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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Scar3dCyd on 2026-01-16 20:14:31+00:00.
Long time lurker, first time poster so I apologize for any writing/grammar mistakes.
A few months ago, my family found out my stepmom has breast cancer. Today was the day of her double mastectomy, so emotions were already high. My sister told me to meet her at the hospital at 1:00 PM and mentioned that the car’s key fob doesn’t work, so I’d need to use the physical key hidden inside it. Cool. Noted. No problem.
I leave the house at 12:30 because the hospital is about 30 minutes away. What I didn’t realize was that my phone never charged overnight. About halfway there, my phone dies completely. I also recently moved here, so I have no idea where I am. I spend 15 minutes driving around in panic mode until I finally figure out where I am. First stop: dollar store to buy a charger. Every single charger? USB-C. I have an ancient iPhone, so that’s useless. Second stop: grocery store. I find ONE Lightning cable left in the entire store. A miracle. I buy it, go back to the car, open the package, and realize it’s Lightning-to-USB-C. At this point I’m questioning my existence. I turn the car on and realize I have almost no gas. So I pull into the gas station next to the store. My phone is still dead, so I leave it in the car along with the key, because I usually keep the door open while pumping gas so I can sit down. While I’m paying, a huge gust of wind slams the car door shut. A few seconds later, I hear a quiet click. The car locked itself. My dead phone and the key are now locked in the car. At the gas pump. I’m 18 and have no idea what to do, so I panic, borrow the clerk’s phone, and call my dad. He tells me he can’t leave the hospital and to go wait at the McDonald’s across the street. He’ll send someone. So I go to McDonald’s with nothing but my wallet, buy food, and sit there alone for about an hour with zero distractions and a whole lot of self-reflection. Eventually, my sister’s boyfriend shows up with the spare key fob. I get back into the car, finally got gas, drive to a drugstore, and finally buy another charger. This one works. I call my dad. He tells me to just go home because I’ve clearly had an awful day. I have declared that I am in “bad luck quarantine.” I’ve been home for 30 minutes writing this, It’s 3:00 PM. Thanks for reading about the day the universe personally chose me to mess with.
TL;DR: Tried to visit stepmom after surgery. Phone died, got lost, bought wrong chargers, ran out of gas, locked keys and dead phone in car at gas pump, waited an hour at McDonald’s, never made it to hospital, got placed in “bad luck quarantine.”