Temper temper
I hate it when I lose my temper and then end up regretting it for the evening. Kate's driving us home. We're about to make a turn, when I notice the car next to us motion to roll down the window. Thinking he needs directions or wants to let us know we have a tail-light out or something, I tell Kate to stop, roll down the window and am greeted with:
"I didn't mean to make you stop, but I could fix the body damage back there..."
(We had a fender-bender almost a year ago. There's a minor dent and some scuffing we never bothered to get fixed.)
The correct response is to just ignore him and drive off, which Kate did. But before I got the window up I let fly an F-bomb. I was more annoyed at stopping in traffic for something so trivial than at the unsolicited contract for auto detailing, but it was still unnecessary. And set a bad example for David. I'd apologize, but it's too late for that. I wouldn't have auto work done by some stranger anyway, but I'm weirded out that my first instinct is not to take an offer at face value, but to assume the other guy has an angle.
This happens in more civilized settings as well. I was at the Apple Store for the sole purpose of buying a laptop. Of course they were slammed, so I put my name on the list for sales assistance and started poking around. When someone finally did come to me, I instinctively told her I was just poking around and didn't need help. It took several seconds for me to realize what just happened, and had to chase her down so I could actually buy the dang computer I came in for.
"I didn't mean to make you stop, but I could fix the body damage back there..."
(We had a fender-bender almost a year ago. There's a minor dent and some scuffing we never bothered to get fixed.)
The correct response is to just ignore him and drive off, which Kate did. But before I got the window up I let fly an F-bomb. I was more annoyed at stopping in traffic for something so trivial than at the unsolicited contract for auto detailing, but it was still unnecessary. And set a bad example for David. I'd apologize, but it's too late for that. I wouldn't have auto work done by some stranger anyway, but I'm weirded out that my first instinct is not to take an offer at face value, but to assume the other guy has an angle.
This happens in more civilized settings as well. I was at the Apple Store for the sole purpose of buying a laptop. Of course they were slammed, so I put my name on the list for sales assistance and started poking around. When someone finally did come to me, I instinctively told her I was just poking around and didn't need help. It took several seconds for me to realize what just happened, and had to chase her down so I could actually buy the dang computer I came in for.