Weird

I'm sitting here shredding a bunch of old stuff from my personal files (evidence!) and I just happened to look at a handwritten note of mine about a traffic incident (not even a fender bender) I had a long time ago. I was driving to work and sitting in stop-and-go traffic when my foot slipped off the brake and my car tapped the car in front of me. There were two small scratches on her bumper, where the screws of my license plate made contact with the paint on her bumper, and when I asked if she and the others in the car were okay the driver stood in front of me and said "well, my neck hurts a little . . ." Jesus Christ on a mountain top. At less than 1 mile per hour? Sure your neck hurts. I gave her a card for the attorney I was working for at the time and went right to work and wrote everything I could recall about it. Then I called my insurance company and reported it to preempt whatever story she was going to try to tell. They called her a few times and I think the card and the calls must have scared her off because she never made a claim of any kind. An opportunistic DA headed off at the pass. Anyway, it was weird because the date on my notes is none other than 2.26.97. Eight years ago today! Happy anniversary to me.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my insurance company at the time rewarded my honesty for coming forward with information about the incident (bearing in mind there was no police report, no claim by the potential plaintiff, no real damage to either car, and no payment of any kind by my insurance company) by raising my rates at my next renewal. Apparently, even though I had no points on my record, they also had their own internal scoring system for insureds and since there was an incident, which I, their insured, reported to them, they saw fit to charge me more for their services. My reward for their reward was cancelling my policy and giving my money to someone else. How 'bout THAT?! Oh, in case anyone is wondering who that wonderful insurance company was, well, I don't want to mention anyone by name -- but I think it was "triple" something or other. ;o)