Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Tornado Update

Did I mention that I wanted my sister to move back home? I know she loves Chicago, but the city is filled with arseholes.

Yesterday, she went to take pictures of her damaged car, so she could submit an insurance claim, and when she got to her car, the city tree-cutters were there, getting the tree off her car. Which is great, right? Except, they broke her mirror. She wasn't upset about it, because really, what's a broken mirror, when your car had a tree fall on it, but she (politely) asked the city worker how she should submit the claim for her broken mirror.

He YELLED at her, and told her she was stupid to park there anyway, and that the mirror was broken by an act of god, so she should just shut up and get out of his face.

Lucky for her, she has an uncanny ability to remain calm in situations like these. I would be in tears already (I would have been close to tears at the point where I realized I'd have to ask a stranger a question - that's just how I roll), but she is SMART and COMPOSED and she remembered that she had taken pictures the night before, too, so she had evidence that the tree did not knock her mirror off, and she told the city worker that. He continued yelling, and she said "I'm not sure why you're yelling at me - I'm not asking you to pay for this out of your pocket. I'm asking how your employer can reimburse me." He was a maniac, and even still he continue to rant at her about nonsense. They went back and forth for a while, she trying to explain to him that she had simply parked on the street before the storm, she didn't actually wedge her car underneath a fallen tree, and finally she told him "Never mind, I will figure out how to call your employer on my own."

Also - the owner of the property from which the tree fell had come out of his house at this point to see what the commotion was. This guy could be considered her neighbor, although his actions were far from neighborly. Karrie asked him if he could lend her a pen so she could write the city worker's information down, and he told her no! She said, "You can't just go into your house and grab me a pen? Really?" He stood his ground and said nope.

I love visiting Chicago, don't get me wrong. But the next time I'm there, I might have to punch a city employee in the face.

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