Jumping Fiend

As I was walking back to my car this morning before leaving for work, with my headphones on blaring Ani DiFranco, I think, someone in the parking lot yelled something at me I couldn't hear, so I shifted the headphones off my ears and shouted, "What?"

"Can you give me a job?"

"Can I give you a *job*?"

"Yeah!"

"Um... no..." I said, a bit perplexed, and continued to my car, putting the headphones back on so as not to hear her continued shouting. I recognized her from the last fire drill as my neighbor two doors down, and I thought it was an odd way to beg. And an odd place.

But as I pulled out of my space and headed towards the street, I saw her open her trunk and stare at her engine, and went, "oh!" I pulled up next to her, rolled down the window, and said, "Wait, do you need a *jump*?"

"Yes!" she said, exasperated.

So, she had cables, but didn't know how to use them, and neither did I, but I found the instructions attached to the label. I had to look up how to open my trunk in the instructions too. This is how skilled I am with auto repair.

It eventually looked like we had everything connected properly (red and black to + and - on mine, and + and ground on hers) and a little light went on on the cables and all, but her car still wouldn't start. She figured that it was probably the electric-looking component next to the battery that she'd been trying to get a jump to drive to the mechanic to get replaced.

So, it was a futile effort. Or else we did it wrong. Something like that.