Is our building invisible?

[Delphae]

I was sitting up in the office today printing out some lables when I heard a bang, like an firecracker, the building shook and lots of product fell off the shelf near the door. I knew immediatly what had happened. Some elderly person had driven his or her car into the side of the store. Again.
Yes I said again. This is the third time in about 3 years our store has been hit. No one has ever gotten hurt (unlike the time the nearby CVS was hit and the cigarette shelves fell on the cashiers) and this is the first time I was present for the accident. All of the drivers were elderly people.
The first time was the best. An elderly person who wasn't supposed to drive decided he/she didn't like the way their spouse had parked, and decided to pull farther in while said spouse was in the store. He (I think) certainly did pull nice and close, right over the side walk and into the store next to the door and under the large window. The wall was so bowed that the inner walls were damaged and one of the outer doors and the inner entrance door were off kilter. Damage to the car, a broken headlight. Volvo makes a tough car.
The second time was last year. The hit was in the same place, but that time the damage was only to the outer brick wall.
This time there was no damage to the store. The man had been pulling into the second of our 2 handycapped spots and hit solid wall. A witness said he didn't even slow down.

[Foxglove8778]

"He never hit the brake and he was shiftin' gear... "

sorry.... that so reminded me of a country song.... Back to your regularly scheduled thread....

[Chained to the counter]

Maybe your boss borrowed Harry Potters invisability cloak to hide the store and trick those idiot drivers.

I can just see them scratching their bald heads saying "That wasn't there a minute ago"

[Retail Slave]

The grocery store I worked in a couple of years or so ago had yellow pylons in front of the handicapped spaces. I kid you not, we had at least an accident a month because elderly women would decide to walk in front of their cars instead of behind them and would trip and fall over the bright yellow pylon. After a couple of years, yes YEARS, of those accidents, the store manager finally decided to have them taken out.

[Killer Bees]

Man, I love the way old people drive.

Someone should do a reality show where they just give old folks a car (especially those who have already had their licenses taken away), and let them loose on the streets and see what happens.

Points and prizes can be given based on who/what they hit, levels of stupidity exhibited when confronted with changed traffic conditions, obstacles etc.

That is one reality show I would happily watch

[traylk]

This has happened at quite a few of the TB's I've worked at.

-One older guy was turning into the space in front of the door, jumped the curb and went right thru the front doors.

-An elderly guy was trying to go thru the drive thru in his pickup and literally drove thru the huge brick pillar that holds up the roof over the drive thru.

-Another store someone swore we blocked the exit on the other side of the parking lot after he ran into the wall...there was always a wall there because when the store was built 25 yrs earlier the city made them put it up when the store was built.

[myswtghst]

When I was little, one of our neighbors (who used to babysit me) freaked out a bit while still new to driving, put the car in drive instead of reverse, and drove through their garage wall into the living room.

[CanadaGirl]

All these stories reminds me of something that happened a few months ago. I was in one of those dinky little convience stores ran by an older asian couple. Everything in the store looked many years older than myself. Anyway, I was standing by the front doors(facing away from them mind you) waiting for a cab and a mini van comes barreling into the doors! Glass flying everywhere. The crash even sent one of those waist-high ice-cream coolers my way. :O I'm lucky I didn't get all cut up in the face or anything from the flying glass. The driver wasn't an older person though, only about 30ish. Looked like they were stoned or on hardcore meds though.

[Killer Bees]

My last post might have been quite flippant, but this one is quite serious.

A few years ago I was at the local supermarket during my lunch hour. Across the road was a bank branch and with a glass fronted wall and door that you entered through. In front of the window on the inside was a chest high counter where all the dep/wdl forms were with the captive pens etc.

I was at the check out and I heard this almighty crash and glass falling and a woman screamed. I raced outside and a car had gone through the glass window wall of the bank. If it wasn't for the steel reinforced counter, the car would have smashed right through the building all the way to the teller's windows and beyond.

Apparently, the old lady driver had a heart attack as she came out of the supermarket car park and instead of turning left or right into the street, her foot landed on the accelerator and drove right across the road into the bank.

I heard from a bank employee that due to the increase in ramraids thieves were committing everywhere, the bank had only just the previous week installed the reinforced counters to prevent the ramraids from succeeding.

Pretty scary when you think just how many people could have died that day. I don't know what happened to the old lady after the ambulance took her away.

[April]

Some asshole hit my house. If it wasn't for the mailbox, light pole and the decorative rail road ties in front of the house, he probably would have gone full tilt into my daughters bed room.

As it is, he managed to get loose from the ties and drive off. They never caught him.

[Skandranon]

I hit my own house back when I first started driving. Foot missed the brake when coming down the hill. Thankfully, the car was a tank and the house was sturdy as anything, so I got away with just scrapes on both. Neglected to tell the parentals.

[MadMike]

Maybe your boss borrowed Harry Potters invisability cloak to hide the store and trick those idiot drivers.

For some reason, I'm picturing the Simpsons episode where a plane crashed into the side of a building that had just been painted sky-blue.

[Jack7957]

Driver trying to elude the police hit my parents neighbors house, probably about 20+ years ago. The road goes over a hill, then has a slight curve. He was driving without lights on, didn't know about the curve, so as he came over the hill, he tried to straighten back out, but instead went across their lawn and about 3 feet into a bedroom. Luckily their son had not gone to bed yet.

My parents house, same deal, road, curve, drunk driver this time, about 6am Fathers Day. Kid was on leave from the military, his fathers neighbor said he could take his new Dodge pickup out for the evening. He comes over the hill, maybe passed out, hits the phone pole on our property, truck rolls at least twice we figure by the marks on the lawn, then the side ends up against the front of the house, back end pushes our front porch off kilter about 1-2 feet. I counted 33 beer cans scattered over the lawn, some empty, some full. Call 911, he's on the front lawn wandering around, hears the sirens from the first repsonders, goes running into the house. It was only myself and one brother home, my brother had gone back to bed. I go running in after him, since my father has guns (not loaded) in the house, I didn't want to take a chance on him finding them. Ask him what he's doing, says he looking for his friend, I tell him they don't live here, now get out. He goes back out and starts opening some of the full beer cans and dumps them out on the ground. Cops come, take him across the street for the soberiety tests, fire deptartment checks the house to make sure it's safe. Meanwhile, the power company comes out to see what they need to replace the pole he took out. End result, he gets arrested, truck gets towed, probably total loss, pole gets replaced, my father gets a nice check from the insurance company to replace the front porch, and a credit on his phone bill because it took them over 12 hours to replace the phone line that got taken out when he hit the pole. Somewhere I've got pictures I can post if people are interestd.

[Daskinor]

Dont mess with a Volvo. Those things can take a pounding.

I crashed this one into a guard rail at 60mph after hitting a patch of black ice. Needed only $2,000 of repairs. New Headlight assemblies, Radiator, and the front mounting.

[IT Grunt]

"Ohhh, the picture in the paper showed the scene real well
Papa's rig was buried in the local motel.
The desk clerk said he saw it all real wellll
He never hit the brake and he was shiftin' gears... "

One of my favorite songs from Garth Brooks.

The only incident like this I've seen was one was at a local Giant Eagle, except in this case, it was a matter of a parent leaving their kid in the car unsupervised. Kid finds gear shift, van in drive... the rest is history. That van was plowed into the wall up to the doors.

Then again, I remember once upon a time a certain pair of brothers started fighting in the car after mom stopped at the bottom of the driveway and hopped out to get the mail, and we hit the gear shift and the car rolled across the road into the creek... The whole neighborhood was hours getting that thing out.