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TIFU helping a girl after she hit a car, and now I can't stop thinking about it.

I’m relatively new to Germany, and something interesting happened to me today while I was grocery shopping. Since Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are holidays here, supermarkets were chaotic, with people panic-buying everything.

As I was waiting in line to pay, a girl came up to the cashier and said (in English) that she had accidentally hit someone’s car in the parking lot. She was asking the cashier to announce the car’s number plate so the owner could come forward. The cashier didn’t seem to understand her or didn’t want to help—she just said something in German and dismissed the girl.

I decided to step in because she was speaking English, and I could see she was stressed out. I told her to wait until I was done paying, and I’d help her figure things out. Once I finished, we went outside together to check the situation.

She was clearly panicked, so I asked if she had insurance. She said she did (her father’s insurance, but she was also covered). I explained her options:

  1. Leave her contact details on the damaged car.

  2. Go to the nearest police station, where someone could help her (likely in English).

  3. Wait for the owner to show up.

At one point, we both jokingly considered the “just leave” option since no one had seen her and her car didn’t have visible damage. But we quickly agreed that would be the wrong thing to do, especially since she had insurance.

After a while, the owners of the car (a middle-aged German couple) came out. I approached them first, explained what had happened, and stayed there as the girl apologized and exchanged information with them. The couple was very understanding, which helped calm her down a little.

After everything was sorted, she came back to me, still a bit shaken. I joked, “Who gave you your driver’s license?” and she laughed, saying this was the first time she’d hit someone’s car—usually, it’s her car that gets hit. She then said, “Merry Christmas,” and we both went our separate ways.

Now, here’s where I’m stuck:

A part of me wishes I had asked for her number or tried to talk more before leaving.

Was I weird for thinking we could’ve exchanged numbers?

Did I misread the situation entirely?

I didn’t want to come off as opportunistic in a stressful situation, but I keep thinking about her and the interaction.

TL;DR: Helped a girl who hit a car in Germany, got through the situation together was there till the end, but didn’t ask for her number, and now I can’t stop wondering if I missed an opportunity.

Any thoughts? Was my expectation unreasonable? Should I have said something more?

Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!

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