My story begins on one unsuspecting spring afternoon while I was waiting in a car space outside my child’s school for pick up.
Once my daughter had belted up I was just about to turn the key in the ignition to leave when I heard (and felt) a bump into the back of the car.
Upon looking in my rear view mirror I saw an elderly woman with her granddaughter seated beside her in the passenger seat.
Both of their faces reacted to what had just happened. The school girl was looking at her grandmother and was pointing at our car, clearly indicating the fact she had just run into it.
What happened next though totally floored me. The woman put her finger to her mouth looking at her granddaughter then proceeded to drive off. Yep, she shushed her grandchild and then drove away.
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Many things were running through my mind at that time, some are not to ever be repeated, these are the sharable ones.
Firstly, I thought, how could anyone knowingly and so openly actually do this and drive off?
Secondly, how could a grandmother do this?
Thirdly, how could a woman with her granddaughter in the car with her, right next to her do this? Then proceed to tell her to be quiet when she was obviously trying to do the right thing by altering her grandmother to the damage?
And lastly, how could someone in our own school community (who we are bound to see again) do this?
Despite being totally shocked that this had just happened, I managed to write down the make and model of the car, its colour and number plate. With this information and some photos of the damage, I made a police report and contacted my insurance company.
After a few weeks, I noticed the woman at another spot waiting for her granddaughter one day for school pick up. I decided to confront her (politely of course, I do respect my elders even if they don’t all respect me). But she didn’t disappoint, she also had a bad attitude.
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Her disregard carried over from driving, to communication. She angrily and rudely denied her wrongdoing (despite a very suspicious dent in the front of her car), then attacked me for not stopping her from driving off at the time (because this is my responsibility…not). If all of that wasn’t enough, she then proceeded to tell me her “son is a lawyer.” Seriously?!
Although the woman eventually and very begrudgingly took my insurance details and paid, the entire experience left me totally bewildered. How could anyone with a child in the car do such an immoral (not to mention illegal) action and then encourage an impressionable child to also do the wrong thing?
Not only as the adult (which common adjectives include – mature and grown up) in charge of caring and for being responsible for her primary school aged grandchild (common adjective includes – impressionable) did she do a horribly dishonest act, she also forced her to take part in it.
That behaviour is not OK in the real world.
What would you have done in this situation? Tell us in the comments section below.
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Top Comments
I'm sorry you had to go through this. Unfortunately there are people out there who choose to do the wrong thing. You asked how she could be so immoral. The answer is that she probably isn't being immoral. She is being unethical but I highly doubt she is being immoral. This might help clarify the difference:
Ethics and morals relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. While they are sometimes used interchangeably, they are different: ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or laws. Morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong.
I'm not shocked at all, sadly. I was in a similar situation recently but unfortunately, my car was hit while it was parked on the street and I was elsewhere. :\ There was no note and the one witness turned out to be mistaken. So I either have to drive around in a dented car, have it fixed at my own cost or claim it through insurance, which would mean paying a $1000 deductible and losing my no claim bonus.