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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Adventures In Rental Cars

I've taken to calling my new Edge the James Bond Car because about the only feature missing is the covert missile launcher. The options are cool except there's one small problem--I'm still having trouble figuring it all out. I am a computer/gadget geek, so I found this rather embarrassing. Until the business trip to Atlanta.

Our entire department needed to attend a meeting in Atlanta last week, and because it was only an overnight trip, three guys rented cars and the rest of us rode along with them. The one I rode with most of the time had a Dodge Durango with the same kind of dashboard screen that I have. He couldn't figure out most of it either. We both were poking at buttons, trying to figure things out and still couldn't get what we wanted to happen.

But the best part was on Wednesday night. The driver of the Durango had come in the day before so this was day (and night) 2 for him with the SUV. The entire group drove about 45 minutes from our hotel for dinner. There were three of us in the Durango as we left to return to the hotel.


The driver makes a comment, "There's a police car behind us."


We drive a little farther and he says, "We're being pulled over."


We're all confused since he wasn't speeding or weaving or anything else that would warrant being pulled over. The officer comes up to the car and says, "Sir, would you turn on your headlights."


Huh? Aren't they on? Um, no, they weren't. The driver thought the lights were on auto, but they'd been turned off, and because of how bright the screens on the dashboard were, no one realized the headlights were off. We didn't get a ticket, but the driver swore us to secrecy--and then he ran around the office the next day telling everyone the story.

Technology is generally awesome, but sometimes it makes life more complicated.