Draining An Abcess - Metaphorically Speaking
Good afternoon. I'm taking 10 minutes out of my lunch hour to express frustration on a topic I know many of you also feel frustration with: shitheads.
This rant comes from an experience I had this morning. I drive from Irvine to San Diego 4 days a week for work, and 99% of the time, it is a relatively breezy 1:15 in driving time. Occasionally, the works will get gummed up by a spectacular traffic collision. Today was a 1% day:
"OCEANSIDE - A Vons big rig crashed into a disabled vehicle on southbound Interstate 5 near Las Pulgas Road, flipped over and burst into flames early Thursday morning, leaving all but one lane of southbound I-5 blocked for hours."
-- This Article. You can click for the details.
I got stuck in the backup for 3 hours and 20 minutes or so. It was frustrating, boring, and had me contemplating self-immolation. That being said, my true frustration came when I started being passed on the left by people going by in the breakdown lane.
Maybe I'm not as cynical as I think I am, because this really surprised and angered me. I'm fine being passed by emergency vehicles, tow trucks, and other vehicles that provide resources for such a large-scale cleanup. But what in the hell makes Joe Mercedes and Sally Corolla feel they are entitled to spend less time in line than me? Guess what, people; the accident and subsequent traffic backup applies to everyone on the freeway. It's not like the rest of us were too stupid to figure out that the breakdown lane is just wide enough to fit our vehicles, we merely understand that human consideration and a sense of fairness dictate that we all stay in line.
Take me, for example. I got out of the house about 15 minutes early this morning in order to get to work early so that I could leave earlier. I hit the backup at 6:45 AM, and got through it at about 10:00 AM. I fail to grasp the mindset of the person who sees the seven-mile-long snake of traffic and figures that it doesn't really apply to them. You are on the freeway, you stay in the lanes. CHP might need the breakdown lane, or someone else might overheat while in traffic (both of these happened this morning), and that's what it's for. Yeah, you're going to be late for your job/appointment/Shamu's first show at SeaWorld. Guess what? Sometimes, shit happens that no one can control. The semi driver didn't ask for a stalled car to be sitting in the #3 lane at 5 AM, just like we didn't ask to lose 3.5 hours of the workday. Why do you have to reveal yourself to be a colossal, goat-felching fucktard by attempting to cut past stopped traffic in the lane reserved for emergencies and people in distress?
It may be a reach for me to assert that this is one of the signs of a breakdown in civilized society, but I really think it does at the very least show that civilization is not a default attribute of humankind. I couldn't believe the looks on people's faces as they drove past. Some had this bemused smirk, as though to say "Look at all these idiots, waiting in line just because that's what's expected of them! What fools!" Others frowned and grimaced, their brows righteously furrowed, as if to show to what degree they were being inconvenienced by this unavoidable circumstance. Could they be blamed for using the breakdown lane to alleviate this crippling hindrance to their very important daily agenda?
Yes, yes they can. Seriously, I'm sure many people reading this feel I'm overreacting, but I don't care. And serious props to White Lexus Vigilante and White Van Vigilante, both of whom undertook numerous times to block the assholes who were trying to skirt the backup and get to the front of the line. I myself blocked four vehicles and forced them back into line. I hope they had the decency to be ashamed of their boorish, selfish behavior. None of them was an organ courier, none of them was carrying the olympic torch, none of these dicks had anything to do today that was more or less important that what I have to do today (and what I should be doing right now, probably), they just felt that the rules didn't apply to them.
To these people, each and every one, I say this: fuck you. And I know that I'm not alone in my outrage, because numerous people flipped you all off, honked at you, and attempted to block your advance. I was even given the thumbs-up by drivers who appreciated what I was doing. So know that you showed your true colors today - you are jerkoffs. Douchebags. Shitheads. And I hate you.
*phew*
I have drained the infection, now the healing can begin.
This rant comes from an experience I had this morning. I drive from Irvine to San Diego 4 days a week for work, and 99% of the time, it is a relatively breezy 1:15 in driving time. Occasionally, the works will get gummed up by a spectacular traffic collision. Today was a 1% day:
"OCEANSIDE - A Vons big rig crashed into a disabled vehicle on southbound Interstate 5 near Las Pulgas Road, flipped over and burst into flames early Thursday morning, leaving all but one lane of southbound I-5 blocked for hours."
-- This Article. You can click for the details.
I got stuck in the backup for 3 hours and 20 minutes or so. It was frustrating, boring, and had me contemplating self-immolation. That being said, my true frustration came when I started being passed on the left by people going by in the breakdown lane.
Maybe I'm not as cynical as I think I am, because this really surprised and angered me. I'm fine being passed by emergency vehicles, tow trucks, and other vehicles that provide resources for such a large-scale cleanup. But what in the hell makes Joe Mercedes and Sally Corolla feel they are entitled to spend less time in line than me? Guess what, people; the accident and subsequent traffic backup applies to everyone on the freeway. It's not like the rest of us were too stupid to figure out that the breakdown lane is just wide enough to fit our vehicles, we merely understand that human consideration and a sense of fairness dictate that we all stay in line.
Take me, for example. I got out of the house about 15 minutes early this morning in order to get to work early so that I could leave earlier. I hit the backup at 6:45 AM, and got through it at about 10:00 AM. I fail to grasp the mindset of the person who sees the seven-mile-long snake of traffic and figures that it doesn't really apply to them. You are on the freeway, you stay in the lanes. CHP might need the breakdown lane, or someone else might overheat while in traffic (both of these happened this morning), and that's what it's for. Yeah, you're going to be late for your job/appointment/Shamu's first show at SeaWorld. Guess what? Sometimes, shit happens that no one can control. The semi driver didn't ask for a stalled car to be sitting in the #3 lane at 5 AM, just like we didn't ask to lose 3.5 hours of the workday. Why do you have to reveal yourself to be a colossal, goat-felching fucktard by attempting to cut past stopped traffic in the lane reserved for emergencies and people in distress?
It may be a reach for me to assert that this is one of the signs of a breakdown in civilized society, but I really think it does at the very least show that civilization is not a default attribute of humankind. I couldn't believe the looks on people's faces as they drove past. Some had this bemused smirk, as though to say "Look at all these idiots, waiting in line just because that's what's expected of them! What fools!" Others frowned and grimaced, their brows righteously furrowed, as if to show to what degree they were being inconvenienced by this unavoidable circumstance. Could they be blamed for using the breakdown lane to alleviate this crippling hindrance to their very important daily agenda?
Yes, yes they can. Seriously, I'm sure many people reading this feel I'm overreacting, but I don't care. And serious props to White Lexus Vigilante and White Van Vigilante, both of whom undertook numerous times to block the assholes who were trying to skirt the backup and get to the front of the line. I myself blocked four vehicles and forced them back into line. I hope they had the decency to be ashamed of their boorish, selfish behavior. None of them was an organ courier, none of them was carrying the olympic torch, none of these dicks had anything to do today that was more or less important that what I have to do today (and what I should be doing right now, probably), they just felt that the rules didn't apply to them.
To these people, each and every one, I say this: fuck you. And I know that I'm not alone in my outrage, because numerous people flipped you all off, honked at you, and attempted to block your advance. I was even given the thumbs-up by drivers who appreciated what I was doing. So know that you showed your true colors today - you are jerkoffs. Douchebags. Shitheads. And I hate you.
*phew*
I have drained the infection, now the healing can begin.