Updated: Rough night (a.k.a. I hate people)

So I worked at the office, getting the paper together until 12:45 a.m. or so on Sunday evening (well, very early Monday morning actually).

I left the office and realized I was almost out of cigarettes, so I stopped at a gas station that is on my way to my apartment.

I got out of the car, bought my cigarettes and then cranked my car - or, at least, I tried to.

The car wouldn’t start. The bad alternator finally did me in (I was going to get the old one replaced soon anyway). I tried asking a couple of people for a jump. That didn’t work. One asked for $5, then he’d do it. The other said his battery was bad, too - but then he hopped into a brand new car.

So I called my insurance company’s 24/7 roadside assistance.

While I waited at my car, a couple of guys came up and we started having some small talk. I pulled out my freshly bought cigarettes and offered. They obliged. We chatted for at least 20 minutes and everything seemed cool. Both the guys seemed laid back and trustworthy.

One guy asked to borrow my phone. He used it for a long time and I started getting suspicious.

Sure enough… as soon as the roadside assistance got there and I got in my car to crank it while I was being jumped, the guy walked off with my phone. My $200 phone. The only phone I have… and the only way to call my mom, my brothers, work and, God forbid, 911 if my apartment catches on fire.

I called the police using the phone of the roadside assistance guy. Of course, they searched down the two roads where the guy did go/could have cut back across and they couldn’t find him. I filled out a police report and the cop let me use his phone to call AT&T to have my phone service suspended.

Can you guess who has to go get a new phone tomorrow?

And, by the way, in case you haven’t already figured it out: People suck and God needs to get a handle on all the creeps running around who never want to help someone (like a guy needing a jumpstart for his battery) and the little guys you think are nice and cool, who then walk away with the second-most expensive thing you currently own.

And, by the way #2, the guy who stole my phone was literally no more than 5 feet tall and like 120-130 pounds. I started to think that I should have just tackled him and gotten my phone back… but then again, a phone is a phone. I can get that replaced. We wouldn’t want the future Mr. Congressman from North Carolina (or Mr. Governor… or, most likely Mr. Staff Person to either) getting shot in the parking lot of a shady Charlotte convenience store, would we?

UPDATE (12/10/2007, 4:25 p.m. EST) - So I was able to go to the AT&T Wireless store on my lunch break today. We made sure that the phone had, in fact, been suspended since last night and we made arrangements to get a new phone. Seeing as though I couldn’t spend the astronomical amounts of cash wireless providers demand for phones without new contracted service plans, the nice guy at the store quietly told me to go to Wal-Mart and buy a cheap-crapo AT&T GoPhone (the cheap ones that come with pre-paid minute cards).

The phone, pictured right, was only $20 or so. Trust me… it isn’t nearly as cool as it looks. He deactivated my old phone’s SIM card and gave me a new one with my account info and telephone number to place in my new cheapo-crapo phone.

Short explanation after all that: I have phone service again, at the same phone number. I haven’t checked whether I actually ever synced my contacts from the Blackjack to my computer yet. We’ll find out if I still have all my close to 300 or more phone numbers when I get home.

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