I have been a AAA member on and off for many years. There is something comforting about knowing that you can have roadside assistance wherever you may be.
Hmmm, define ‘assistance’.
I have never called them before yesterday, and honestly I use the membership more for hotel discounts than anything else. I first called to rescue the keys from the trunk of the car. That went quite well, less than an hour and I was good to go.
Then, as if Mercury in Retrograde had not wreaked enough havoc with my family in the last however much time it has been wreaking, we were faced with an unfortunate blow out.
In the rain.
In the dark.
Again, I pulled out my trusty AAA card and gave them a ring, telling them it is hard to believe but I need their assistance for a second time that evening. A very polite women gets all my info, gives me a code # and sympathizes with my bad day. She was lovely. Everything is fine until…
Husband decides to change the tire.
In the rain(ish).
In the dark.
In a SUIT!
Screaming. Yelling. Name calling. Yadayadayada, I called back AAA and canceled the request. I will spare you the details of the need for a second round of calling and canceling, but you can imagine how angry I was by then. Telling the woman the story she says, “Now Amy, if you run him over with your car you will go to jail for a long time. Just withhold dinner for a few weeks.” I surely thought she would tell me to withhold something else.
After all this I decided what I think the true definition of ‘assistance’ is:
When you are so angry you are considering spousal homicide, they talk you down.
All kidding aside, I cannot say enough good things about AAA, their service and their helpful and rather funny employees. You guys rock. I also want to thank you for not suspending my membership for too many calls in one day.
I would imagine you must have some kind of cry wolf clause in your contract, no?
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i could cry but i don't have time 
So funny! Especially because I just got my membership today! Now that I’m on my own I figured I should have SOMEONE to call if need be. 🙂
GREAT story. Does it have a happy ending? ; )
Btw, it was a flat tire on the Hutch that led me to start a blog.
Another Lucy moment!
what car? the new one?
oh…
Who under 80 years of age has AAA?
Does that come grats with AARP?
I hear that among today’s bourgeois class,thats you Gary, there is something called Roadside Assistance. It comes as a free added value on NEW cars that cost over 20k.
Did your car have a jack?
Have you ever heard of run flats?
Bourgeois cars have neither spares or jacks.
This is hysterical
Outta the way , I’ll change that tire madam!
Hold my suit jacket please.
No problem, we will be done in a jiffy.
Did I tell you the time I did this on the thruway in 1974.
hahahahah
I bet you still have that grease in the creases of your fingers.
Were you wearing that really nice shirt without the collar button that overlaps and lays perfectly flat under your tire… I mean tie
You do own that one dont you?
Oh boy , want to come over and help me change my oil?
Ok , I’ll stop , time to take my meds
Next time ,
call roadside assistance,
call deluxe
leave the fuckin car
and take your rightful place in the pantheon of upper middle class citizens of the world
much love
Tireman
I work for AAA’s national office and just want to say thanks for the kind words. It’s nice to hear that everything worked out for you (and your husband). Just fyi, one of the other really great benefits of membership is http://www.AAA.com/discounts. Thanks for the humorous story!
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