People get so angry. I’m not criticizing anger itself, but how it is often misplaced.
Take for example, my drive home yesterday. I was on Hunt Club Road, approaching Laser Street from the West when I heard a vehicle horn from somewhere behind me. I looked and saw that it wasn’t for me at all. Whew! It was a UPS truck letting the minivan in front of him know that he wasn’t paying attention. Indeed, the minivan was sitting still and a good eight to ten car-lengths had opened up in front of him as traffic advanced. The horn was brief and didn’t seem at all born of annoyance. Rather, more of a “hey, pay attention already!” kind of thing.
I was near enough to the minivan to see the driver was angry out of all proportion to what had happened. Indeed, I can’t imagine how he could feel that road-going equivalent of a tap on the shoulder wasn’t appropriate. Regardless, he was pissed. So, being the consummate ass, he inched forward at a crawl. The traffic ahead of him was moving faster, so the gap lengthened. The UPS driver managed to change lanes and attempted to pass. As you’d expect, the slowly moving minivan suddenly found the ability to move ahead fast enough to prevent the pass.
Not content with simply acting like an ass, the minivan-driver stopped beside the UPS truck, and threw a cup of water at the UPS driver. In the summer, the UPS trucks seldom have the cab doors closed, so it was clear that the minivan-driver was trying to soak the UPS guy.
All of this because he was not paying attention to the road … and another driver let him know in a reasonable way.
There’s no other way to put it. The minivan driver acted like an asshole. His behaviour boggles my mind. Aren’t there more important things to get worked up about?
I thought to myself, “Asshole needs to chill…and now he’s going to get thirsty!”
Jessica
It’s stories like this that make *me* mad! That driver wouldn’t do well in Egypt or Argentina, where people honk their horns all the time, for all sorts of reasons. Jeez, calm down, will ya?
Reminds me of the time we were driving behind a guy along Island Park, and he kept sitting there every time the light turned green, so Jonathan kept giving him a little “Hey, pay attention” honk. After 2 or 3 times, the guy actually GOT OUT OF HIS CAR and came around to the back of his car. He made a big show of looking at his rear bumper, then said, “Is there something wrong with the back of my car?” in a snotty voice. Jonathan replied, “Yeah, it doesn’t move forward when the light turns green!” Heh.
Rick
That Jonathan…he cracks me up sometimes. First the robots say no, and now this!