Normally I don’t like to write anything negative, but yesterday I had a terrible day and made a pretty dumb mistake that caused some of it. If nothing else, I am sure some of you will get a good laugh from my lapse in judgment lol.

I guess I will just start at the beginning! Some of you may already know this, but for those of you that don’t, I am from Canada where it is super cold and snowy throughout the winter months. Yesterday we got a huge storm with a lot of snow, and a lot more wind. When that happens, the wind blows the snow all over the place and makes visibility difficult as well as causes snow drifts. When I looked outside at my vehicle I could see that the wind has done two things. First, it had been kind enough to blow all of the falling snow off of my car and keep it cleared off for me! Second, it had caused a snow drift right in front of my car. The driveway was a mess and there was no way I would make it out to get to work, so we called our plow guy to do the end of the drive way up to the end of my car so that I would be able to get out. We told him not to worry about the rest of the driveway because nobody would be coming in and out until morning.

At this point I am not worried one bit because I know all I have to do is go out and shovel the little drift in front of my car before I go to work, which would only take about 10 minutes. WRONG. I get outside to start my car and let it warm up a bit while I shovel, and to my surprise, the car won’t start. Because we had told the plow guy not to worry about the rest of the driveway, we can’t access the other car to give mine a boost. The storm was so bad that the police had shut down highways, cabs and buses weren’t running, and it was advised that nobody drive unless it were necessary. I had to run out to the end of my driveway and flag down a total stranger in a truck, who had been the first vehicle to pass in a long time! The poor guy thought someone was injured or something, and thankfully stopped his truck to see what I needed.

This nice man pulled right in and gave me a boost, and I was on my way to work. I arrived only 15 minutes late, and I borrowed booster cables just in case. I got a phone call half way through my shift from the fellow employee who was supposed to relieve me at the end of my shift – he wasn’t coming to work. Now I am used to this kind of thing from him because, well, he’s totally useless! By this point the snow wasn’t falling anymore and the roads were plowed, all he had to deal with was shoveling his driveway and being careful on the roads with visibility. Instead of picking up a shovel and using the 3 hours he had before he had to leave for work to get himself out of the driveway, he chose to make it somebody else’s responsibility! I was furious, because not only did he put in ZERO effort to make it in to work, but he expected me to find someone to cover his shift for him. Thankfully my boss was able to find someone to cover the shift, otherwise I would have been there for a 12 or even 16 hour shift.

Fast forward to the end of my shift when my relief came. He showed up early, and I wasn’t prepared with the door unlocked and my belongings packed up. I went and let him in myself, set the phone and keys from work on the counter, and then packed up all my things. We continued talking as he walked me out, only for him to realize the door had been locked and he hadn’t picked up the keys! There was a spare set at a building next door, but there were multiple buildings and doors in that area, and I wasn’t sure which to visit. The man had locked his jacket and car keys in the building as well, so it was up to me to get the key.

I drove over and pulled to a stop in front of the first building, trying to determine if I was in the right place. I jumped out of the car and was going to look for a door, then realized I probably shouldn’t leave my car running in a sketchy area. I tried to shut the car off and take the key out to lock it up, but my key was stuck in the ignition. I tried starting my car again – no luck. At this point, I am TOTALLY freaking out. I saw a man through a window with his back to me so I went running up and tried screaming to get his attention, but he couldn’t hear me. I saw a door, but there was snow up to my waist drifted in front of it. I climbed through the snow, and as I did, I saw a man coming toward the door from inside. Thankfully he let me in and let me explain everything that had happened, but he wasn’t able to leave to give me a boost. I found out where I needed to go for the spare key, and went on my way.

I ran to the building around the corner trying to keep myself warm, and finally got to the person with the spare key. I waited for a while as he searched through a ton of keys trying to find the one I needed. He couldn’t find it, so he had to call someone to ask where the key would be held. Finally I got anxious thinking someone was going to steal my backpack with my laptop and IPad inside, so I ran all the way to my car, grabbed my backpack, and ran back to the building for the key. I then had to run all the way back to my place of employment with my backpack on my back to unlock the door for my co-worker. Once inside, I told him the story of what had taken so long.

He grabbed his jacket and took me over to my car in his truck, and we attached the booster cables. We tried boosting my car and failed, and sat in the truck waiting for his battery to warm up for a few minutes before trying again. The same thing happened the second time, and we sat in the car again. At this point I pretty much have ZERO hope that my car is going to start, and I am pretty sure I am stranded. I don’t have anyone in the area that could come and get me, all of my friends and family were either stranded themselves or too far away. I couldn’t even call a cab to take me home and leave my car, because the cabs weren’t running! If I had left my car with the keys in the ignition, I was afraid it would get stolen or impounded.

We finally decided to try one more time – third time’s a charm. This time, my co-worker got in the car and tried to start it. What he found is both hilarious, and 100% embarrassing. In my haste to get the key and get back to the building, I had pulled the car to a stop to assess the area, and simply gotten out with the car still in drive! Since the car wasn’t moving, I must have thought I put it in park, and then just gotten out. Thankfully he figured it out, and we were able to get my car up and running again.

The lesson here I think, is that if you’re in a blizzard – don’t rush! Clearly when you’re in a hurry, you make rush decisions without thinking them through. This was quite possibly one of the worst days I have had in years, so I am really hoping that I have maxed out my quota of bad luck for at least a year or two lol.