A Friend Like That

I have a friend who’s forever in crisis. He can hardly let a week go by without getting himself in a little bit of drama.

Let’s talk about his driving skills first. He is a very careful driver, and I don’t understand how he could get himself into so many accidents. Whenever I ask him, he always says it’s the other person’s fault. He also gets many parking tickets as well since he drives to Jersey City and New York City a lot. Sometimes parking tickets are unavoidable. I guess hunger, inequality, and global warming can all be dealt with, but New York City will never have enough parking spots. And not infrequently, one hears the news that people pull their gun out to shoot others when they vie for the last parking spot available. And of course New York City’s solution to parking shortage is to hire a big army of parking police to write parking tickets.

Secondly, his phone. He always falls prey to unscrupulous salespeople who would talk him into transferring to a new phone company. Unfortunately, the new phone plan always has a caveat, which he won’t be able to discover until one month later when the new bill arrives. I had to help him to transfer back…

Then it’s his forgetfulness. He keeps on losing things. Keys, pens etc. Several months ago, he lost his driver license and I had to help him get a new one. What a fright. He parked his car in Queens, New York, near the College Point Boulevard, and his car was burglarized. His wallet was left in the car and the thief took his wallet. And you know what he told me? “Why did the thief take my wallet? Why couldn’t he just take the money and leave the rest?” He said.

Recently he bought a new washing machine. As soon as it arrived, his wife didn’t like it. She told him to return it, but Home Depot refuses to take it back. And for the last three weeks, he has been trying to talk to Home Depot, the store, and GE, the manufacturer. However it is not really working.

Somehow I feel that he enjoys the hustle and bustle. He is happy and his small business is growing despite his hectic way of managing it.