Nozzle

Photo by Wassim Chouak on Unsplash

One Saturday when Colin was only a few weeks old, and I was suffering from a mild case of the baby blues, hubby took pity in me and sent me to the mall - or to do whatever it was that might make me happy. He was going to take care of baby Colin.

I hesitantly left. 

I tried to enjoy myself, but I couldn't. I resisted the urge to text and ask how things were going at home, did he drink OK, did he burp, is he asleep?

In my former life the mall was my happy place. This time I almost had to force myself to check out the clothing stores. After all I was on my way back to my pre-baby size.

I watched all these people at the mall. Especially the ones with young children. Did it come easy for them? Did they struggle? They didn't look more stressed than the childless shoppers. 

However, that probably says more about the common population than about parenthood. 

Saturday at the mall is stressful as it is. In Switzerland businesses are closed on Sundays, so whatever it is that you need to get done, you have to take care of it on Saturday.

After a while I decided I had had enough me-time and drove home. 

On my way I stopped to get gas. 

Can you believe I drove off with the nozzle still attached? 

Not my brightest moment. I didn't get far. After the length of the tank hose had stretched to the maximum, I heard an ugly noise that made me stop immediately. 

Holy sh**!

The nozzle was yanked out of my tank and had caused a nasty dent around that area of my car. Now it was laying on the concrete floor, and it looked like the hose had become partly undone.

How was this even possible?

I had filled up my vehicle, closed the gas cap and paid at the convenience store. 

Normally, if the nozzle was still in the tank, the cashier should not be able to complete the transaction at all?

I went back in to tell them what happened. I had to give them my ID, address and insurance information. 

The gas station attendant found out that the cashier had charged the wrong gas pump to my credit card. I actually paid too much. The person who had paid for my gas was long gone. 

They would file an incident report, and I was going to hear from their headquarters.

Indeed I did hear from their headquarters pretty soon. It was an invoice of about 500 bucks for the damage I caused to their tank hose and nozzle. 

Wow!

Even if I reported this damage to my liability insurance, I would have to pay a deductible of 200 myself. 

I got to thinking. If the cashier would have listened to me when I told them I filled up at gas pump number 4, and not 5, they would have noticed that the nozzle was not back in the pump, thus give me the opportunity to fix it, and none of this would have happened.

That's what I wrote in the letter to the gas station company, suggesting that I paid half of the bill. I also apologized for the inconvenience and I told them it was the first time I had left the house without my baby.

Tear jerker, I know. I just felt they needed to know this important fact. I was not usually that absent minded.

They actually got back to me confirming the reduced amount and wishing me and my baby safe journeys. 

Mom Brain is a real thing, and I consider myself lucky that the gas station incident was the worst thing it caused. Yes, it was costly, but it could be repaired and paid for. 

Tell me about mental lapses you've experienced?

PS: Baby Colin did well without me. He dressed up as frog prince!