Still February. Still 1994. Post-hair show and post-accident. In my first adulting car-care experience, I called my insurance company who directed me to a list of acceptable repair places. I ended up at Smart Motors on Odana Road and was informed it would take up to one week to get my car back. Luckily, my insurance covered a rental through Enterprise-Rent-A-Car. Back at my office, I called Enterprise to reserve a car. I was told that they had one car available on their lot. Busy winter season, I supposed? An Enterprise employee could bring the car to my office if I’d be willing to drive them back to the rental office to fill out the paperwork. An hour or so later, I got the call, “This is Enterprise, I’m here in your office parking lot.”

I hopped in the passenger seat of the rental and said hello to the driver. I was immediately struck by one thought: “Uh, this guy is pretty cute.” (Whatever. Call me shallow.) Other pluses from that <15 minute drive to the Enterprise office.

• He was playing my favorite radio station (92.1 WMAD at the time) so he clearly had good taste in music.
• He was not wearing a wedding ring. (I had sadly learned to check by this point of my young life.)
• In true extrovert fashion, I chatted this guy up and it was such an easy back and forth conversation. He was … charming. I was in sales at the time and Enterprise happened to be a client of mine. (They exhibited at CUES conferences and advertised in our magazine.) I knew a bit about their business model and their work with credit unions selling fleet cars. I probably even name dropped the few people I knew at the headquarters office in St. Louis. (He didn’t know them.)
• I found out he was from Ohio and had moved from Indiana to Wisconsin to open up new branches for Enterprise in the Midwest. He had moved to Madison fairly recently.
• He was really cute. Wait, did I already say that?

We arrived at the office and I filled out the paperwork. Side note – when he tried to sell me the damage waiver (to meet his daily numbers), I politely declined. And to the surprise of his staff listening to our interaction, he politely backed down. (Dale was known by his team for pushing them hard to sell the damage waiver. Gotta meet those numbers!) We had more pleasant chatter inside. He then walked me back outside to the car, opened the drivers door of the red Hyundai Excel and handed me his business card. “If you have any problems at all with this car, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.” I hadn’t rented many cars in my life, but I was pretty sure this wasn’t normal treatment. Seriously, if you were watching this scene in a rom-com, you’d catch the connection. The pause at the car door. Holding out the business card a little longer than needed before the handoff. The awkward smiles. Our time together was reaching maybe 30 minutes by this point. Yet, there was something more than renting a car going on here. A spark. At least that was my impression as I took his business card and drove away.

I wish I could attach a photo of the business card, but alas – we’ve moved to a new house this year. I would know exactly where to look at the old house…but sigh. No idea at this moment as there are those boxes you take forever to unpack.

Here’s what it said:

Dale S. Tomalin

Area Branch Manager

Enterprise-Rent-A-Car

Stay tuned for part 3.