Regretting volunteering?

I never thought I could ever feel this way. I really try to do a few things less fortunate than me around the holidays. I heard about an opportunity via work to pack food at a downtown YMCA. So I did it. I woke up at 6 am and drove an hour east to Humboldt Park, which is on the west side of Chicago, a few miles west of the United Center.

I was bundled up tight since I heard we'd be working outside in 15 degree weather. Boots, winter coat, hat, gloves, the navy blue and white striped Kaplan Inc. scarf that all the volunteers had been given.  I brought along a bag with six sweaters for a clothing drive happening at a convent around the corner.

So there must have been 20 of us from Kaplan and another 75 or so volunteering. Our first job was bagging food and the Kaplan folks were putting onions into plastic grocery bags. Easy enough. My hands went numb pretty fast, but I kept packing away. One of the hardest jobs was getting the bags with the onions open. That strong, hard red string, it really needs to be pulled hard. This one woman  named Jamie, who I think was from Kaplan too, asked me to get a large bag of onions for her and I happily did. Then she asked me to cut it open. I hesitated for a moment since pulling on the string can be tough. So she said three words I wish she had never said. "Use your key."

Now I was freezing cold and wanting to do as much work as possible. I got out my car key and began cutting into the string. It worked decently, but after 20 seconds, I noticed my key was becoming slanted. The problem is it was attached to one of those electronic alarm keypads. And the pad was pretty much torn open. I panicked and walked briskly back inside the YMCA and sat alone on a bench trying to figure out if I could fix this. The electronics were still working, but the screw that holds the key in place inside the keypad was totally damaged. Inside, my heart sank. I knew there was no way I was going to able to fix it. I would have to go to the Honda dealership where they would probably advise me to buy a new key.

Even though it was only 9:30 and I was planning to stay over two more hours, I drove straight home. I even skipped out on the Giordano's pizza party for the volunteers afterwards. Yes, I skipped out on pizza, I was that livid. I was mad at Jamie for making a stupid suggestion and madder at myself for listening to it.

After running a few errands in town, I got to McGrath Honda in St. Charles around noon. The man at the service desk was very courteous as he directed me too the parts desk. It took five minutes to get the attention of the guy behind the parts desk. He acted like I was a total inconvenience. Just very high-strung, speaking very quickly. He couldn't get the screw out of the key and basically said no matter what I did, I would have to get a new key and get it programmed, which is exactly the step I wanted to avoid, since that's what is so expensive. He soon walked away and never came back, even though I was going to ask him to write down my options and what my cost estimates would be. No, I never had the chance, he just took off.

 It's likely going to cost me close to $200, which I absolutely can't deal with right now. Hopefully, the coats went to good use. Other than that, I totally regret going to the YMCA today.