A new way to get to the airport

[davidn]

Evidently the post about the strangeness of my life yesterday was premature, because a couple of hours later I accidentally carjacked someone.

We had found out that the other coder who had suggested the umbrella trick and I were coincidentally going to the airport at the same time, so he was going to come past the office and give me a lift - soon after getting outside, someone on the opposite side of the road stopped at the lights, and I could see through the tinted car window that he had the requisite long hair and glasses, and he did a double-take at me as if recognizing me. So I ducked through the rain, sprinted over the crossing and opened the door on the passenger side, making a joke about feeling that I was hijacking the car.

"But you are!" came a rather shocked reply, and I looked up to see that it wasn't him after all. So I gave a frantic, hysterical apology as I stepped away from the vehicle, and returned to my waiting place, watching him laugh shakenly as he finally got to turn the corner in peace away from his encounter with a dangerous lunatic. Please tell me this has happened to some other people as well.

It was a very strange day. I was exhausted even without my parents arriving, but they're here safely now, and had a rather more relaxing journey than I did on the ground. Why can't I have plane journeys like that?

Comments

[ravenworks.livejournal.com]

His response was actually "but you are?" X3 Not "AUAGUAUGHALUABGLHGL DON'T HURT ME"?

[davidn]

I look far less dangerous in real life than you might have been led to believe by my recent licence photograph :) He looked easily more... substantial than me, he sounded just completely confused as to what I was doing.

[ethelfleda.livejournal.com]

I have a vague recollection of some sort of public information film that basically boiled down to "don't accidentally get into a car with strangers thinking that they're someone you know". I have only the barest memories of it - the guy driving the car was really creepy and gave a really creepy laugh when she got in, but the kid's mum yoinked her out of the car and saved her from unspecified creepiness.

So, no, not done it myself but feel that there was enough of it about to warrant a public information film about it.

[davidn]

Public information films were always either horrific or laughable - I consider mine an honest mistake, but I wouldn't have believed that it was possible to accidentally get into a car with someone of that description unless she also had an Uncle Dracula.

[diarytypething.livejournal.com]

I've never got into the wrong car before, but when I was a kid (maybe 6 or 7), I had the unfortunate habit of latching on to adults who happened to be dressed in a similar way to my parents. I'd imagine that finding yourself hand-in-hand with a small girl you've never met before, in a public place, would scare most men almost as much as a carjacking.

[davidn]

I do remember that being a problem, because when you're that small you can only see their trousers, like in Tom and Jerry.

[pami-zee.livejournal.com]

I once ran after a man in the street who I thought was you, screaming "David!" at the top of my lungs... and then he turned round and it wasn't, so I had to keep on running past him and pretend I hadn't done anything odd at all.

[davidn]

What a perfect Black Books situation :) That's exactly the kind of thing I would have done, thinking on my feet to remedy it in what would be to my mind the least publically strange way possible.

I suppose I should ask... was this when I was already living in America? :)

[pami-zee.livejournal.com]

I don't think so... I don't really remember anything except how horribly embarrassing it was. I even continued to shout David as I ran - to make it less weird - but he must have thought I was actually insane and miles behind the person I was chasing!

[crassadon.livejournal.com]

Grand Theft Auto: it's easier than you might expect.

"I feel like I'm hijacking your car."
"But you are!"
"Oh. Then get out!"
"Whoow, alright, I'm out of here; mind the broken right turn signal, though... Haha, okay, so where the hidden cameras at. . . what?"

[kibet.livejournal.com]

2 situations that come to mind, none of which happened to me but I was around.

When I used to stack shelves at the local Scotmid, parents used to pick people outside at the end of the shifts as some came from neighbouring villages. One co-worker saw what he thought was his mother's car and just got in, plonked on the seat and just said "take me home". I think it was another coworker's partner and I think they just looked at him strangely once he realised his mistake.

When my cousin was about four years old, she was visiting us with her parents. She was very shy at that age. Her dad used to always sit in the cushion stool located in the living room corner between the door to the hall and the door to the dining room. My great uncle george and his son Neil came in to visit and her dad gave his seat to Neil. Hearing the voices, she came in but went and stood between Neils legs, thinking he was her dad. As she looked at the different people around the room, she started holding Neils leg for comfort. She suddenly sees her dad standing at another part of the room, so turns to see who she is next to. She started screaming when Neil said "Hello" and gave her a grin with his missing front teeth. It probably did not help everyone starting to laugh as she fled to her dad in floods of tears.

[davidn]

I remember when a friend was being driven home by my mum after orchestra practice, he went confidently up to the wrong car in the school car park and opened the boot. However... that doesn't quite match the panic I must have caused by doing the same thing when the opportunity arose at a red light!

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

The only situation I can relate is that I've twice gotten into the wrong car. Looked exactly the same as the one I was aiming for, the key unlocked the door (this was before automatic door-openers, gotta love those), sat down and immediately realized that I was not sitting in the right car.

It was like the same colours of the same model cars also had the same keylocks.

[davidn]

That's... a fairly major security issue! I've heard of people who called out the AA to "fix" their car door locks after getting locked out, and then suddenly realizing that it wasn't their car, but not people who had successfully got in to other people's cars with their own key. I wonder how common this was across different manufacturers...

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

This was quite a long time ago, mind you. This was before I had my own car, so it must've been at least 8 years ago at the latest (earliest?).

Now that most people have the automatic door thingy, I think it's much less likely, since the car also points out which one unlocked.

I should probably also note that if I use the automatic door lock to lock my car, I can't use my physical key to unlock the door without it tripping the alarm. It's strange, but I can understand that security "feature".