Disasters averted

This is the story of my morning -- actually less than 2 hours of it.
One of my daughters missed the bus to school.  Naturally, she expected I would driver her.  We went into the car, started the engine and heard "clack, clack, clack."  In other words, it didn't start. So I put in a call to Chaverim.  As a dispatcher, I was able to log directly into the system and enter the information rather than dictating it to someone else on phone duty at the time. Someone got to our house within 5 minutes. (Warning:  speaking as a dispatcher, I can tell you it is unrealistic to expect such rapid results at all times; it all depends on the position and availability of the people.).  So we got the car started, and my daughter made it to school on time.  Not wanting to take a chance on my car dying on me when I wasn't at home, I drove directly from the school to my mechanic, John's Auto Repair in Woodmere.  He had his guy test things out.  While I was concerned that it was something other than the battery (which had been replaced about a 1 1/2 years ago), for now he decided to replace the battery at no charge with a note to watch out for the starter.  So I lost a couple of hours, but at least I didn't end up stranded somewhere or have to shell out a lot of money for a car repair . . . at least for now.

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Comments

Abba's Rantings said…
hah!
maybe i spoke with you? 2 weeks ago i called 5t chaverim to get the number for brooklyn chaverim.
Anonymous said…
Thank g-d for Chaveirim. A while ago, I locked my keys in the car with my 1 year old daughter. They came within 5 minutes and got the car open without a problem.
Ariella's blog said…
Abba, I do sometimes get people who are out of the local Chaverim's area. But if you want to get me specifically, you have to call Friday mornings from 10:30 to 12:30.

Frayda, yes, those types of situations are marked urgent. One time when a mother was getting hysterical about it, the Chaverim driver suggested it is even possible to call Hatazala for that b/c they can get over faster. But in that case there was no present danger of overheating in a locked car.
Abba's Rantings said…
a while ago i also called chaverrim because my son was in a locked car with my keys. but i'll save myself the shame of telling the other details of the story.

i don't understand what is the point of calling hatzalah for a kid in a locked car. do they really have the equipment to open a car door lock? i assume they'll just do what i would in a real emergency . . . figure out which is the cheapest window to replace and smash it in.

shabbat shalom
Ariella's blog said…
Abba, the Chaverim guy who suggested that possibility said that Hatzala does have the equipment to open a locked door without resorting to smashing a window. But you're right, I was thinking the same. That if you are that desperate about your situation, you would smash a window and worry about the expense later.

My actual hesitancy over calling Hatzala in such a situation when Chaverim can help and there is no real immediate danger is that it is not the same type of emergency as one in which someone's life is in danger. I wouldn't want Hatzala to be delayed on such an emergency because of a call to help out on a locked car door. As I said, in that case, the mother was starting to get hysterical, but really there was no danger. If it had happened on one of those scorching days we experienced this past summer, then it may have warranted a Hatzala call, if only to shave off some minutes of travel time.
Ariella's blog said…
That is for people who just can't bring themselves to break a window.

That reminds me, though, I do think people tend to be rather quick to call Hatzalah. I was impressed this past Shabbos when someone mentioned that her son hurt his arm, but she only asked her brother, a radiologist, to look at it. So many people I know would have instinctively called Hatzala and made people drive out on Shabbos for exactly that type of situation without thinking about it rationally. Sometimes they are called when a person could just take care of the problem by doing the derabanan of purchasing medicine at the local CVS rather than causing someone else to drive out and back.
Ariella's blog said…
Oh, and BTW someone did call me today to get the Brooklyn Chaverim number, but I know that wasn't you.

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