I know that I shouldnt be but I am none the less continually surprised by the continual downward spiral of society as civility circles the drain. It may just be because I have to drive for work so much but it seems to me a lot of this stupidity is based around driving.
The other day I was returning home on a Sunday around 7-8 in the evening via an expressway. I was in the right lane doing around 10 over the limit when I noticed a car tailgating severely behind me. This always frustrates me because I generally drive slightly over the speed limit and try to make sure and let faster traffic by me. It is also a very dangerous thing to do, if I had to make a panic stop there is no way the young woman in the car behind me would have been able to stop in time to avoid hitting me. My aggravation was only increased by the fact that there was no traffic near us in the left lane. There was no reason she couldnt have just passed me rather then ride my ass.
At that point for the sake of safety and because I am a hateful bastard I decided to let her know she was being a bother. First I just slowed down about 5 MPH to try and urge her to pass, this only made her ride closer to my bumper so I decided to brake check her. Now rather then jam on the brakes and scare her or cause a wreck I just slowly applied the brakes and slowed down to under the speed limit hopping she would go around, no such luck but she did back off my bumper so that was a nice thing.
At this point I notice in my mirror she is waving something around inside of her car, something that looked kind of like a baseball bat. A couple of minutes later she got up on my ass again and it was indeed a baseball bat. At this point we where pretty close to the stop light that ends this particular expressway I could not help but feel things where maybe about to get interesting.
But they didnt.
All she did was sit in the car behind me and wave the bat out the window like a mad person. This upset me on several levels. The first one was that at this point I noticed she had a child in a safety seat in the back of the car. For one nice way to drive with your kid in the car. For two nice way to behave in front of your child. But then I guess hell know why he chooses to try and solve everything with violence when he starts getting in fights every day at school... It also annoys me in the sheer over reaction to the situation. She was following to close and I brake checked her, lightly. I could have really hooked them up and scared the hell out of her or caused an accident.
For a lot of people these would have been the only things that registered outrage but I have another
All she did was wave the fucking bat. Didnt get out of the car, didnt do a thing.
There is an old adage about not taking out a gun unless you plan to shoot someone with it and I kind of think that applies here. She pulled out that bat that she had no intention of using knowing nothing about me. For all she knew I could have been armed with my own ball bat or for that matter a gun. What at that point was there to stop me from getting out and taking my own bat to her, her car or even her child? Or just popping off a shot into the windshield of her car? Was the fact that I called her on ridding my ass worth that kind of confrontation? True, I would never do either of those things but how does she know that? And who is to say that the next guy she pulls that on wont be that kind of person?
There are battles worth fighting and those simply not always keep that fact in mind when you start to get angry Is it worth it?
The other day I was returning home on a Sunday around 7-8 in the evening via an expressway. I was in the right lane doing around 10 over the limit when I noticed a car tailgating severely behind me. This always frustrates me because I generally drive slightly over the speed limit and try to make sure and let faster traffic by me. It is also a very dangerous thing to do, if I had to make a panic stop there is no way the young woman in the car behind me would have been able to stop in time to avoid hitting me. My aggravation was only increased by the fact that there was no traffic near us in the left lane. There was no reason she couldnt have just passed me rather then ride my ass.
At that point for the sake of safety and because I am a hateful bastard I decided to let her know she was being a bother. First I just slowed down about 5 MPH to try and urge her to pass, this only made her ride closer to my bumper so I decided to brake check her. Now rather then jam on the brakes and scare her or cause a wreck I just slowly applied the brakes and slowed down to under the speed limit hopping she would go around, no such luck but she did back off my bumper so that was a nice thing.
At this point I notice in my mirror she is waving something around inside of her car, something that looked kind of like a baseball bat. A couple of minutes later she got up on my ass again and it was indeed a baseball bat. At this point we where pretty close to the stop light that ends this particular expressway I could not help but feel things where maybe about to get interesting.
But they didnt.
All she did was sit in the car behind me and wave the bat out the window like a mad person. This upset me on several levels. The first one was that at this point I noticed she had a child in a safety seat in the back of the car. For one nice way to drive with your kid in the car. For two nice way to behave in front of your child. But then I guess hell know why he chooses to try and solve everything with violence when he starts getting in fights every day at school... It also annoys me in the sheer over reaction to the situation. She was following to close and I brake checked her, lightly. I could have really hooked them up and scared the hell out of her or caused an accident.
For a lot of people these would have been the only things that registered outrage but I have another
All she did was wave the fucking bat. Didnt get out of the car, didnt do a thing.
There is an old adage about not taking out a gun unless you plan to shoot someone with it and I kind of think that applies here. She pulled out that bat that she had no intention of using knowing nothing about me. For all she knew I could have been armed with my own ball bat or for that matter a gun. What at that point was there to stop me from getting out and taking my own bat to her, her car or even her child? Or just popping off a shot into the windshield of her car? Was the fact that I called her on ridding my ass worth that kind of confrontation? True, I would never do either of those things but how does she know that? And who is to say that the next guy she pulls that on wont be that kind of person?
There are battles worth fighting and those simply not always keep that fact in mind when you start to get angry Is it worth it?
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Sometimes I wish I had one of those gigantic cars they used to use in smash up derbys, ya know, the ones that had the spaces filled in with cement. I would love to just patrol the roadways and smash into idiots that have no concept of other people/decent manners/proper legal driving/etc.