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I keep forgetting I make people go 'eep!'
Aug. 5th, 2003 11:40 amSo I'm on the way in to work as usual. Some PowerBusinessWoman(tm) comes roaring up behind me in an expensive, overpowered convertible. She's talking on a celphone and drinking coffee. Frustrated that her utter lack of tactics has wedged her behind two cars, namely mine and a truck beside me... and not wanting to drop back and shift over two lanes into the fast lane to get around, she instead animatedly curses (waving of the hands and whatnot) and proceeds to get within mere inches of my rear bumper.
Instead of slowing down more and escalating the situation, I accelerate a little to open the gap so she can pass. She slams the gas and slot-cars between us while giving the corner of my bumper a 'love tap'. Her little convertible motor spooled up and she roared on past, giving dirty looks the whole while. On up the road she goes, now doing over 70, even though it's a 35mph city street.
...and turns into my work parking lot. :)
I pull in and get an opportune space from someone who just pulled out. Checking the bumper I find only the smallest hint of a mark, which I was able to scuff off with my hand; no big deal. Meanwhile she proceeds to circle the back lot once or twice before finding a slot. By the time I get to the rear door, she's powerwalking towards it, coffee and briefcase in hand, looking pissed at the world.
"They're called turn signals, you know. You should at least use them when you're going to drive like an unsafe idiot and almost hit people. You clipped my bumper, in fact."
She stopped dead in her tracks, looked up at me and freaked.
You see... I'd utterly forgotten about the fact that I'm 6'5" and huge... and she was 5'-something and skinny-power-jogger-lady, probably around 35-40yr old range. What was supposed to be a 'hey, you drove like a jerk, be nicer next time' became BIG SCARY MAN THREATENING TINY LADY in her mind. Oh, joy.. You could see the oh crap look light up her face.
Recognizing this, I added "I'm only here because I work here, lady. Deal." before walking in. She was already bolting back to her car as I said this. Feeling pissy, I added a nice heard-across-the-lot "Chill out and learn how to drive" and then headed up to my office. When I got up to my window-seat on the 2nd floor I saw her on her celphone in her car, gesticulating wildly. Eventually she came back to the door and went into the front office of thet mortgage place (which makes sense as they're the only real tenant in my building that gets regular amounts of customers).
Part of me is glad to tell off someone who was being seriously unsafe on the road. Another is righteously indignant about the fact that I can't safely lay into someone verbally due to being the Big Male. If her phone call had been to the police to complain that some big scary man was out to crush her I'd be getting a visit from the PoPo and would be instantly pronounced guilty in their eyes. It doesn't help that I'm wearing this huge bronze skull biker-shirt. Everybody else gets to be grouchy now and then and they're not nailed to the wall for it... and it upsets me that I really can't do so due to society's perception of men being the agressors.
More importantly, the bulk of my feelings were centered around disappointment in both society (people like her that need to be PowerTerrors on the road) and myself for not dealing with it properly. The proper way would have been to take down her license plate and call in a 'reckless driver' report. While the CHP won't ticket/prosecute anything they don't see, they will note it on her record as a 'citizen complaint'. If you get a handful of those on your record then things happen. I shouldn't have confronted her, even though we were going through the same door at the same time for legitimate reasons. Even though it's on foot and after the fact, it's still a form of Road Rage. Road Rage is never good and definately not something to be proud of.
In any case, I hope she calms the hell down on the road.
Instead of slowing down more and escalating the situation, I accelerate a little to open the gap so she can pass. She slams the gas and slot-cars between us while giving the corner of my bumper a 'love tap'. Her little convertible motor spooled up and she roared on past, giving dirty looks the whole while. On up the road she goes, now doing over 70, even though it's a 35mph city street.
...and turns into my work parking lot. :)
I pull in and get an opportune space from someone who just pulled out. Checking the bumper I find only the smallest hint of a mark, which I was able to scuff off with my hand; no big deal. Meanwhile she proceeds to circle the back lot once or twice before finding a slot. By the time I get to the rear door, she's powerwalking towards it, coffee and briefcase in hand, looking pissed at the world.
"They're called turn signals, you know. You should at least use them when you're going to drive like an unsafe idiot and almost hit people. You clipped my bumper, in fact."
She stopped dead in her tracks, looked up at me and freaked.
You see... I'd utterly forgotten about the fact that I'm 6'5" and huge... and she was 5'-something and skinny-power-jogger-lady, probably around 35-40yr old range. What was supposed to be a 'hey, you drove like a jerk, be nicer next time' became BIG SCARY MAN THREATENING TINY LADY in her mind. Oh, joy.. You could see the oh crap look light up her face.
Recognizing this, I added "I'm only here because I work here, lady. Deal." before walking in. She was already bolting back to her car as I said this. Feeling pissy, I added a nice heard-across-the-lot "Chill out and learn how to drive" and then headed up to my office. When I got up to my window-seat on the 2nd floor I saw her on her celphone in her car, gesticulating wildly. Eventually she came back to the door and went into the front office of thet mortgage place (which makes sense as they're the only real tenant in my building that gets regular amounts of customers).
Part of me is glad to tell off someone who was being seriously unsafe on the road. Another is righteously indignant about the fact that I can't safely lay into someone verbally due to being the Big Male. If her phone call had been to the police to complain that some big scary man was out to crush her I'd be getting a visit from the PoPo and would be instantly pronounced guilty in their eyes. It doesn't help that I'm wearing this huge bronze skull biker-shirt. Everybody else gets to be grouchy now and then and they're not nailed to the wall for it... and it upsets me that I really can't do so due to society's perception of men being the agressors.
More importantly, the bulk of my feelings were centered around disappointment in both society (people like her that need to be PowerTerrors on the road) and myself for not dealing with it properly. The proper way would have been to take down her license plate and call in a 'reckless driver' report. While the CHP won't ticket/prosecute anything they don't see, they will note it on her record as a 'citizen complaint'. If you get a handful of those on your record then things happen. I shouldn't have confronted her, even though we were going through the same door at the same time for legitimate reasons. Even though it's on foot and after the fact, it's still a form of Road Rage. Road Rage is never good and definately not something to be proud of.
In any case, I hope she calms the hell down on the road.
