So dark the con of man

Title courtesy: Dan Brown

Ah today was one of those dark days on which I had to return a rental car. If you don't know what I am talking about, read this post. And as always, I had to fill fuel and then go around in 3 long and oblong circles around the rental place for the lack of parking. And since the agency is located on a one lane street, there was no chance of turning on the hazard lights and hoping one of the agency guys took the car and parked it elsewhere. And so I roamed from ville to ville (town) in search of nearby parking and for the lack of sufficient U-turns. Finally, I decided to give up and randomly entered one of the perpendicular streets vaguely near the rental agency. And I found one parking space. It was going to be a tight fit but it was possible. While I was mapping out my parallel parking 'route' mentally, a young man on the street offered to park it for me. I took the chance. I knew that the French were superb in parallel parking and this guy would take 5 seconds or less to park the car. I was right and he was done in a jiffy. I started thanking him profusely and I fully expected him to walk away. Instead, he asked me for a pen and reached for the blue rental information folder that I had kept on the passenger seat. I watched uneasily as he started noting the kilometers from the odometer and checking the inside of the car. Taken aback, I asked him if he was from Rent-a-car to confirm anyway. It was a valid question given that this was some random street and a sizable distance from the agency. He just nodded his response and proceeded on with his inspection. A sudden thought struck me. What if this guy was a con artist? What if he was pretending to be someone from the car rental place while really he was trying to steal the car? In the few seconds that he checked the car, I played out an entire lawsuit in my head. He started walking away apparently indicating that I was to follow. Surely this was going to be okay? And as he walked into the store, relief flooded into me. He was genuine. He was from the agency. And he gave me the receipt and everything and signed off on the rental. And the guy who gave me the car in the first place was there. All was well. I wasn't conned. There was going to be no lawsuit. Whoosh!

So dark the con of man = O(h) often cars honk mad (Sorry, couldn't think of a better fit in viewpoint - Anyone who can come up with a better one will get it on the post!!) :)