To be somewhat pissed off to find someone in the back of my car?

[follyfoot]

Opened my hatchback boot to let dog jump in yesterday morning to find a body in the back of my car. At first I thought it was of the dead variety, but turned out to be a semi conscious (ie pissed) teenage girl who had spent the night in my car.

I'm really curious why youaretooniceNOT said in her post of 22:47 that if the OP had been on holiday and no-one had come to check on the house that the girl would have died...
TotallyConfusedJacksxx

Yeah, I was wondering too.

I thought maybe she meant the girl might not be able to open the boot from the inside. Bit like why children are always told never to climb inside an abandoned fridge or similar item if playing hide and seek.

doley

Actually you obviously need more than that. When I was 16, I was out with friends - I stayed out too long, missed the last connecting train home so had to walk about 5miles home. So what? At 16, or possibly older (we don't know, the OP is only guesstimating) you take responsibility for being stupid enough to get so drunk you need to break into someone's car to sleep. People mollycoddling their teenaged nearly-adults teaches them what, exactly? That someone else will always pick up their mess after them, help them out of trouble, save them from putting any effort in to their own lives?
How exactly is that helpful to them?

The girl wasn't in the boot. Op said that she was curled up on the back seat under her yoga mat. Op discovered her when she happened to open the boot. I imagine that she still would have been able to get out of the car even if OP had gone on holiday!

OP I don't think that I would have given her a lift home either - I think I would have been too shocked to do anything TBH!

Me too.
Does nobody think that she could have been a dodgy character, druggy, who might try to rob you? 16 is no barrier to drug addiction / violent tendencies. No way I'd give her a lift anywhere. Maybe phone the police if I thought she needed a lift.
16 not a "child" in my eyes, anyway.

All these people saying they would have definitely driven her home have no idea what they would have actually done in that situation. I imagine the shock would be such that you wouldn't think like that straight away.

I did long hungover walks home when I was 15/16 - it's really not the most awful thing. And if she didn't know where to go or really needed some help she may well have asked. I'm sure she would have been able to call her mates or someone else to help too.

I think I would have probably reacted in the same way as OP unless there were any signs of violence/struggle that I felt needed the police and/or medical intervention (by ringing the police and getting them to sort it out).

I wonder how many of the '16 is an adult' brigade actually have a 16 year old!

I wouldn't have driven her home or got her breakdast or anything - but i would have got her name and address and her phone number.Depending on the story she told me i might or might not have phoned her mother - but i probably would have.

I would not have exposed myself the the barely conceal;ed contempt of the police by wasting their time ringing them unless she was threatening or stole something (other than an easter egg.)

ooh, my car doesn't lock so its left open every night! Has been like this for the last year or so. Never found anyone inside it though (smells strongly of dog so I don't think anyone would bother) and we live on a street with lots of passers-by

Annoying but no harm done

I think a lot of posters may be responding to Follyfoot's initial description of where she lives, ie in the middle of nowhere in a woodland. I don't think I'd send a young teen off on their own in that situation. But then she said it's only a 10 min walk from the local pub which doesn't sound as drastic, I'd happily make her walk in that situation.

I also agree with needafootmassage, speaking as someone who did some seriously dangerous and stupid stuff at 16, I would've been hugely embarassed and preferred to slink off alone than be mothered by a random stranger!

I honestly wouldn't have been "livid" to find a 16 year old girl sleeping in my car... I would have been a) shocked and a bit frightened, due to poss dead body scenario, and then b) concerned. I agree with everyone who says you should at least have tried to find out a bit more about her and asked if you could phone someone for her.

I would have done exactly what the OP did. Her description doesn't give me the impression this young woman was scared, or particularly remorseful so she can find her own way home.

As for the flack the OP has been getting, blimey. Wind your necks in and your judgey pants down!

Why would OP have to make surethe girl was going home safe? I would have thought this was the girl's parents respondsability

more of a than a actually

You just can't beat the kindness of strangers, can you?

Seeker, I do for one not think a 16yo is an adult, hence why I think it is her parents responsability to make sure she is safe and not some random stranger who happens to have left her car unlocck,on her property, in the vicinity of some teenagers dringing themself sensless.

But if her parents didn't know where she was...... then they couldn't really make sure she was safe, could they?

Thing is, if she looked 16ish, she could easily have been nearer 14. Then it seems to me it's a whole different ball game. I wouldn't have been best pleased, but I would have made sure she was ok and probably driven her home.

if she thinks shes old enough to drink then she is old enough to look after herself, shes lucky you weren't a peadophile, or a crazy woman living up the lane alone that attacked her!!! hopefully in hindsight she will look back and not get so wasted in future.
I was going out at 16 but i had curfew and my friends all walked home together, strange that she was totally alone!!!

Lolol at follyfoots " fuck em" attitude.

You go Glenn coco

Well, all I know is that I've got a 15 year old, and if she did something as stupid as this girl did, I would bloody well hope that someone would have an ounce of concern for her welfare.

As well as putting the fear of god into her.

If I had been sitting up all night waiting or out searching, a phone call from the irate person who found her in their car would be ...shall we say...a relief.

their job is to know where she was IMHO, that is part of their responsability.

Just to comment on "the kindness of strangers", I once saw a young woman (early twenties) running down my street with one shoe on. I called DH to tell him we had to try and find her, we took the car, found the girl and brought her back to our house, sat her down asked her what had happened, offered a coffee and a phone to call familly etc and after a couple of hours drove her back to her parent's place.

It was clear that she had been in trouble, it would have been pretty heartless to not do anything now, self inflicted drunkeness in a person young enough to still be the FULL responsability of her parents , not quite the same but maybe that is just me. Although, it was not a dangerous situation that girl was left in by OP.