The van pulled into the parking lot and we all got out to receive our checks. After taking the check and saying goodbye to the other members of the group I eagerly jumped into my car and started the engine. "Finally!" I thought to myself "I can get out of here and go home". I took out my GPS and entered my college address to get me back. I noticed that when the directions came up they were taking me on a different route than the map did. Figuring it is was most likely a faster way I decided to follow it, after all, it was too dark for me to see the map anyway.
So I pulled out onto the street and started following the roads that it gave me. Now I was driving through back roads and neighborhoods you probably didn't want to be in at night time, but I didn't care. I was on my way home and in the safety of my own car. There is nothing that could possibly go wrong.
As I was driving I started to notice something strange with my GPS. I was driving, but the map on the GPS wasn't moving along with me. I quickly realized what was wrong with it. The screen had frozen in place at some point while I was driving. I immediately tried hitting the back button to reload the map, but nothing happened. Not knowing where I was or if I was even driving in the right direction I decided to find a spot to pull over. I don't remember where I pulled over at, I just recall that I didn't want to stay there too long.
I shut off the GPS and turned it back on again. The menu screen came on, but the buttons weren't working. "Oh no! Don't do this to me now." I said to the machine. I tried restarting it again, and again the buttons didn't work. Doing my best to keep my frustration from rising I turned off the machine hoping that keeping it shut off would give it time to recharge in some way. After sitting in darkness for a few minutes I decided to try it again. I turned the GPS on and still the buttons wouldn't work right. The only thing that stopped me from opening my door and smashing it on the concrete was the thought that it might be my only way to get home.
I turned on my car light and looked at my map to see that it could at least let me know where I was. If my current location was on the map I didn't see it. I decided that I couldn't wait any longer, so I started driving in the direction that I had been going and hoped that I would run into a familiar street. The longer I drove, the more streets I passed that could have been the one to take me back. I soon realized how pointless this was and wanted nothing more than to chuck my GPS out the window for getting me into this mess. Instead I pulled into a parking lot and decided to give it another shot. It was the only way I was going to find the right path.
So I turned it back on to see if it would work. Luckily, I was able to get past the menu and into the part where you enter the address. But when I went to use the keys it froze again. In the moment of the realization that it wasn't working again, I had the thought of myself needing to spend the night in my car and waiting for morning to get help or at the very least having the visibility to see a map. I also knew that I couldn't call anybody to come get me because I didn't know where I was.
Now I am normally a very laid back guy and rarely let problems get to me, but at that moment I snapped. I repeatedly started punching my fist into the face of the GPS, while yelling just about every curse word in the book. The only thing that stopped me was when I saw the cracks start to appear on the screen. "Oh great!" I thought. I had just broken the only thing that could have saved me. I turned off the machine and sat in silence.
I eventually decided to see if the GPS would still work, just out of curiosity at this point. Surprisingly it turned on and I was able to get to the part where I enter the address. I was even able to to use the keys and get the map set up. It was a miracle! (WARNING: Just because punching my GPS made it work for me, doesn't mean yours will do the same.) I was able to get the directions set up again and was able to slowly, but surely, follow them back home. I was so relieved when I got back to the roads that I was familiar with. When I got back to my apartment, I wanted nothing more than to rest.
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