A Little Scam & A Car Dilema

I hope these 2 stories give you a chuckle!

I had to share this, one of my boys got woken up with a phone call. He listened for a while as the caller in a foreign accent told him that someone had gotten his personal information and bought some assets in his name. He explained several things about these assets that were not making sense.

The caller went on to ask if it was making sense to my son? Did my son understand him?

He replied, “I am not an idiot. I don’t fall for scams.”

There was a brief moment of quiet and then the caller answered, “ You are right. I am just testing you, this is a scam. Don’t fall for it. Love you.”

And hung up.

I laughed hard and said I had never had a scammer tell me they loved me before so he was lucky! We are not sure how to take the ending, either the man’s conscience got him or he did not know what to say, but I am thankful his scam fell through.

I think you will probably enjoy this other story as well.

I was in Edmonton on Friday for a check up test. I had rented a car at the airport because I flew in. I also had lots of time between my flights and the tests so having transportation was very nice.

I was given a Toyota Corolla, a white 4 door sedan at the rental kiosk. A cute car, it was smaller than my Explorer especially when I had to kind of drop into it. It sits so much lower than my SUV so it was almost like falling down into the front seat to get in. Climbing out of the car works the leg muscles and needed a good grunt to get up and out.

I landed early so was on the road by 8:30am out of the airport. I noticed that the inside had not been cleaned terribly well so I wanted to get some Lysol wipes and just give it a go over.

I drove through the South Common shopping area but of course everything was closed except one dollar store that opened at 8 the rest were mostly opening at 10.

I pulled into a spot up close to the door because the ice field of a parking lot was looking mighty dangerous to walk far. Then I saw the sign, reserved for mothers with young children. Now no one was really around at that time. So I pondered using the spot anyways but like a good citizen, I moved.

I surveyed the ice field for the shortest walk, for safety of course. No where looked promising. I decided to park next to the sidewalk but way further down. The sidewalk had at least been cleared it would be getting from the car to the sidewalk that would take lifesaving measures. I figured I could grab the side mirror for stability for most of the way, maybe lunge for the bumper if needed.

I pulled in, put the car in park, shut the key off, it was not an electric fob start, it had a key. Well 2 keys actually both put onto one ring. This becomes important further on.

So I reached to take the key out of the ignition and nothing happened. The key was stuck, would not budge. I turned it back and the car started nicely. I rechecked the gear shifter and it was in park. I turned the key off and tried again, no budging, that key was not coming out.

Once again I started the car, moved the gear shifter into reverse and then back to park, confirming the park position. I shut the car off and pulled on the key. Nothing.

I now started feeling and reaching and looking around and under the steering wheel for one of those stupid buttons. Do you remember those? You used to have to push a button to dislodge the key (olden days). But alas there was no button.

I pulled out my trusty phone and googled how to remove the key in a Toyota Corolla. I found a forum that said often the wheel will not lock so moving it and twisting and even shaking it seemed to help. Oh I tried all of those!

At this moment a car pulled in beside me. I stopped everything and sat there like all was good. No it really wasn’t but I was not going to tell him. But after he went into the store I looked at his car, it seemed to look similar to mine. I turned the car back on and backed up 3-4 feet to check the make of the car. It was another Toyota Corolla!

Well shoot! I missed my chance with that one!

I considered if I could leave the keys in the car and run into the store after him. I looked at the 2 keys on the ring and thought, I can leave the ignition one and take the other one, lock the car and hurry before anyone steals the car.

I have now been 15 minutes stuck in the car. I tried wiggling the 2nd key off the ring… but you know, the key had to be out of the ignition to get them apart. Bummer.

I now fiddled in the glove box and got out the owners manual. I read the whole chapter on ignition and keys, not a mention of how to get the key out.

I tried to call the rental company, there was no local number just the 1-800 and their menu options did not include troubleshooting key issues.

I called Ray my youngest son because they have a Toyota, not the same car but it’s a Toyota. He failed to answer. I called his wife in case he was really there. Well bless her heart, she googled the same forum as I had and I re-wiggled the steering wheel again at her suggestion. Defeated I thanked her and told her I would drive to a Toyota dealership and see if they could help me.

I started the car and my phone rang, it was Ray. I told him my dilemma and all of my trial fixes but I reassured him that I would be fine as I was heading to the dealership for help. He asked about the gear shifter in park, wiggling the wheel and then he said, “Did you push the key in Mom?”

I replied, “What do you mean push the key in?” I was actively trying this while asking the question and voila out comes the key.

Feeling fairly sheepish now, very very glad I had not reached the rental company or the Toyota dealership and most importantly not ran after the man in the store! I thanked Ray and hung up, embarrassed at myself. But how could I know??? Who pushes a key in to remove it??

A half an hour I had been stuck in the car, trapped in an ice field parking lot!

As I said, I had plenty of time to kill until my appointment, I just had not thought it would be stuck in my rental car!

As my mom would say, “it’s a poor day when you do not learn something new!” Well I did.

Have a great day folks.