Wait for the Beep!

Dear Shawn,

Sometimes I come and go to work so often, it seems that I pass myself in the employee parking lot, sort of like the old donut commercial. I recently arrived and pulled into a parking space right next to the bus stop, a good thing, since it was raining and cold out. I was thinking I'd just seen me pass the other way going home.


I had to send a text. I parked, sent my text, and looked around wondering who was sitting in their car with the engine idling. I had some time, and was in no rush to get out of my car and into the cold rain still falling. I figured others were doing the same.

Seeing a bus approach, I raised my rear hatch and ran to the back to get my bags out as it neared. I lowered the hatch, and tried to lock my car with the fob as I ran through the rain to the waiting bus. I didn't hear the beep, so I was standing on the bus, still trying to lock my car, but no beep, no light flash. Normally, by now, the bus would have begun moving to the next stop. There were a few people, mostly ignoring me. I apologized and told the driver that I needed to get off the bus to see why my car would not lock. She said she would wait. How nice!

I go back to my car and see steam coming out of the exhaust pipe. I nearly died! I'd left my car running! That was the sound of the idling engine, it wasn’t someone else, it was ME! I turned off the car and it locked, then returned to the bus silently, hoping no one had noticed my folly.

Good thing I had made sure that the car was locked and not just left for my 3day trip with my car running and not locked! Would it still be there there when I got back home? Would it still be running? How long does it take to drain a tank of gas in an idling car? And I'm so happy the car has the safety of not locking with the engine running. Maybe that WAS me I saw driving home. I wish! It was quite obvious that I had not brought my brain to work that day!