$30 for a "tug?" I wouldn't even think of asking, but I'm not beyond administering some mild admonition for being stupid enough to do this once, let alone every winter.... You can actually DIE out there! We may only get a few days a year bad enough for that, but it only takes a couple hours of exposure.
We get a lot of variety in our weather and people who live here should know that. Still, they venture out in the worst life-threatening weather with "road cars" with no ground clearance and tires designed for the best of weather and dry pavement. Add to this the fact that they dress for their destination - the mall, Walmart, school, work, etc., in thin, skimpy clothes, pants that are little more than a pair of opaque panty-hose, cute little THIN jackets and shoes less robust than a pair of ballerina slippers. They get stuck and then, oh, dear me..... "SAVE ME!"
These are good, "upstanding people" with some level of privilege (real or perceived) having influenced their lifestyle and level of responsible behavior. "EDUCATED" people who you'd think know better, but no, they'll take their chances and expect someone ELSE to get them out of a fix.
Then, we have another "class" of people out wandering the roads in these same conditions BECAUSE of these conditions. This group is typified by a definite lack of privilege in their upbringing and current situation and are looked down upon every day of the year except those few in which the other group does stupid sh....tuff on such awful days. And then, that class is only good enough to talk to when their car is nose-in in a snow drift or ditch, and only for as long as that particular condition persists.
This "class" is predominately male and "young." You all know them, may even BE them. They have the "classic" (too old to be worth fixing) trucks with huge V-8s (diesels are crowding in now'days) with all kinds of horsepower and a goodly amount of torque - which they own more because no one else wants the expense of fixing or feeding them, being old, dilapidated and with horrible mileage. These trucks usually have a door, tailgate (if any) or hood of a different color, some are all one color - "rattle-can primer-color" and they (these boys) have plans, dreams and visions of what it (the truck) will be some day. These trucks (and their drivers) are characterized by the fact that the set of tires on that rig would be priced at something like twice to three times the vehicle's actual value - without the tires.
These "boys" all wear over-sized "ropers/wellingtons," well-worn, "water-proofed" with 90-weight and costing more than the total rest of their wardrobe, which consists of a pair of almost white "blue"-jeans with more holes than fabric, especially in the knees, a permanent "Cope' can print in the left-rear pocket. one flannel shirt in slightly less distressed condition than the jeans, over an equally distressed old "tee" of some solid color or another. For these brutal days, these boys have "cold weather gear" which consists of a fairly ragged out flannel "shirt-jac," which is never buttoned and has holes at the elbows at minimum, but usually in at least one other spot. Top this off with a beat to hell and back ball cap with the bill curled into almost a cone. You know these boys.
They prowl what they can see of the roads on these awful-weather days, using up gasoline they can barely afford to buy, on the prowl for their quarry. 'Round here, you can spot an idiot from a mile or more away in a half-blizzard. It's a barely perceptible, out-of-place blob creating uniusual eddies in the blasting horizontal ice grains that'll sand your first layer of skin off while it freezes. They'll zero in, sometimes alone, sometimes with a less fortunate friend or two who's dream truck is currently (more often than not) out of commission. They descend upon such hapless yucks, pile out, shovel snow from under t he car with t heir bare hands, snag it with a strap or chain and very expertly and deftly (particularly gently) extract their prey from the jaws of the storm, only to.................... what?
Only to ask if everyone inside the car is OK, absolutely REFUSE the whole ten bucks the driver sticks out a slit at the top of the window, and then stands in the blast in the middle of the road waving bare-handed as the ingrates drive off, warm and safe.
I'm not making fun of those boys. Those boys don't get a fair shake from other people and are looked down upon for what they drive - those uncouth, scary, threatening, loud "gas hogs" which should be outlawed! I'm not terribly kind in my response when I hear someone make a comment along those lines. Falls in there with the (paraphrased and usually mis-attributed) line that "we sleep well at nigh because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf...." Not that these boys are doing violence, but they're footing the bill all year long to pay for the security of others. Not that this is necessarily on purpose, but still, they foot the bill - they pay for the parts, bust their knuckles in the junk yard, pay for the gas and those TIRES! That way others can be irresponsible, drive cars that shouldn't even BE on the road in such conditions and enjoy the security of a car that always starts and gets great mileage.
HOO! Sorry, guys. Didn't mean to launch into social commentary, and no, I'm not drinking - at least nothing more than coffee. Some things just fire my butt up. The older I get, the less tolerant I am of how people treat others.
