Tonight, I came around the corner in a parking lot and saw the car ahead of me slowly backing up so I stopped. When he was about six feet from my car, I gave a little beep. He kept going. So I gave a full honk. He kept going. I blared my horn since there was a car behind me and I had nowhere to go. But apparently I was behind the fucking Energizer Bunny who kept going and going until he bumped right into me.
A security guard who saw it all immediately walked over. I figured it was a good sign he’d seen the incident because there’s never any damage when witnesses are around. It’s only when there’s $2,000 worth of destruction that it’s your word against the other person’s. I quickly inspected the bumper and everything looked fine. The young guy apologized and said that his music was up high, which is why he didn’t hear me honk. I said, “If you can’t pay attention, you should turn your music down” (yeah, I’m turning into Cranky Lecture Woman).
At the time, I was concerned about the fact that I was holding up the person behind me so I got in my car and left. But I should have stuck around a bit and grilled the idiot. It wasn’t like either of us made any quick moves that resulted in the collision. Easily 10 seconds passed between my first honk and the bump. When I started driving, I learned this crazy backing technique where you LOOK at what’s behind you as you move. Maybe I could understand taking your eyes away for a second but 10 seconds? What in the world could he have been looking at? I didn’t see any pretty girls up ahead or any flashing billboards. Perhaps his cd got to the part in the song with his favorite riff and, like most guys, he couldn’t resist playing along with his air guitar. It made me realize how easy it is for criminals to pull that maneuver where two cars block in a victim and if you don’t move quickly, you have nowhere to go.
I’m fairly tolerant of the little mistakes anybody can make but this was just complete carelessness on his part. Luckily nothing was damaged and nobody was hurt- this time- but now I wish I’d harrassed him enough that he’d focus a little more in the future. It probably wouldn’t make a difference, but maybe he’d at least turn his music down a notch.
JamDaddy wrote:
Hahaha, you wanna make a difference. You really are funny. I think you suffered head trauma.
Just kidding. If he doesn’t know how to drive now he never will. Glad your car is ok.
DarkWood wrote:
My idealist side would like to agree with you. The darker half feels inclined to agree with jamdaddy. Sadly, every year sees more of that youthful idealism becoming subverted by bitter cynicism. In my mind, that’s the equivalent of officially making the transition to Old Fart which stings all the more by the fact I’m only 32.
Of course, it’s the inane people of the world who seem to prefer anything over actually paying attention that makes me think a personal EMP device would beat getting a concealed carry permit any day.