A Morning with iCareAmbulance
Late last night I remembered a post I wanted to make. It's not about me, per se, but more about a pet peeve of mine (and a little public shaming).
On Friday I was traveling to an event in Centennial, CO. I was just south of Arapahoe on Lima when, in the distance, a vehicle with "emergency" lights was parked in the center suicide lane. Not knowing what was going on, but knowing there were some government offices up ahead, I slowed expecting to be told to turn around or that the road was otherwise closed for whatever reason.
But no, the vehicle parked in the center lane was not an emergency vehicle, it was a private ambulance company. Not only was there no emergency for the ambulance to be at, especially with it's lights flashing, but there didn't seem to be any remnants of an emergency. No dented cars, no police vehicles or fire trucks; no crash residue on the pavement, flares or orange cones. Nothing.
So, why was this guy parked in the middle of the road with his lights flashing?
Then I saw it. The driver stepped out of his vehicle with a couple of boxes, each one about the size of a gallon of milk, and tossed them off on the side of the road into the grass. I watched him as he walked across the lane of traffic, tossed the boxes and then returned to his vehicle.
For those that know me well, you know one of my few pet peeves is litter. Those who litter not only disrespect nature, but they disrespect everyone else around them by putting their garbage out for all to see. They make the few natural spaces we have left into waste dumps of "someone else's problem" but, I'm willing to bet, they also throw a fit when their neighbors aren't up to code.
I pulled up next to the "ambulance", which just happened to be a branded Chevrolet Tahoe and not an actual ambulance, and rolled down my window. The driver followed suit. "Did you just throw those boxes over there?" I asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"So, you littered."
"What else was I supposed to do with them?" he asked.
"I don't know, maybe take them with you and throw them away." I looked at his vehicle, "I know you have the room."
Then he did what all people who have no argument or justification do, he tried to change the argument, "Why don't you pick it up then?"
First of all, it wasn't my garbage. Secondly, the back of my truck was so filled with materials I'd been living with (blankets, pillows, clean clothes, etc) and my front seat was no better, I didn't have room to put two boxes that were now on the wet dirty ground.
He drove off.
I quickly looked up the website for the ambulance company thinking I'd report him to his boss for littering. Turns out his company wasn't located too far away, on Centennial Airport, and I dialed. Someone who never identified himself answered. I asked for a manager or supervisor and he said he was one. I related my story. He just kept saying, "Okay."
"Okay." "Okay." "Okay." and so on. Finally I stopped my narrative and asked him what his thoughts were and he asked me what I meant.
"Well, you just keep saying 'okay' but you don't seem at all concerned that your drive was littering," I said.
"I'm just letting you complain," he said. "There's nothing I can do about it."
"I'm going to post my experience on the internet, then. Post it to social media so everyone knows your company litters and you don't care one but about it."
"That's libel. That's slander. I'll sue you," he threatened.
I chuckled, "No, it's only libelous or slanderous if it's false. I witnessed it. It's not false." My only regret is I wasn't recording and didn't have video of the driver tossing garbage on the side of the road or a record of the phone call with the "manager".
He hung up on me.
In summation, the driver didn't have a legitimate reason to be parked in the middle of the street with his lights going; the driver didn't care if he littered and by doing so tarnished the company's brand; the "manager" didn't care and when I told him I would make the incident public, he threatened then hung up on me.
Good company there. /sarcasm
From what I've been able to discover, ICareAmbulance doesn't have a Twitter account, just Facebook. I will leave a negative review for them over on Google Maps and, of course, there's always this blog post.
On Friday I was traveling to an event in Centennial, CO. I was just south of Arapahoe on Lima when, in the distance, a vehicle with "emergency" lights was parked in the center suicide lane. Not knowing what was going on, but knowing there were some government offices up ahead, I slowed expecting to be told to turn around or that the road was otherwise closed for whatever reason.
But no, the vehicle parked in the center lane was not an emergency vehicle, it was a private ambulance company. Not only was there no emergency for the ambulance to be at, especially with it's lights flashing, but there didn't seem to be any remnants of an emergency. No dented cars, no police vehicles or fire trucks; no crash residue on the pavement, flares or orange cones. Nothing.
So, why was this guy parked in the middle of the road with his lights flashing?
Then I saw it. The driver stepped out of his vehicle with a couple of boxes, each one about the size of a gallon of milk, and tossed them off on the side of the road into the grass. I watched him as he walked across the lane of traffic, tossed the boxes and then returned to his vehicle.
For those that know me well, you know one of my few pet peeves is litter. Those who litter not only disrespect nature, but they disrespect everyone else around them by putting their garbage out for all to see. They make the few natural spaces we have left into waste dumps of "someone else's problem" but, I'm willing to bet, they also throw a fit when their neighbors aren't up to code.
I pulled up next to the "ambulance", which just happened to be a branded Chevrolet Tahoe and not an actual ambulance, and rolled down my window. The driver followed suit. "Did you just throw those boxes over there?" I asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"So, you littered."
"What else was I supposed to do with them?" he asked.
"I don't know, maybe take them with you and throw them away." I looked at his vehicle, "I know you have the room."
Then he did what all people who have no argument or justification do, he tried to change the argument, "Why don't you pick it up then?"
First of all, it wasn't my garbage. Secondly, the back of my truck was so filled with materials I'd been living with (blankets, pillows, clean clothes, etc) and my front seat was no better, I didn't have room to put two boxes that were now on the wet dirty ground.
He drove off.
I quickly looked up the website for the ambulance company thinking I'd report him to his boss for littering. Turns out his company wasn't located too far away, on Centennial Airport, and I dialed. Someone who never identified himself answered. I asked for a manager or supervisor and he said he was one. I related my story. He just kept saying, "Okay."
"Okay." "Okay." "Okay." and so on. Finally I stopped my narrative and asked him what his thoughts were and he asked me what I meant.
"Well, you just keep saying 'okay' but you don't seem at all concerned that your drive was littering," I said.
"I'm just letting you complain," he said. "There's nothing I can do about it."
"I'm going to post my experience on the internet, then. Post it to social media so everyone knows your company litters and you don't care one but about it."
"That's libel. That's slander. I'll sue you," he threatened.
I chuckled, "No, it's only libelous or slanderous if it's false. I witnessed it. It's not false." My only regret is I wasn't recording and didn't have video of the driver tossing garbage on the side of the road or a record of the phone call with the "manager".
He hung up on me.
In summation, the driver didn't have a legitimate reason to be parked in the middle of the street with his lights going; the driver didn't care if he littered and by doing so tarnished the company's brand; the "manager" didn't care and when I told him I would make the incident public, he threatened then hung up on me.
Good company there. /sarcasm
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| The driver I encountered is the older gentleman, fourth from the left. |
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