
Anonymous said…
well we can't ALWAYS be right! (can we?)
Anonymous said…
Reminds me of the time I was shopping with Grandma H and Grandma D and we walked out to the car, opened the trunk and put all the groceries in it. The key wouldn't work for the door and Grandma D was getting really frustrated when suddenly a woman came out shouting, "That's my car"...her car was the EXACT same car as ours. The trunks worked but not the doors. (we were parked an aisle over)
Claudia said…
I've gone up to similar cars and been completely perplexed as I looked inside as to where all my clutter went, and why are the seats different? LOL...there was one car that had a sticker similar to the one I had, in the same spot, and the same ding on the same side of the car as I had!! whoa!!
Heather said…
I have to unlock my car and watch for the lights to blink while I'm still miles away to figure out which one is my Annie.
Anonymous said…
Great story told very well.
Susie said…
I've actually had something very similar happen but the vehicles were side by side and looked almost identical.
Fun post!
PS you've been tagged!!
:)
Shelby said…
VERY fun post!!
Anonymous said…
ROFL! I've done that before but I'm not 91 so I have no excuse!
~grey said…
ROFLMAO!!! I hope you rubbed it into TH that you were able to solve the problem!!!

Tooo funny!!!
Sunrunner said…
Hilarious! But I can also empathize. I used to go to the wrong car fairly frequently. But I had a car that was Buick tan, and looked like every other car!!!!
Masago said…
*busting a gut*
Tammy said…
Awww...bless her heart! :)
I've come close to doing this very thing...at least getting ready to unlock a vehicle and realizing it just resembled mine...at least she kept her humor! :)
Walker said…
LOL That's going to be me and I'm only... well nevermind how old I am... but I am younger than 91!!
its_amyia1977 said…
Now why did someone go and give her the wrong keys to the right car??? Don't they realize how cruel that is?? ha ha...
Anonymous said…
91 and still driving? holy cow! I guess at 91 who cares what car it is as long as you can drive it lol
Anonymous said…
How cute was she to worry that you might tell (ahem, cough cough) a few of your closest friends??? Darlin', just darlin'.

And, yeah, sounds like we all might suffer from this malady! Age has nothin' to do w/it I'm afraid...!
Anonymous said…
I have actually gotten into the wrong car before. The person forgot to lock their doors. I didn't realize it was the wrong car until I noticed that the seats were different then mine and there were a pair of sun glasses that didn't belong to me in the center console. I was glad that the person didn't come out while I was sitting in it.

Once I got out I looked at the car to see how I could have made such a mistake. I was still puzzled as the car that didn't belong to me was a Ford Explorer and I drive a Chevy Tahoe. They were the same color though.
Anonymous said…
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
"The bluest sky you've ever seen...in Seattle" Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Was I the only girl who didn't have a crush on Bobby Sherman?

Oh yeah, you posted a story...that was cute. That's me next year.
Anonymous said…
Very cute story! What a sweet lady!
Anonymous said…
An older lady almost crashed into me today, and then when I pulled over to park my car (I was near my destination) she honked and rolled down her window to apologize. She looked kind of confused, maybe half-asleep, and said, "Oh, my mind is in never-never land today!"

Yikes!
Hazel said…
Oh, I was needing a good chuckle. You told it with such sweetness and fun. Thanks for that!

(and, Yes, when I drove a "generic" vehicle I confused it all the time!)
Anonymous said…
I have been grocery shopping and moved away from my cart to get something several feet from my cart. I came back to my cart and went on. Then I stopped and questioned--how did that big chocolate cake get in my cart. Oops, not my cart!
Peter said…
That ain't funny Pamela, I've done the same thing.. though not with the same degree of tenacity fortunately.
theotherbear said…
Hahaha - too funny.
Mary said…
I had a feeling you were going to say that it was the wrong vehicle... because I have done that too!

I know, you're so surprised, aren't you?
Anonymous said…
i hope i can smack my knee when I'm 93

ivy

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