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I caused property damage today
Topic Started: Apr 4 2009, 05:33 PM (368 Views)
Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
I inadvertently parked with about a foot of my car poking into someone's driveway space, which apparently caused the house's owner to back into his garage at an odd angle and clip his driver's side mirror on the side of his garage. It didn't break competely off but it is not meant to bend that way. This was in SAn Francisco with its super narrow houses and driveways with just enough street space between them to make you think there's enough room to park.

So he waited for me till I got back (I was at piano lesson) and yelled a bit. I apologized, admitted my mistake, said it was stupid and careless of me to do. He wanted me to call my car insurance company so he could be compensated, but that didn't sound like such a good idea to me. But I felt badly so I told him I'd be glad to give him some cash to make him whole. He guessed the repair would cost 200 and said that since it was partially his mistake too he'd split it. Seemed fair to me, I didn't think twice about it and gave him 100 in cash on the spot, apologized again and left.

Seem fair?
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Riley
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HOLY CARP!!!
Seems fair to me.

And a bit ridiculous for him to suggest you involve insurance for $200 of damage.
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Phlebas
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Bull-Carp
I've been in the same situation, and handled it the same way. "I feel silly. Here's $100. My fault." Of course the woman thought that her grand kid (the one I backed over) was worth more. "Take me to court then!" Geez, some people.
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


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Phlebas
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Bull-Carp
Riley
Apr 4 2009, 05:36 PM


And a bit ridiculous for him to suggest you involve insurance for $200 of damage.
Especially since it would be hard to prove it was Horace's fault, since it wasn't him who rammed the mirror into the garage.
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Nah. Your parking had nothing to do with his ineptness as a driver. If he could not make it without damage he should have stopped. A lot of at fault revolves around who had teh last chance to avoid the accident. And that was clearly him.

So fvck him and the horse he rode in on. I wouldn't give the bastard a dime.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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CTPianotech
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Fulla-Carp
In principle, I very much agree with Mik.

Part of how you handle it though, depends on just how adversarial a relationship you want to have with a neighbor.

He sounds like a bit of a putz...is this about normal for him?
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Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
Horace, you are one classy guy.
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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Rainman
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Fulla-Carp
Oh what the hell. $100 is one xillionth of anything nowdays.

Hope he has a good time with the cash.

If he bugs you, dump a cup of phospherous fertilizer in his tank. Ask him in a week how his car is running.
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Horace: while reading your story I was so taken by your generosity that I became momentarily overcome with faith in the human condition and dropped a can of Diet Coke over my new laptop, thus ruining it. It will cost about $500 to repair, so please send me $250 and we'll call it even.
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
We had something similar happen a couple of years ago - the shared septic system backed up in very heavy rain and flooded the neighbours basement. They wanted us to pay half of the clean up cost since the charming contents were presumably half ours. We checked with a lawyer and were told that we were absolutely not liable for anything, but gave them a couple of hundred pretty much to keep the peace, after attempting to use logic with the stupid freaking moron polluting the gene pool neighbour got us nowhere. Needless to say, we didn't end up with a very neighbourly environment. I metaphorically danced in the street when they left, even though they lied about the basement to sell the house to our new, very nice neighbour who also doesn't scream at her family over the phone when they can't babysit or lend them money to buy 50" televisions, give their child unpleasant working-class haircuts approximating a mullet, etc. etc. Scumbags.

Sorry, I'm off on a rant here. You probably did the right thing to keep the peace, but don't do it again :P
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Phlebas
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Bull-Carp
John D'Oh
Apr 5 2009, 04:34 AM
We had something similar happen a couple of years ago - the shared septic system backed up in very heavy rain and flooded the neighbours basement. They wanted us to pay half of the clean up cost since the charming contents were presumably half ours. We checked with a lawyer and were told that we were absolutely not liable for anything, but gave them a couple of hundred pretty much to keep the peace, after attempting to use logic with the stupid freaking moron polluting the gene pool neighbour got us nowhere. Needless to say, we didn't end up with a very neighbourly environment. I metaphorically danced in the street when they left, even though they lied about the basement to sell the house to our new, very nice neighbour who also doesn't scream at her family over the phone when they can't babysit or lend them money to buy 50" televisions, give their child unpleasant working-class haircuts approximating a mullet, etc. etc. Scumbags.

Sorry, I'm off on a rant here. You probably did the right thing to keep the peace, but don't do it again :P
Geez, you could have paid me $100, and I would have filled their basement with crap.
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Phlebas
Apr 4 2009, 05:45 PM
I've been in the same situation, and handled it the same way. "I feel silly. Here's $100. My fault." Of course the woman thought that her grand kid (the one I backed over) was worth more. "Take me to court then!" Geez, some people.
:lol2:
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
The way I figured it, the way I was parked could have netted me a parking ticket which would have been $100 right there. So I had no reason to complain about this situation costing me some money, and it was ethically my fault a bit anyway. I would have felt like an a-hole if I'd told him to shove it.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
ivorythumper
Apr 5 2009, 12:51 AM
Horace: while reading your story I was so taken by your generosity that I became momentarily overcome with faith in the human condition and dropped a can of Diet Coke over my new laptop, thus ruining it. It will cost about $500 to repair, so please send me $250 and we'll call it even.
That doesn't seem fair. I ruined your coke, too. Please let me pay for half of the amount you spilled.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Rainman
Apr 4 2009, 08:52 PM
Oh what the hell. $100 is one xillionth of anything nowdays.
Yeah, it's not an amount that's worth deciding whether to be a dick over. I can definitely be a dick, just not for $100.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
CTPianotech
Apr 4 2009, 06:42 PM
In principle, I very much agree with Mik.

Part of how you handle it though, depends on just how adversarial a relationship you want to have with a neighbor.

He sounds like a bit of a putz...is this about normal for him?
He's my piano teacher's neighbor, not mine. But I have to park in his neighborhood once a week, probably wouldn't be a good idea to have him mad at me and seeking vengeance.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Red Rice
Apr 4 2009, 07:55 PM
Horace, you are one classy guy.
Thanks, RR.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Horace
Apr 5 2009, 06:49 AM
ivorythumper
Apr 5 2009, 12:51 AM
Horace: while reading your story I was so taken by your generosity that I became momentarily overcome with faith in the human condition and dropped a can of Diet Coke over my new laptop, thus ruining it. It will cost about $500 to repair, so please send me $250 and we'll call it even.
That doesn't seem fair. I ruined your coke, too. Please let me pay for half of the amount you spilled.
ITs a cheap bastard - he would have poured the coke out of the keyboard back into his glass.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
For your money Horace, if it purchased a clean conscience and peace of mind, you got one hell of a bargain. :thumb:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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