hot car

I had lunch at Hugo’s Restaurant with Michelle today and was all WOOT I get Michelle and tamales. The combination of Hugo’s tamales and Michelle Magoffin is like an explosion of awesome, you should try it sometime. We had a great lunch and then I picked up a few things including blue hair dye for my daughter’s tips (eating my words tastes terrible) and then I grabbed the kids from camp.

While we were in the car I told Jane that I’d had lunch at Hugo’s and she begged me to get her tamales as an after camp snack. Since I had to bring Alexander to the tennis club I’d be driving past there anyhow so I told her I’d pick some up on my way home.

It’s a humid 97 degrees today, or at least it was 97 degrees when I parked my car at Hugo’s Tacos. I know it was crazy hot because they have these misters going and the water ruins purses so I made an effort to stand where it was dry. When I arrived a pregnant lady was ordering, behind her were a trio of 20 somethings and behind then was Paula. Paula was friends with the pregnant lady, that’s how come I know Paula’s name.

I almost left Hugo’s because the line was moving so slowly and the pregnant lady kept changing her mind about cilantro (eat the fucking cilantro lady, your next year is wasted, live now) and I was hot. The line was so slow it took a full 15 minutes for me to place my order which is so bizarre that I actually timed it. While I was ordering Paula started talking to her pregnant friend and mentioned the baby asleep in the car. I knew for a fact that her car wasn’t parked in the one and only spot where you could actually see a child because I was parked there. It was also just 24 hours after my meeting with VTAC where the LAPD Captain was telling us about their outreach, of course it includes not leaving children or dogs alone in cars because the temperatures can spike so quickly.

I finished placing my order and interrupted Paula and her friend with an, “Excuse me. You don’t really have a child alone in the car right now do you?”

She looked at me, “It’s okay, thank you for your concern.”

Tempering myself I said, “It’s a really hot day and we all know better than to leave kids in cars.” I even smiled.

Paula said, “Again, thank you for your concern.”

So I did the only thing I knew how to do. I pulled out my iPhone, made sure the ringer volume was up high so that everyone would hear the unmistakable sound of a picture being taken. And I tweeted this:

The lady in the white shirt is Paula. Her baby is sleeping in the car. It’s 90 degrees out. Paula thinks its “fine”

Along with this image (I blurred faces after I was home)

Within seconds Paula went to the car to sit with her child and her friend grabbed her takeout order when it was ready. I know I embarrassed her but I also know that I often don’t do the wrong thing for one reason. Getting caught would be humiliating.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter why you do things, it just matters that they get done.