They Should Have Said Something

Don't worry, I'm not going to go day to day with this blog, but I do need to relate an incident from day 2. You'll remember that we rented a transporter van to convey our 15 bags and dog kennel to our home in Unterschleissheim. That accomplished, we no longer needed the van and so my task was to drive it back to the airport and exchange it for a VW family mini-van. The only complication I could foresee was that I didn't know the airport, or where specifically I needed to go to return the rental van. This turned out to be a minor issue as I just followed the signs to "rental car return" (oddly, in english). I turned where indicated, rolled over the one way tire puncture things and, like a cow to slaughter, drove down a a narrow single lane chute toward a parking garage.

I don't generally drive transporter vans and was focussed on not missing the designated turns. Ergo, I wasn't at all thinking about the fact that the van was about 12 feet high until I went under an iron bar holding a security camera. Sickening sound of metal bashing and scraping metal, followed by sound of something glassy smashing, followed by security camera smashing to ground behind me. Shit.

Ok, now the height of the van is front and center on my mind, so I stopped before heading into the parking garage with the 9 foot clearance. Predictably, a couple of rental car employees came out, looked at the damage and at the idiot behind the wheel. I conveyed my many sorrys via the international sign of upraised open palms, shrugged shoulders and sheepish look. They ignored me for the time being and tried to work the problem. The van couldn't go forward, because of the garage height. Couldn't go backward because of the security bar. The real problem though was with the half dozen cars now stacked behind the van; rental cars that needed returning and drivers that were no doubt late for flights.

Since it wasn't my van the problem wasn't really mine to solve. And since I hadn't technically committed a crime, I was free to leave. I was though ushered into an office and asked to fill out a form, explaining my version of the incident. This I did like a lawyer, pointing out that there were no signs regarding clearance and no one had said that I shouldn't return the transporter van to the regular rental car return area. Haven't heard anything since.