what's wrong with society - rant

[jaba]

ARG, my husband just got home, soaking wet and slightly dirty. It's been raining on and off for days here and when DH was driving home he got stuck in the mud, no matter what he did he couldn't get the car out. He knocked on a few doors where one guy looked at him, looked at the car and said "no english".....the next house Dh knocked on a woman answered and DH said he was stuck and asked (something along the lines of: ) if there was a guy in the house who could help him or if they had a 2 x 4 he could use. The woman's husband came out and said "no sorry" and shut the door. Now of course no one is obliged to help out anyone, but come on what's wrong with people I'm sure if my husband waved a 50 dollar bill in both of these houses face they would have loved to help. Thanks to DH's friend he got out, but if he wasn't home I'm sure he'd still be stuck. If I was in the car with him I sure would have given them a piece of my mind.....

[Andit]

I can sympathize.

Quite a few yrs back, when I was young & healthy, my tire blew out while on the highway. I managed to pull the car over safely onto the side of the off-ramp (just at the base, right onto the street). I got out of the car, got the spare tire out & was trying very hard to get the rubber ribbons (can't really call it a tire) off. While I was struggling, I had all sorts of folks calling me every name in the book, & not the pg rated book. I finally gave up (the one bolt just wouldn't budge for me).

I stood up & gave the poor helpless female look at passing motorists. Within 3 minutes I had half a dozen cars stop & their drivers come & offer to help me. I doubt they would have been so inclined while I was changing the tire.

I drove straight to the mall & bought a cell phone (this was in the dark ages before cells were popular).

Sometimes you have to laugh at the idiocy of people.

[jaba]

wow, that's really mean, I'm sure those people will get what's coming to them though and when they really need help they will be left to fend for themselves.

Sometimes you have to laugh at the idiocy of people.

lol no kidding

[Litesandsirens911]

wow, i can totally sympathize...3 years ago DH and the kids and I were driving to the West Coast on a remote logging road and got a flat tire..my DH is quite capable, but you'd think even 1 single person would stop and ask if we needed help...this is a logging road where there is a car maybe every hour, or half hour, in the middle of nowhere, 1 hour or so from anywhere that has even a telephone...

And this summer, DH and the 2 kids and I took a drive out there again, this time some guy and his little girl stopped us and asked us if he was going in the right direction, we said "follow us"...he followed about 20 minutes and we lost him..so DH turned around to go see where he was, and his motor had blown on his car..his car was PACKED with camping stuff, coolers, the little girl's bike, etc...not wanting to leave them in the wilderness, we left his car there and drove back 45 minutes to cell service for him to call a towtruck, and my car only fits 5 but we crammed in there to take him back...turns out he was from out of town, and because it was the long weekend, the garage couln't get out there to get his car for 2 days...since this is the remote logging road in the middle of nowhere, we didn't want theives to break in and steal all his stuff..so we offered to cram as much stuff into our car including him and his daughter and drive him 2 hours to the West Coast where he had friends camping, who were expecting him but had no way of reaching him due to no cell service..
To make a long story short, our day trip never happened, but as my husband said, we did the right thing helping a stranger, because I wouldn't be able to sleep wondering if he and his little girl would have been okay, and because no one ever stopped for US on that road.
Some people need to do something nice for others, and think of how they would feel had the situation been reversed..sorry your DH had to deal with ignorant people.

[Patty Smyth]

I think we are becoming afraid of our own shadows.

[Justine]

It's times like this when you sure could use CAA.

[NancyM]

what a shame that our society has turned against helping each other out i remember one my car battery died in a shopping mall we my dh and me had our baby with us (this was a long time ago) we asked a lady for a boost and she told us no because her dh told her never to do that mean while she had 2 little kids with her, i'm sorry this happened to your dh and glad he finally made it home

[itsjustmebub]

wow Litesandsirens911 ... you are obviously very kind people!

[NancyM]

wow, i can totally sympathize...3 years ago DH and the kids and I were driving to the West Coast on a remote logging road and got a flat tire..my DH is quite capable, but you'd think even 1 single person would stop and ask if we needed help...this is a logging road where there is a car maybe every hour, or half hour, in the middle of nowhere, 1 hour or so from anywhere that has even a telephone...

And this summer, DH and the 2 kids and I took a drive out there again, this time some guy and his little girl stopped us and asked us if he was going in the right direction, we said "follow us"...he followed about 20 minutes and we lost him..so DH turned around to go see where he was, and his motor had blown on his car..his car was PACKED with camping stuff, coolers, the little girl's bike, etc...not wanting to leave them in the wilderness, we left his car there and drove back 45 minutes to cell service for him to call a towtruck, and my car only fits 5 but we crammed in there to take him back...turns out he was from out of town, and because it was the long weekend, the garage couln't get out there to get his car for 2 days...since this is the remote logging road in the middle of nowhere, we didn't want theives to break in and steal all his stuff..so we offered to cram as much stuff into our car including him and his daughter and drive him 2 hours to the West Coast where he had friends camping, who were expecting him but had no way of reaching him due to no cell service..
To make a long story short, our day trip never happened, but as my husband said, we did the right thing helping a stranger, because I wouldn't be able to sleep wondering if he and his little girl would have been okay, and because no one ever stopped for US on that road.
Some people need to do something nice for others, and think of how they would feel had the situation been reversed..sorry your DH had to deal with ignorant people.

wow you guys are so nice

[VeeVee]

I posted this somewhere before but last Feb BF and I were traveling up North to visit my mom and we were on the highway about 20 min from parry Sound...so complete forest like atmosphere..no lights just road and cars and I am sure animals..big ones.
We ended up popping our tire and pulling on the side of the road. BF and I both tried for about 30 min to remove the tire to put the donut on but it was a new car and the tire was stuck on there for life! We called for CAA but bc we were so remote we had to wait like an hour for someone to come. In that hour not 1 person stopped to ask us if we were ok...it was -22 and dark out. Finally an OPP officer stopped...he asked if we were ok and if we called anyone, just then CAA showed up. One man did actually stop, but it was to call us 'idiots' for "parking" on the side of the road...ummm yeah we like to park on highways for fun! gah some people eh...no common sense!

[Lynn49]

These are such unfortunate stories....but I can also understand how people are frightened to help strangers. How many stores have we heard where cars were abandoned by the side of the road with the drivers missing, and then we hear of bodies being found? People are afraid. If someone came to my door with that request, I'd offer to call someone to come and help them, but I wouldn't open my door to them. I guess I'm one of those people who's afraid of my own shadow.
Cell phones are a blessing these days, as is CAA. We needed assistance when we were in the US a year ago and I tell you....when that AAA guy showed up I could have kissed him!
The news media sure does a good job of scaring us...or perhaps we're in more dangerous times, with more desperate people.

[bug]

what a shame that our society has turned against helping each other out i remember one my car battery died in a shopping mall we my dh and me had our baby with us (this was a long time ago) we asked a lady for a boost and she told us no because her dh told her never to do that mean while she had 2 little kids with her, i'm sorry this happened to your dh and glad he finally made it home

Sorry, if this happened to me I would call someone for you from my cell, but I would not give you a boost either. I don't let strangers into my car.

Edit: why does her having 2 kids with her change anything? perhaps that's even more of an incentive not to invite strangers into her car.

I'm the same as Lynn. I'd call CAA for your husband but that's about it unless I were with someone else. But even then it'd depend on the circumstances - if it were already evening and the street was quiet and not well-lit, probably not. And if he had a female companion who was "giving me a piece of her mind", well, then definitely not. I also would not change my decision for $50 which is small change compared to the reasons why I wouldn't get out to help.

[VeeVee]

Quote:
Originally Posted by NancyM
what a shame that our society has turned against helping each other out i remember one my car battery died in a shopping mall we my dh and me had our baby with us (this was a long time ago) we asked a lady for a boost and she told us no because her dh told her never to do that mean while she had 2 little kids with her, i'm sorry this happened to your dh and glad he finally made it home

Sorry, if this happened to me I would call someone for you from my cell, but I would not give you a boost either. I don't let strangers into my car.

She never asked to sit inside the car..it was just a boost...that doesn't involve letting anyone in your car...all she would have had to do was pop the hood.

[Natalka]

Oh, that's just awful.
Maybe we've been lucky, or maybe it's just Sask. folks, but we've been very lucky in all sorts of circumstances in getting help, and ALWAYS give help.
Especially in winter, people here just know how quickly things can change with the weather, so no one takes any chances...
I would say that most common is everyone helping to push everyone else out of their parking places, or drifts, etc. in the winter, though! It's just being 'good people'.

[Lynn49]

Oh, that's just awful.
Maybe we've been lucky, or maybe it's just Sask. folks, but we've been very lucky in all sorts of circumstances in getting help, and ALWAYS give help.
Especially in winter, people here just know how quickly things can change with the weather, so no one takes any chances...
I would say that most common is everyone helping to push everyone else out of their parking places, or drifts, etc. in the winter, though! It's just being 'good people'.

When someone is in obvious distress...stuck in their own driveway, that's one thing...but someone coming to my door asking me to open it because their car 'broke down'.......even the police don't recommend we do that. I'd do what I can by calling someone, but no one gets into my house or car. Period.
I just watched a show on 'criminal minds' I think it was, where a serial rapist watched a woman go into a store, then he lifted the hood of her car, undid something, then, when she couldn't start it, he came to her 'rescue' and fiddled under the hood. He went back to her door, asked her to slide over so he could start it.....her body was later found.
It's just too scary out there......