Pickup Truck Drivers
It's dark and windy and late, and I'm just out of work and heading to the parking lot by the water tower. I'm trudging along in my cook's outfit, which is the black and white checkered pants and a short sleeve white shirt, carrying my backpack. As I'm walking along with this stream of cars going past me, some guy leans out of his window to yell at me, "Get a job, you bum!"
Of course, it's not possible to answer. By the time I realize what happened he's long gone even on that slow little road. I can't help but to think though, that that's got to be one of the most moronic things that anyone has ever yelled out the window of a pickup truck at me. If someone is walking along in checkered pants, of all things, in the direction of a municipal parking lot... what else would they be doing but going home from work?
It doesn't matter, of course. I was a pedestrian, and obviously not a 'jogger' nor was I walking a dog. Worse yet, I was carrying a backpack, which is proof positive that I was actually walking as a means of transportation. This apparently leads to the presumption that I cannot afford a vehicle because I am unemployed, and therefore, am less than the (presumably) gainfully employed pickup truck driver.
I wonder, just what it is about the pickup truck that attracts people like this, by which, I mean people that take pleasure in belittling, demeaning, or hurting anyone that might be seen as less than themselves by any measure. One of those measures, of course, is simply being a pedestrian, rather than a driver. Being female is another measure - I've certainly been passed by pickup trucks without comment, where they have leaned out on the next block to scream incomprehensibly at a woman walking ahead of me. Being homosexual... which is defined by these people as walking in same-sex company. Of course, being a bicyclist is even worse than being a pedestrian, and will get you sworn at, honked at, and even swerved at. The last, I believe, is only meant to frighten and not to actually hit. Probably.
It is, in any case, a bizarre form of peer pressure from people who are, in my opinion, utterly contemptible and worth no respect at all. Still, they succeed in making it automatically a bad thing to be a pedestrian (except in large rowdy groups) or a bicyclist, or indeed, anything but another driver of a large pickup truck. Not because there's anything wrong with being these things, but because it's unpleasant, and possibly a little dangerous.
Of course, many drivers of pickup trucks do so for perfectly practical reasons, and perhaps have jobs or other activities that make them very necessary. However, if you are such a person, don't be surprised when people look at you with disgust when you pull up somewhere in such a vehicle, as there is a certain type that is loudly determined to ensure a stereotype about what kind of person is behind the wheel.
Not that people screaming from vehicles are always driving pick-up trucks. I was once yelled at by someone in another type of vehicle... I was actually told, "Get out of my town, you long-haired commie pinko faggit!" by a very loud fellow in a large red convertible.
Of course, it's not possible to answer. By the time I realize what happened he's long gone even on that slow little road. I can't help but to think though, that that's got to be one of the most moronic things that anyone has ever yelled out the window of a pickup truck at me. If someone is walking along in checkered pants, of all things, in the direction of a municipal parking lot... what else would they be doing but going home from work?
It doesn't matter, of course. I was a pedestrian, and obviously not a 'jogger' nor was I walking a dog. Worse yet, I was carrying a backpack, which is proof positive that I was actually walking as a means of transportation. This apparently leads to the presumption that I cannot afford a vehicle because I am unemployed, and therefore, am less than the (presumably) gainfully employed pickup truck driver.
I wonder, just what it is about the pickup truck that attracts people like this, by which, I mean people that take pleasure in belittling, demeaning, or hurting anyone that might be seen as less than themselves by any measure. One of those measures, of course, is simply being a pedestrian, rather than a driver. Being female is another measure - I've certainly been passed by pickup trucks without comment, where they have leaned out on the next block to scream incomprehensibly at a woman walking ahead of me. Being homosexual... which is defined by these people as walking in same-sex company. Of course, being a bicyclist is even worse than being a pedestrian, and will get you sworn at, honked at, and even swerved at. The last, I believe, is only meant to frighten and not to actually hit. Probably.
It is, in any case, a bizarre form of peer pressure from people who are, in my opinion, utterly contemptible and worth no respect at all. Still, they succeed in making it automatically a bad thing to be a pedestrian (except in large rowdy groups) or a bicyclist, or indeed, anything but another driver of a large pickup truck. Not because there's anything wrong with being these things, but because it's unpleasant, and possibly a little dangerous.
Of course, many drivers of pickup trucks do so for perfectly practical reasons, and perhaps have jobs or other activities that make them very necessary. However, if you are such a person, don't be surprised when people look at you with disgust when you pull up somewhere in such a vehicle, as there is a certain type that is loudly determined to ensure a stereotype about what kind of person is behind the wheel.
Not that people screaming from vehicles are always driving pick-up trucks. I was once yelled at by someone in another type of vehicle... I was actually told, "Get out of my town, you long-haired commie pinko faggit!" by a very loud fellow in a large red convertible.