bad/good/great

My boss came into work today late. She immediately set her purse down and announced that she was very sorry, but pulling into the parking lot she hit my truck. Hit my truck. She hit Harrison, who happened to be sitting where he was supposed to be, directly between the two yellow lines of his favorite space.

me: How bad is it?
her: Well, it's pretty bad.

I dropped everything I was doing and went to the parking lot to attend to poor Harrison. I found him still between his two lines, and she pointed to the dent on his left side. It indeed was a big dent, but the good news is that it was exactly under a previous dent he acquired in 2001 after a MTSU hit-and-run that happened while I was out of town (I was supremely upset when I found that honker.). It didn't interfere with the door or the gas tank. But she was right; it was ugly.

She offered to call her insurance. She said they might could hook the plunger up to it and suck it back out. I pointed out that it was a metal truck, not a plastic car, and the probability of that messing up the paint was high; and a paint job would be more expensive than getting the dent out. I told her not to worry about it. She insisted we call insurance. I told her it was next to the previous dent and was not a huge deal. I told her not to worry about it; it was a dimple that would only make Harrison more suave. (Would you really call the insurance company against Nana? No way.)

(Clarification: Bad news... Harrison earns a new dimple. Good news... it was next to his previous dimple, and compared to that one, it's really not that bad. But it would look awful to you if you didn't know the previous dimple existed. And the great news? Read on!)

We went back to work. About fifteen minutes later she called me to her desk. Before the dimple fiasco I had turned in a time off request for some days around Christmas weekend to go home. She pointed out that I had requested the 25th, which is already a company freebie. She insisted I take another day off to make up for that day. One of my coworkers agreed, and I quickly changed the dates on my form to gain another day home for the holidays.

At the end of this story everybody wins: My boss' insurance premiums won't be raised. She won't have to fool with extra paperwork or explainations. I gain another day at home during the holidays. Harrison's debonaire jaw line received a sophisticated dimple enhancement.

Nothing's to say that the extra day was even related to the accident. They have been talking about me taking some days off to be home for the holidays already... but it makes a better story if I imply that the events are related.

The Hater agrees that the new, bigger dent, still isn't a big deal. It worked out well that she actually hit Harrison at the previously existing dent, which made the accident look way worse than it probably was.

And what's a ding to a sexy farm truck anyway?