Who Knew Getting An Oil Change Was Dangerous?

I just had an oil change at the Jiffy Lube. The technician was asking if everything meet to my satisfaction. Everything looked fine. The technician started to walk back to the front door. The key was already in the ignition so depressed the clutch so I could start the engine. Despite the cold it fired up just fine. I let off the clutch; the car lurched forward and stalled! The technician was right in front of me and slid a bit on the snow. He had to brace his arm against my hood!

I almost ran over the man. When I park my car I leave the transmission in neutral and use the parking brake. Unless I'm on an incline I never leave my car in gear when I'm parked. I forgot the oil change techs will leave my car in gear when they park it. Given how often I need an oil change you would think I would recall that important fact.

My mind went into a whole lot of what if scenarios. What if I took the key out of the ignition to put it back on my keyring? What if I remembered my car would be in gear when I got out to it? What if I just glanced down and noticed my transmission was in gear? My mind also raced into full legal mode. Would I have been at fault if I hurt the tech? Would the store be at fault for leaving the car in gear? Could it be truly considered an accident with no legal liability? I hated that my mind even had those thoughts. It felt very selfish.

No harm, no foul, but we both were scared for a few seconds. A scary reminder that something can go wrong in the blink of an eye.