The "Ignore It and Hope It Goes Away" Game: Success Story #34

Several weeks ago I was up in Indiana for some reason... I forget why. Probably to plant some corn or talk about basketball or something. Anyway, I had a rental car from Enterprise that I had put nearly 1,000 miles on in a week. On mile #975, I backed into my friend's mailbox and put a foot-long scratch down the side of the car.

When the kid behind the Enterprise counter offered me a chance to buy insurance on the car, my response was a prompt, "nah... screw that. I'mma gamble." So when I hit the mailbox 97% of the way through the trip, I was in disbelief.

I mean... this wasn't some tiny scratch. It like stripped the paint completely off and put a small dent in the door panel. How have I dealt with this problem? The way most problems should be dealt with: the ol' "ignore it and hope it goes away" approach.

After the incident, I called the Enterprise office and the lady told me that she didn't know how much the damage would cost and that she'd get back to me. That was like six weeks ago and I haven't heard a thing from anyone. The fact that I called her in the first place made me very upset with myself. What was I thinking?!

Tip of the Day: It's not your problem until someone makes it your problem.

As of now, the several hundred dollars of damage I inflicted on that rental car might very well wind up not being my problem. I don't know what's going on at Enterprise and why they aren't all over my ass about this, but they're not, and that's good enough for me.

Before dealing with any problem aside from a lump on your testicle, try ignoring it first. You gotta test the problem out; see what it's made of. Make the problem earn your time. You don't walk up to a random girl in a bar and buy her drink straight away and you don't spend your time solving a problem that might not even be worthy of having you solve it.