Unbelievable

I'm pretty new to slugging, having done it for a little under a week, but I had to tell people what happened yesterday evening.

I was waiting at the Fredericksburg/Rt. 3 line at the Pentagon and a very nice woman who already had one passenger, her child, offered to take 3. Me, another woman, and a man got in. From the driver's comments, I ascertained that she had picked up the other woman and man before. Anyway, we were driving down 95 when the van we were riding in stalled. The man immediately asked the woman he was sitting next to to get out because he wanted to get out. I thought he was going to look under the hood and see what was happening. I was totally shocked when he waved down another car, got in, and left! I consider myself somewhat of a feminist. It's not that I think he should have stayed with the poor, defenseless females, but common decency would dictate that he should have remained with the driver until help had come. But no, he was outta there as fast as he could be. I know the lure of slugging to some is the anonimity of the process. You don't have to talk or get involved with anyone in the car, but I do believe you owe the person who gave you the ride the respect of remaining with them until everybody is okay. Am I wrong?

We did manage to get home. The driver's husband rescued us and everything ended fine. My thanks to the school teacher from Spotsy County, her "slugbuddy," and her daughter for a lesson in making the best of a bad situation. They were great to talk with. Also thanks to the school teacher's husband.

[:0] You have got to be kidding. O.k., let me get this right, when you say "...waved down another car, got in, and left!", he didn't even check to see if he could do anything? Even with the baby being there? Not good. If so, I hope I don't end up with him or someone else like him when I'm in need of assistance. Glad to hear all turned out well for you and the driver! And like tlschau says, don't let this turn you off the the process. I too only started slugging a short while ago, and found it a very economical and friendly way to get to and fro. [;)]

OK, what about looking at the other side of the issue? Maybe he had an urgent appointment to get to. Maybe he knew nothing about cars or how they operate?? Before you put him away as a bad person it may be useful to look at the whole picture? Always two sides to every story and this one appears to be a bit one sided.

tlschau - what would you say if one of the women did what the guy did?

Arbo, I would say the same thing whether it was a man or woman, it doesn't matter. It's all about helping, or at least thinking of others, especially children.

tdar20, I understand your points, but those are very rare occurrences. And I seriously doubt any of them to be the case here. Besides, it wouldn't have taken him any longer to have asked anyone else if they wanted to go with him, even if he were in a hurry to get home. But he didn't. He just asked to get out of the car and left. So your points are well taken, but lacking any of the situations that you mentioned I'm still greatly dismayed by this persons actions.