I went back to Country Mart at 10:46 on Tuesday morning to get my $8 refund from the unable-to-process-draw-tickets lottery machines. The little man who helped me saw me park, and came over to T-Hoe's door. He chatted with me on the way in, picked up a cart to return inside, and took me over to the service desk. The lady working there was helping someone else on the other side, but came right over to me when Little Man Mike told her I was there.
"Now what did you say you wanted from the ticket machine?"
"I tried to get a PowerBall ticket from the left machine, and two Cash4Life with Easy Match from the right."
"Okay." She printed me those tickets from a terminal she had right there behind the service desk.
"Thank you. That's what I wanted. Are the machines working okay today?"
"Yes. The paper to print the tickets was jammed in both of them."
"Oh. I thought maybe the paper ran out, from all the PowerBall tickets people have been buying. Thank you for getting my tickets."
I must say, I was a bit surprised she printed those tickets. I was expecting a refund. Which I would have promptly put back in the machines anyway...
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Anyhoo... back to my terrible Monday.
I went from Country Mart to Casey's. For once, there were only two cars parked in front, all the way down to the left side. I parked in front of the door, with a regular spot and a handicap spot on my right, and four empty spaces on my left.
Inside, I saw the clerk was the tall lady who had been buying tickets at Country Mart's right machine while I was losing my $2 in the left.
"Hi. Country Mart's machine stole my money, so I'm buying tickets here!" I handed her a $20 winner to cash in.
"I saw that!"
"It was only eight dollars, and I'll get it back tomorrow. So no big deal."
I completed my transaction and started back to T-Hoe. Another customer had come in while I was doing business. And now I saw that he had parked RIGHT BESIDE T-HOE! As in close. We were still both within the parking lines. I had cheated over to the right, to leave more room for T-Hoe's gargantuan door to open. This guy had done the same thing. For what reason I don't know. He was slim. Nothing else was parked on his other side.
So I had to only open T-Hoe's door to the first notch. I could hoist myself up on the running board, sore shoulder and all, but getting my left knee to bend and get my foot inside was an issue. I struggled with it a bit, and then got inside by pulling on my pants leg, and enduring the over-bending of the knee.
I was sure my day could only get better from there, but I was incorrect...
TO BE CONTINUED...
Is the handicap space wider than the usual ones? with your dodgy knees and needing more space to fully open your doors because of them I think you should be allowed to use them. Because you are not living in the city I don't think you'd need the handicap sticker.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteI think I still need a handicap plate or sticker to park there legally. Then again, it's probably a low priority police call, like GAS DRIVE-OFFS! The handicap spaces usually ARE larger, or the door opens into the walkway.
I try not to take up spaces that "legally" handicapped people might need. I never park in one at Casey's, Save A Lot, Country Mart, or the Devil's Playground. I sometimes use the one at the Gas Station Chicken Store. There are more people waiting for the air hose than for the handicap spot. Otherwise I have to park on a slant, and it's hard to get T-Hoe's door to open uphill. Or by the moat, and cross the lot where the giant manhole covers for the gas tanks are raised above the blacktop.