The Most Expensive Groupon Experience If Ever There Was One...

I love reunions! My friend, Hiral, and I went to Ohio State together and currently both live in Chicago. I'd grown accustomed to seeing Hiral at least once every one to two weeks. However, simply due to crazy schedules, we hadn't seen each other for at least a couple of months.

It felt like eons. Seriously!

Last night, it was total reunion central, though. Hiral picked me up from my Lincoln Park apartment and we decided to venture a bit more north, to (finally!) use Hiral's $22 Groupon for Marigold - an Indian restaurant in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. We were primarily excited to check this place out because it was so far north, so we had no doubts it would be MUCH easier to find a parking spot as compared to attempting this pretty impossible feat in my Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Lo and behold! A parking lot was ready and WAITING for us, right across the street from Marigold! It was totally meant to be.

Dinner was mediocre (the food was not NEARLY as good as I remembered it to be) but the reunion was oh so delightful! It was so great catching up with Hiral after much, MUCH too long. After dinner, we headed back out to the parking lot, BOTH of us exhausted (it was a Tuesday, after all!) and so ready to get back home.

Yeah... as we're walking through the parking lot, chit-chatting away, Hiral interrupts the conversation with "Umm... where did I park?" To which I immediately respond with: "Oh, like right over there..." (insert an image of my voice trailing off as my finger points toward an oh-so-empty parking spot).

Lord. I've never had to deal with a towed car situation so I had no idea what to do. I was a little nervous, because hello! Wouldn't YOU be pissed if your car was towed?! Well, I guess Hiral has a different take on things. Because HER reaction? "Oh NO!!... Oh well. We can just go pick it up."

Okay, it's kind of summarized, but that was the general gist. WTF, right? I never DREAMED one individual could treat the experience of getting her car towed as... well, a normal occurrence! (For the record, Hiral rarely, if ever, has experienced a towing situation.)

After calling the towing agency, and determining the location of the sadly towed vehicle, Hiral and I embarked on this seemingly never-ending sojourn. Thankfully, the towing lot wasn't all too far from where we were... only a few blocks, actually! Sure, the majority of the walk was comprised of one LONG block, that housed a cemetery, but whatever. We are brave people! Kind of. But I digress.

So, after this brief sojourn, we FINALLY spot the towing agency! Sweet success! Let's get this car and get the F outta here!!


You know, it was actually at this point in the evening, that I totally got into my blogger element, snapping away pictures (yes, I know- how Hiral didn't kill me during her time of distress, I just don't know). But come ON! Gotta embrace each situation, right?! And embrace, oh I so did...

I mean, LOOK at the towing agency's "office"!


If that just doesn't ADD to the creepy element of the night (initiated by that cemetery walk-by), I just don't know what does.

And, well, what's a night out without... some police surveillance?


At least I felt safer with them around. Because trust me. The people of Lincoln Towing were NOTHING to write home about. I understand that towing companies have to develop thick skin, dealing with complaints right and left. But these people were just plain RUDE. And it takes a lot for me to formulate that extreme of a judgment call!

Oh well. So, a whopping $200 later... Hiral FINALLY got her car back. Wahoo! (I tried to snap a picture of her reunion with her car but it came out all blurry.)

Sigh. To think... we'd started out the night excited about our plan to actually save money by using Hiral's Groupon...

Ha- PLEASE. The most expensive Groupon experience, if ever there was one...