A Big Thanks for the New Dent and Scratch in my Car Door

Well, I'm irritated.  I know in the grand scheme of things, this is minor, but as I left the office last night, walking up to my car I could see it.  I had a new scratch and dent in my door. 

Now I do realize, these things happen.  You get bumped.  A runaway shopping car careens into an innocent parked car.  Someone turns just a little too quickly and, boom, connects with the car next to them.  Sometimes they are even self-inflected wounds.

Having said that, with the exception of the self-inflicted type, it still makes me mad that people don't own up to the damage.  I totally get why.  Nobody wants to have to go to insurance and pay for something they see as "minor," but at the same time, your actions damaged someone else's property.

Instead of owning it, you just left, and did nothing to make it right.

I'm not even sure I would expect someone to fix it, but even a quick apology would change the way I felt about it.  Attitude is everything, or at least an important start.

Years ago, I was in line waiting to get up to the pumps at a gas station.  A woman tried to maneuver (in a really poorly planned 15-point turn to get out of the line), and backed into the front of my car.  She cracked a fog light and dented my bumper.  When we both got out and looked at the damage, she was beyond angry that I wanted her insurance since "my car was clearly not new and had other scratches."  She couldn't conceive of the fact that fixing the light was going to be hundreds of dollars for me, and I had nothing to do with breaking it.  She shared what she thought about me, and even tried to ask her insurance to refuse the claim.  I had offered her the chance to repair it out of pocket, but she declined.

I remember feeling then that the idea that because my car wasn't brand new wasn't a fair reason to feel released from responsibility.  I feel the same on the door dent/scrape, but I also realize many people choose to be less honest when no one else is looking, and I hope that wouldn't be me if I was in that situation.  I can't imagine not owning it.

A few friends have asked, there are not cameras in that area of the lot, so this will be an irritation, though clearly, a #firstworldproblem and something I will recover from.