Summary

We have a new kid and Enterprise Roadside assistance in Atlanta sucks.

I’ve had…an ordeal.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going to be taking a short trip out of town. I’m back now. From…oh, say… midway through Saturday on, it went fine.

Meet Queen

We went to Florida to pick up Queen and her human, Dino. Dino isn’t really their name, but y’all probably know how I am on privacy now. (This is posted with Dino’s permission, by the way).

And yes, Queen doesn’t like cats. Or at least she doesn’t like the ones we have, so we’re going to have to work on that.

Dino is a friend of Hooligan, my youngest. They met online a while ago and have gotten each other through some rough times.

Dino is a nonbinary lesbian and comes from a…less-than-accepting home. They’d planned to move out at eighteen for a long time and as the friendship between my youngest and Dino grew, they started talking about getting a place together. Their bond is purely one of friendship, but they’re each other’s ride or die.

About a year ago, Hooligan approached me and the guy and asked if Dino could move in with us when they turned eighteen. Their parents aren’t great. I’ve overheard some of the conversations they’ve had (or rather, how they’ll be on the phone with Hooligan while being berated by a parental figure at home) and my heart goes out to the kid.

Nobody should have to live in a home like that.

We said yes and started planning on making it happen in late summer 2025.

Dino’s parents knew they were leaving. They kept saying awful, ugly things about Hooligan, things I’m not even going to get into but it was made clear that that they didn’t believe for a second that somebody could actually care about Dino, simply because they were worth caring about.

Dino stayed resolute. So did Hooligan.

Well, a few weeks ago, as Dino’s 18th was approaching and it became clear to their parents that they weren’t going to change their mind, that they were definitely moving, Hooligan abruptly asked me if we could go down sooner than we’d planned.

I asked why.

It turns that since Dino wasn’t going to change their mind, their parents just wanted them gone. They wanted them gone so bad that Dino spent his final night in his childhood home on the fricking couch because they’d been kicked out of their bedroom.

Insert a long stream of snarling, angry emojis followed by curses here.

Yes, I’m ticked.

This is a sweet kid. They’re autistic and have some health issues, and their fricking parents decided they just wanted them gone because they couldn’t guilt the kid into staying in a place where they weren’t accepted for who they are.

That’s fine. Dino is ours now.

We made it back home super late a couple of days ago.

Picking them up was pretty uneventful. I even managed to control my temper even though I had so many things I wanted to say. But losing it wouldn’t have done Dino or Hooligan any good. So I behaved.

But the really fun part?

Friday night in Atlanta

We were two miles from the hotel when headlights came out of nowhere, perpendicular to the car.

This isn’t good because we were driving down the expressway.

At about 65 mph.

And you can’t stop at that speed.

We were in a rental my aunt got from Enterprise.

We were in the far right lane since our exit was coming up. A car (Car B) in a lane to the left of us was hit by another car (and that son of a bitch took off-we’re calling them Car Asshole because what else do you call a hit & run? )

Car B lost control, because that’s what typically happens when you’re hit on the expressway driving 65-70 mph or however fast Car B was going when Car Asshole hit them.

Car B ended up in our lane, perpendicular to our car. We couldn’t stop and there was a crash. The rental was totaled. Car Asshole, who started it all, took off before we even had a chance to catch our breath.

Everybody is okay as far as I know, although the driver of Car B had to go to the ER.

It could have been worse. So much worse. We were all seat-belted. My aunt and I are pretty sore, even now. Hooligan was pretty freaked out. But it could have been worse.

It also could have been better (looking at you, Enterprise).

It gets more interesting

My aunt travels a lot. She got roadside assistance from Enterprise, because why wouldn’t you?

After this experience, the question is…why would you?

Somehow, somebody entered her date of birth wrong. And you need that to verify the information with Enterprise. She didn’t enter it wrong. They did. That’s established. And even though her driver’s license has her date of birth on it and it’s in their system, since she couldn’t possibly have guessed they’d given her a date of birth that was both in the wrong month and forty years later than her own, they refused to help us. They hung up on us. One hostile-assed woman was snippy and rude like we were the ones causing the problem.

Enterprise stranded us on the expressway in Atlanta, Georgia at night and they hung up on us. Twice. A cop who was first on scene ended up giving us a ride to our hotel. Because Enterprise had made it damn clear they weren’t going to help out.

They also hung up on us Saturday morning. Finally, the local office opened and my aunt was able to talk to the guy who rented her the vehicle-he remembered her and the two of them, and the manager, made some work. They were great and the staff in Atlanta was great.

But the roadside assistance crew who handles Enterprise in Atlanta? Why do they even ask if we’re in a safe place if they’re going strand us on the expressway in Atlanta traffic?

So. yeah. That was fun.

And my arms have been too fricking sore to do any writing until today. My brain is still in recovery mode.