On February 20, 2017 the Globe and Mail published an online article by Andrew Clark in which he recalls passing up a man in need of a jump start because he simply didn’t have time. Mr. Clark shares that it wouldn’t have been a simple jump start at all, as they never are when using booster cables, and he had to pick up his kids within 20 minutes. This article caught our eye because all of Mr. Clark’s concerns would become a non-issue if he had a Weego! Here’s Mr. Clarks rundown of the would-be jumping scenario which we pulled from the aforementioned article:
We'd attach one red clip to his positive and one red clip to my positive. We'd attach one black clip to my negative and the other black clip to an unpainted part of his car. Then I'd run my engine. It would be done in five minutes. But there is no such a thing as a "simple" jump-start. It always gets complicated. It normally starts with a stranded driver waving jumper cables. Then it's five to 10 minutes of me trying to maneuver my vehicle close enough to give him or her a boost. Once accomplished, the first thing out of the driver's mouth is, "Great, do you know how to use these things?" I do. It's basic. Yet when someone asks me, I begin to doubt myself. It's like when I'm asked to spell a word that I've known since I was a kid; such as, "Is that how you spell 'rhythm'?" I struggle when I have to think about it and start wondering if it's spelled "rythym." Once I have my head straight, I attach the boosters. Now the stranded driver starts second-guessing me. They'll be quiet at first, but if their stalled vehicle doesn't spring to life and start purring like a Porsche, they panic and I get, "Are you sure it's positive to positive?" Yeah, I'm sure. I'm lucky if I get out of there in 20 minutes. This is not the worst-case scenario. That involves me discovering the booster cables don't work. They're rusted out or simply broken. The driver has never used them or hasn't used them in 15 years. Now I'm flagging down some other Good Samaritan who has cables and we get to go through the whole, "Do you know how to use these things?" routine. I'm lucky if I'm out of there in 30 minutes. If I hadn't been worried about getting my kids, I'd have gone through it all, but I just couldn't risk it. That's why I failed to be a Good Samaritan. So, I guess the bottom line is, I'm not a nice person. So what we, Weego, are trying to get at here – don’t be Mr. Clark OR the guy who got himself stranded.
