Ani Ram went from serial-dater to home-maker in less time..
I think it would be interesting to share the rest of my accident story that I wrote about in my previous blog because it illustrates another side to my ever-so-changing personality. But first about personalities…
I am obsessed with trying to spot patterns of behaviour, both in myself and in other people. I take a lot of pride in my self awareness because I think it’s important to know yourself as well as you can. This way you can minimize your chances of being fooled by others. My favorite is when I surprise myself- when I say, act, react or behave in a way that I never thought I could/would.
So back to the scene of the accident. Of course the first question the officer asked me was to hand over my license, registration and insurance. He was a real hard ball. I knew right away that there would be no chance for leeway with him and I knew I needed it. He spoke loud and fast, almost like a motivational speaker. He, also, really reminded me of Billy Blake. I handed over the documents minus my insurance card. I knew the one I had in my glove compartment was expired. I knew that a new one was mailed to my house over six months prior and I never got around to putting it in my car. For some reason, I kept thinking that if I don’t put it in my car then I won’t be get into any trouble. It was some kind of preventative rational that makes no sense, I know. I quite often leave myself unprepared for disaster because I feel that it will prevent me from one.
This cop was no dummy. He knew he asked for 3 documents and spotted right away that I only handed in 2.
“Insurance card, please!” He shouted. “OK, let me get it, it’s right here in my glove compartment” I squealed. I was becoming more and more nervous trying to think fast. This was too much pressure. I needed to react. I pulled out my expired insurance card and handed it over with full confidence. “Here you go, officer” I said with a smile. “This here is expired! I need a current insurance card or else I will issue summons!” He was not joking. “Oh no! I can’t believe I pulled the wrong one. I’m sure I have a recent one, let me look again” I tried to sound confident. At this point he walked away to write a summons to the truck that was blocking the intersection, causing the accident. I kept looking but was hoping for the slight chance that he would forget by the time he came back which ended up being a half hour.
I was remembering the time when I was in school and would look in my backpack for a half hour trying to find the homework that I knew I didn’t have. Why was I acting like a child? Why couldn’t I just fess up that I didn’t have it? I guess my mind opted for a familiar behaviour after being put under pressure and all.
Half hour later, he comes back. “I need that insurance card!” he repeated himself. I tried to explain that I still had the same insurance and that none of my information had changed, but no such luck. Excuses were not going to work. I had to make another decision, fast! This had to be handled a different way. All of a sudden, the actress in me awoke. I began to act like the most clueless girl on earth hoping for pity. In turn, the more clueless I would act, the smarter it would make him feel, I thought. The better he would feel about himself, the nicer he would be to me- for boosting his self-esteem. I rationalized this in all of 10 seconds.
Lights. Camera. Action.
“Isn’t there anything I can do to prove I have insurance?” I twirled my hair and widened my eyes. “Unless you can fax me that card, I will have to issue a summons!” He wasn’t budging. “Oh, wonderful. I’ll have it faxed over right away” I tried to sound as cheerful as possible. “Oh yeah? And how are you going to do that?” I could tell he was curious. “Well, I can fax it to your car! Don’t you have a fax machine in your car?!” I don’t know how I kept a straight face. This was obviously the dumbest question I’ve ever asked anyone. I widened my eyes even more so that he could see the light that went on in my brain. Surely he would feel bad bursting my bubble! Success! He smiled! My plan worked! I made him feel smart! “NO! There is no fax machine in my car!!!!!!!” His 1-second smile faded real fast but I continued anyway. “But I thought you keep all kinds of equipment in there for verification purposes!” Lights were going on in my head and I was hoping he noticed. “You have until I am done writing this police report to bring me your insurance card! If not, you’ll have to show it in court!” This was his final answer and I was happy about it! This meant that I still had a chance! Surely it would take him at least 20 minutes to write the report. More pressure.
At this point I was so exhausted from my acting that my mind couldn’t think of anything more. I looked around me and thought: I am in the middle of Manhattan where information is transmitted every billisecond, I must be able to find a fax machine. Of course, I acted on the first thought that came to mind. Wachovia Bank! They must have a fax machine! I started dialing Geico. While on hold, I gathered all my acting strength and went for the bank.
I walked in and went up to the first woman I saw behind the counter. “Hi Miss. My name is Ani Ram and I urgently need to use a fax machine. You see, I was in a car accident and I need some insurance documents ASAP because the officer is waiting outside! I want you to know that I’ve been a loyal Wachovia customer for many years and all I ask in return is that you let me receive a fax on your fax machine!” What? How did I come up with that? Who am I? Geico was still on hold.
The woman went to talk it over with some co-workers who checked me out for a few and then came back. “Sure, here is our number.” She was very nice. I couldn’t believe it actually worked. I went back to the officer, showed him my card, and got out of a summons. He was impressed but didn’t show much care.
What I learned about myself from this experience is that there is an actress inside me. I’m not sure when I’ll see her again but I’m sure glad she got me out of trouble.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 11th, 2006 at 7:33 pm and is filed under About me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
lol!!
fax machine in ur car.
priceless!