Venting
Wow. I just encountered some people displaying the most selfish, inconsiderate behavior I think I've ever seen (in person, anyway).
I was running a tad late to my dentist appointment this morning, but I wouldn't have been more than 10 minutes late if it weren't for these two women who found it necessary to park their car in the middle of a lane of the parking garage where I was trying to drive around and look for parking. On each level of the garage, there is one lane going one direction, and two lanes going the other direciton. This, of course, was the only lane going in this direction.
These women appeared to be waiting for a couple to get into their car and leave, which is already inconsiderate if there are cars waiting behind them. I would understand if the people they were waiting on already had been in their car and had begun backing out; but it's rude to wait for people to even get into their cars, holding up the traffic behind you.
I honked, hoping this would alert them to the fact that they were holding up other people. They inched forward just a tad, but didn't really move. I honked again, and then a third time, and they still didn't move. I was beginning to get frustrated, and I rolled down my window and tried to yell to them that they needed to move, and I was late for an appointment. They moved forward a little more, even past the car they had appeared to be waiting on (which is the part I am really baffled about - if they were waiting on that spot, why did they pass it up, only to stay parked in the middle of the lane?) Anyway, they got out of their cars and I had my window rolled down still, and it was this older woman and a younger woman, and the younger woman (looks like she's probably younger than I am), tells me that "there's no reason to get feisty," sounding all patronizing. I told them they needed to move their fucking car, and they were blocking traffic, to which the same woman responds that I need to "watch my mouth," again being really fucking patronizing, when I am doing absolutely nothing wrong. I continue to explain to them that they need to move, and I am already late for an appointment, to which they respond by saying to each other that I am acting "violent," and they begin acting as though they're going to call police or something. I had inched my car to be closer to theirs, and I was honking quite a lot, but I definitely was not doing ANYTHING violent. I was the one inside my car, they were the ones who were approaching me and even causing the problem to begin with. The younger woman began reading my license plate, at which point I decided this was a ridiculous situation that I simply did not have the time for, so I backed up as much as I could, finagled my way to turn around, and went down to the next level of the garage, on which, of course, I found like three empty spots. If these women had just moved, and gone down to the next level, they would have found those spots, and saved everyone some time and trouble.
I just find it very disheartening when people blatantly act selfish and yet pretend as though I'm the one in the wrong, and like they're perfect. I actually wanted to leave them a note on their car after my appointment, but I couldn't identify if their car was still in the garage after my appointment (there were a few cars that looked similar, but I wasn't sure if they were the right cars). I wrote this note:
To the women who refused to move out of the way of cars behind you:
I sincerely hope this parking spot was worth the time I spent waiting for you to move out of the way. Your actions today made you look incredibly inconsiderate and selfish; I told you I was already late to an appointment, but for some unexplained reason, you found it necessary to park your car in the lane. I truly hope that this was you at your worst and that you are really not as selfish and inconsiderate as this on a regular basis. Please, do something nice for a stranger, just once, and you'll find yourself to be much happier.
-The "violent" victim of your actions
*sigh* I am sure there were probably other ways I could have dealt with the problem a bit more successfully, but there was still absolutely no reason for these women to not move their asses out of the way, and no reason for them to patronize me when I had a valid reason to be angry with them. Honestly, the thing that makes me lose the most faith in people is driving - people think that just because they're in their cars and it's "anonymous," they can shit on other people and it doesn't matter. It *does* matter, and it makes my impression of people as a whole less positive.
Okay, I think I'm done.
I was running a tad late to my dentist appointment this morning, but I wouldn't have been more than 10 minutes late if it weren't for these two women who found it necessary to park their car in the middle of a lane of the parking garage where I was trying to drive around and look for parking. On each level of the garage, there is one lane going one direction, and two lanes going the other direciton. This, of course, was the only lane going in this direction.
These women appeared to be waiting for a couple to get into their car and leave, which is already inconsiderate if there are cars waiting behind them. I would understand if the people they were waiting on already had been in their car and had begun backing out; but it's rude to wait for people to even get into their cars, holding up the traffic behind you.
I honked, hoping this would alert them to the fact that they were holding up other people. They inched forward just a tad, but didn't really move. I honked again, and then a third time, and they still didn't move. I was beginning to get frustrated, and I rolled down my window and tried to yell to them that they needed to move, and I was late for an appointment. They moved forward a little more, even past the car they had appeared to be waiting on (which is the part I am really baffled about - if they were waiting on that spot, why did they pass it up, only to stay parked in the middle of the lane?) Anyway, they got out of their cars and I had my window rolled down still, and it was this older woman and a younger woman, and the younger woman (looks like she's probably younger than I am), tells me that "there's no reason to get feisty," sounding all patronizing. I told them they needed to move their fucking car, and they were blocking traffic, to which the same woman responds that I need to "watch my mouth," again being really fucking patronizing, when I am doing absolutely nothing wrong. I continue to explain to them that they need to move, and I am already late for an appointment, to which they respond by saying to each other that I am acting "violent," and they begin acting as though they're going to call police or something. I had inched my car to be closer to theirs, and I was honking quite a lot, but I definitely was not doing ANYTHING violent. I was the one inside my car, they were the ones who were approaching me and even causing the problem to begin with. The younger woman began reading my license plate, at which point I decided this was a ridiculous situation that I simply did not have the time for, so I backed up as much as I could, finagled my way to turn around, and went down to the next level of the garage, on which, of course, I found like three empty spots. If these women had just moved, and gone down to the next level, they would have found those spots, and saved everyone some time and trouble.
I just find it very disheartening when people blatantly act selfish and yet pretend as though I'm the one in the wrong, and like they're perfect. I actually wanted to leave them a note on their car after my appointment, but I couldn't identify if their car was still in the garage after my appointment (there were a few cars that looked similar, but I wasn't sure if they were the right cars). I wrote this note:
To the women who refused to move out of the way of cars behind you:
I sincerely hope this parking spot was worth the time I spent waiting for you to move out of the way. Your actions today made you look incredibly inconsiderate and selfish; I told you I was already late to an appointment, but for some unexplained reason, you found it necessary to park your car in the lane. I truly hope that this was you at your worst and that you are really not as selfish and inconsiderate as this on a regular basis. Please, do something nice for a stranger, just once, and you'll find yourself to be much happier.
-The "violent" victim of your actions
*sigh* I am sure there were probably other ways I could have dealt with the problem a bit more successfully, but there was still absolutely no reason for these women to not move their asses out of the way, and no reason for them to patronize me when I had a valid reason to be angry with them. Honestly, the thing that makes me lose the most faith in people is driving - people think that just because they're in their cars and it's "anonymous," they can shit on other people and it doesn't matter. It *does* matter, and it makes my impression of people as a whole less positive.
Okay, I think I'm done.