Making a deposit...

How hard could it be to make a deposit at your credit union?

On the morning of Wednesday March 25, 2009 I had a dental appointment to address a possible cavity. Something the dentist had seen the last couple visits for routine cleaning. You know, it's the kind of thing the dentist says, "there's something there so we're going to take care of that now before it becomes a problem."

I hate the process of the whole dental appointment. So much so that my dentist, at my request, will prescribe some Valium tablets for me to take prior to visiting so I can resist the whole "Exorcist head twist" move while anticipating the needle followed by the dreaded drilling. The nasty awful drilling. Nastiness!

I know I am a Polly Prissy Pants about this stuff.

I have my reasons. One of them is being drilled upon when I wasn't numb. Hello excruciating pain!

The girl who answers the phones and manages his office called in the Valium for me the afternoon before. When I went pick it up Walgreens had no record of it being sent it. I left the drive-thru slightly perturbed knowing what would follow in the AM.

I call the dentist office realizing they were closed and left a message on their voice mail hoping that someone would call me back and follow up.

Negative.

I bravely show up for my appointment fully conscious, un-medicated. Unadulterated. (Sort of-ish)

I find out when I walk through thte door that the prescription was "'re-sent' this morning" and "why didn't I pick it up?"

BEACAUSE NO ONE CALLED TO TELL ME IT HAD BEEN CALLED IN AGAIN! THAT'S WHY!

The dentist ackowledges the fact there was a mild screw up with getting my "premeds" and began to reassure me that this would be painless today.

Don't you love that? You know the routine I trust... "You'll feel a little pinch now." Right!

It felt like the needle, when it entered my gum just above my left front tooth, pushed all the way through to the back of my left shoulder blade. Yeah, I got your little pinch right here mister!

(Did I mention I am a Polly Prissy Pants about this stuff?)

The drilling begins. You see, the anticipation of the pain coming again is what causes my anxiety. I begin sweating immediately, twisting the armrests off the chair and often times I will stop breathing. The good dentist reminds me to breathe.

The drilling pauses for a moment. I ask if I was going to feel anything would I be feeling it right now.

"Oh yes!!!" was the retort.

Relief.

For the most part this visit was uneventful and lasted about twenty minutes total.

I go to school for my classes.

Storms were coming this day. Typical for this time of year.

I get a text message from my mother informing me that a hail-producing thunderstorm is headed straight for us.

We're all going to die.

I still need to make this deposit.

It's 5:30pm and I have one hour and ten minutes to make the deposit and get back to campus for my late class.

I leave campus and head to my credit union.

Sitting in traffic I feel something on the back of my front left tooth. In fact I feel a lot of what I will call "splatter" on the back of that tooth. Not smooth like it once was prior to the dentist visit this beautiful am. Perhaps it was some of the filling material that didn't get cleaned up. I don't know.

I keep "feeling" it with my tongue until "SNAP" goes something and a piece of something else comes off that tooth.

Holy (insert massive amounts of profanity here) crap! "The filling just popped out", I think to myself. More like screamed to myself.

I call the dentist (They're closed of course. They close at 4:30pm). What can I do now? Nothing.

I continue to my credit union to make the deposit.

Heading west on Duval the skies are dark grey, the wind is blowing fairly strong, and it is beginning to rain a little.

I am about three hundred yards from US Hwy 183 and the small hail stones begin to pelt the car. Nothing too alarming but I decide it would be best to find some shelter as soon as possible.

One hundred yards from US Hwy 183 and POW! BOOM!!! POW POW!! (Those left a dent I think!) Baseball sized hail is pummeling the car. Now I'm worried. As I approach 183 I'm wondering why no one is moving through the intersection of Duval and 183 at the green light.

Yes, we have a green light but no one is moving.

No one is moving because underneath the overpass are a huge number of cars seeking shelter from the biblical in proportion size hailstones. True gridlock.

I see a small opening to my right to head north on the frontage road of 183. I squeak through and then notice that the turn around lane under 183 to go from south bound to north bound is mostly open.

I make an illegal u-turn coupled with a mad dash to get under the overpass like everyone else to wait this out.

Good timing too because for the next three to five minutes baseball size hail and larger are flying out of the sky.

People are honking their horns frantically. Don't know if it was because some wanted to drive past all those blocking the road or wanted to pack some more in. There was plenty more room for more cars but no one was moving. No one. I was parked on top of the brick pavers in-between the lanes of traffic so as to avoid that very problem.

I'm telling you that if any emergency vehicle(s) needed to get through that intersection it would not have been possible.

I was stunned at how society can, to some degree, break down so quickly. No one was cooperating. It seemed like it was every person for themselves. Just wait 'til the Zombies come. I realized that day my plan to meet at Walmart was totally effed because we never discussed which one we are supposed to meet at. Adjustments need will be made.

After about fifteen minutes the gridlock began to free up and cars were creeping along the turn around I was parked next to.

Ten or so car drive though with massive amounts of dents and a couple missing windows... Then... then... THEN!!!! A parade of cars pass through that had no windows at all (save for horribly smashed front windshields! None! All windows GONE! Not a single piece of non-laminated glass was in tact on these cars. I was in shock.

View a few "Hailstorm 2009" videos here.

I still need to make my deposit.

I pull out onto the north bound frontage of 183 and continue my treck to the credit union.

Traffic is at a crawl. I finally enter northbound 183 proper only to grind to a halt thanks to an abandoned car sitting in the right lane. This car was missing its windows like the others and the driver had apparently ditched the ride for a safer alternative.

I exit for my credit union.

Pulling into the drive-thru I see red "X's" on all the drive-thru lanes. "WHAT?!?!?!?" I'm thinking I missed them because of how long it took to get there and check my phone. It's 6:10pm! The drive-thru is open until 6:30pm.

Can I get a WTF?

I pull around to the lobby knowing they are closed but wanting to check the hours posted on the door to verify what I read online about their hours of operation.

Yup! Drive-thru closes at 6:30pm

Why in the world are they closed now?

Feeling a little dejected I am about to drive away when someone walks out of what appears to be an employee entrance.

This employee picks up a couple hailstones to take pictures of them. I drive near her and ask if she works at the credit union.

She does and I ask if the drive-thru is open until 6:30. She looks at me quizzically and then, dripping with all the professional condescension a bank teller could muster up, retorts with, "Sir, we had to close due to the hail storm"

Huh? What is the point of closing during a hailstorm? Anyone? Fill me in.

I head back to school having accomplished nothing more that popping out the new filling, living through another false start to the Zombie Apocalypse, realizing my plan to survive when the Zombies come is disjointed and incoherent, 3500 dollars worth of damage to the car thanks to the five, yes only five, baseball size hail dents.

I never made the deposit.

I was welcomed back to campus with lots of laughs at my decisions and the realization that very little hail fell on campus. Nothing to indicate the apocalypse has begun.