Expensive Accidents

I once rear-ended a car, approaching a stop sign, going downhill on a fall day where my brakes locked as I gently 'kissed' the bumper of a white four door sedan. That very first accident was two minutes away from my job as an insurance saleswoman 🙄. My second accident happened AS I WAS SAYING, to my son in the passenger seat, "I am getting really good at backing in..." BHAM! I hit the outside of a building, luckily it was with my husbands beat up dodge caravan. The dent and busted taillight was our punishment, the building was unscathed; a part from a crumpled metal covering. Most recently, and embarrassingly, I opened my drivers side door and hit the car parked beside me in the Costco parking lot. The wind was bad and I did not have a piece of paper and pen so I reported it to Costco. I was so ashamed that I almost cried when I told my husband. All of these occurrences bring me to TODAY. Apparently, my poor motor vehicle skills are not limited to cars, it applies to forklifts as well 🤦🏽‍♀️. Things were going perfectly fine (just ask my eye witnesses) and it was decided, out of precaution, we would move one of the skids outside and out of my way while I tried to bring something down from the highest shelf in our storage area. In order to move this piece, I had the bright idea of moving the forklift outside as well. I backed up, didn't even touch the gas, lifted my foot from the brake and slowly moved until I heard the sound of crunching aluminum. I had failed to lower the mast (the piece with the forks that moves up and down), and even though the forklift itself was cleared of the height of the door, the mast was not, so it hit the two bottom panels of the very expensive roll-up door 😬. I feel terrible for my inexcusable mistake. Anyone who has ever operated a forklift would say this was really dumb because A) It would not have happened if I had LOOKED behind me as I was backing up and B) Never move around with the mast up high when you're not actually carting something.

Here's how I've 'paid' for my mistakes (I am not making excuses - just observations): With the rear-ending of the car, I was honest and apologetic, I also offered to give her a free quote on her car insurance 😅. She liked me so I got off easy (plus it was close to Christmas and I was so grateful for her understanding that I surprised her with a $250 grocery gift card and a box of chocolates). The one where I hit the building, it was a party rental company that knew it was my 30th birthday because I was there to rent a wooden dance floor for my backyard Portuguese dance party. They were very kind and I gladly accepted their sympathy. The day at Costco doesn't have a happy ending for the car that I scratched because I never heard from the store or from the person who owned the car. My plan is to remember this scenario when someone does something to me (unintentionally) and needs my understanding. As for TODAY, all I can say is... THANK GOD I AM NOT AN EMPLOYEE OF QUALITY FITNESS EQUIPMENT 🤣 (I may not lose my job but the repair bill is definitely going to hurt!) Here's a photo of the damage that I sent to Kevin, half way through the work day, with this exact message: It's not THAT bad 😳 right?