Confrontation to be avoided
Goodbye Bu. It's weird to think that I've known that animal my entire life.
Moving on...
A few days ago, I pulled into a parking space at the River Oaks Shopping Center. There were two other cars looking for parking at the same time, but I was pretty certain that my claim to the spot was just. Anyhow, as I walked towards la Madeleine to pick up a ceasar salad, I heard a voice behind me yelling, "You need to learn how to drive." I looked back with my eyebrows raised at this youngish lady getting out of a BMW X3, and I was relieved to discover that she wasn't talking to me. She was talking to an older man with a vaguely British accent coming from a space further down the center. I'm not quite sure what the driving transgression was, but she said something about "40 miles per hour."
All three of us were walking into la Madeleine, and the discussion continued as we stood in line. I, fortunately, had nothing to do with the issue, so I ordered my salad and waited, listening to her demand an apology from the other driver. He wasn't quite sure what she wanted from him. The deed was done, the cars were parked and everyone seemed to be relatively unharmed. She wouldn't let it go, though. Eventually, he moved away from her and cut ahead in line. I think the other patrons were perfectly happy to let him, just to avoid hearing further discussion of the issue.
There are a few things that I don't get about her reaction. I get pissed off at other drivers on a very, very regular basis. I don't take it out of the car though. At most, I'll glare at the other driver once we're out of the car, or maybe write a note like "has poor parking skills" on the dirt in the rear window.
And I don't get demanding an apology. How can an apology be sincere if it's given under duress? I can understand laying out what she thought he'd done wrong and giving him a chance to offer an explanation, a mitigation or an apology. But at some point he yelled back at her "what do you want from me?" and her response was "an apology." An "I'm sorry lady" under those circumstances isn't an apology. It's a way to get rid of her. And she wasn't really looking for an apology, she was looking for an admission on his part that she was right and he was wrong.
I was glad that my order was to go, so I didn't have to be in the same room with the argument for too long.
Moving on...
A few days ago, I pulled into a parking space at the River Oaks Shopping Center. There were two other cars looking for parking at the same time, but I was pretty certain that my claim to the spot was just. Anyhow, as I walked towards la Madeleine to pick up a ceasar salad, I heard a voice behind me yelling, "You need to learn how to drive." I looked back with my eyebrows raised at this youngish lady getting out of a BMW X3, and I was relieved to discover that she wasn't talking to me. She was talking to an older man with a vaguely British accent coming from a space further down the center. I'm not quite sure what the driving transgression was, but she said something about "40 miles per hour."
All three of us were walking into la Madeleine, and the discussion continued as we stood in line. I, fortunately, had nothing to do with the issue, so I ordered my salad and waited, listening to her demand an apology from the other driver. He wasn't quite sure what she wanted from him. The deed was done, the cars were parked and everyone seemed to be relatively unharmed. She wouldn't let it go, though. Eventually, he moved away from her and cut ahead in line. I think the other patrons were perfectly happy to let him, just to avoid hearing further discussion of the issue.
There are a few things that I don't get about her reaction. I get pissed off at other drivers on a very, very regular basis. I don't take it out of the car though. At most, I'll glare at the other driver once we're out of the car, or maybe write a note like "has poor parking skills" on the dirt in the rear window.
And I don't get demanding an apology. How can an apology be sincere if it's given under duress? I can understand laying out what she thought he'd done wrong and giving him a chance to offer an explanation, a mitigation or an apology. But at some point he yelled back at her "what do you want from me?" and her response was "an apology." An "I'm sorry lady" under those circumstances isn't an apology. It's a way to get rid of her. And she wasn't really looking for an apology, she was looking for an admission on his part that she was right and he was wrong.
I was glad that my order was to go, so I didn't have to be in the same room with the argument for too long.