Aug/092
Sad Robot Bureau: Life in the Fast Lane
Some people just piss me off.
After a ballgame last night in which my favorite misery of a team (the Chicago Cubs) left my record at 0-5 on the season for all 5 Cubs games I’ve gone to this year, I headed to my car, parked in a nearby parking lot. Now when pulling into this lot before the game, each car chooses EZ-out parking for $40, or regular parking, where they squish all the cars together as close as possible, for $25. I chose patience over premium parking and opted to save the 15 extra bucks for a couple beers… as did everyone else whose cars were squished around mine.
So upon getting in my car after the game, it was obvious that no car was going anywhere fast, which is fine with me because I knew that’s what I was getting myself into when I parked. After a few minutes, the cars ahead of me start inching forward, and I am on my way… very slowly… which is fine… because that’s what I signed up for. Cars were slowly rolling forward from all angles towards the narrow one lane exit. And as happens in crowded parking lots where every car is inching up to maintain its position, the car in one lane filters to the exit, then a car in another lane moves forward toward the exit, then a car in a third lane takes their turn in moving up, then back to the next car in the first lane. It’s back to the basics of sharing and taking turns.
Of course, this is what does – and did – piss me off…
While everyone is staying courteous and obeying the system, it’s finally my turn to make my grand exit. I am staying as close to the car in front of me as possible to acknowledge to the other cars that I know it’s my turn to go and I will keep up the pace. All of a sudden, I see some car to my right trying to push his way forward around other cars, out of the established lanes we are all filtered into, you know, because he’s important and needs to go places. He starts inching up right next to me so that both my car and his are the same few inches away from the bumper in front of us. So apparently he thinks this is 3rd grade and he can cut in line ’cause he rules! Well, sir, ya can’t. So I keep inching forward towards the car in front of us to establish my alpha-male dominance over O’Doyle over there and what really pissed me off is he had the nerve to start yelling at me about going before him! Unbelievable. I have a feeling that his whole family is going down. As all our grandmas would say, someone should teach that boy some manners.
At the end of the day, it wouldn’t really have mattered to me if he was in front of me, and it shouldn’t have mattered to him. But it was the principle of the thing. We were all going to get out of there… slowly, but eventually. Was the extra 5 seconds he had to wait for me to pull my car ahead of him worth his frustration? Absolutely not… But the 5 seconds he took to yell at me certainly led to mine. Oh well, that’s life… Some people are just gonna piss you off.
Robby Silver
August 13th, 2009
Been there, I hate when people think they can make up their own driving rules. My favorite was last month when I saw a car on the highways swerving in and out of traffic and both its front left and back left sides were crushed in. Its like, Really? haven’t learned anything?
August 13th, 2009
people suck. i get the WORST road rage. There’s a road I drive on every single day, and the speed limit’s 40. I normally go about 45-47 on this street. I stay in the left lane, cuz this is not a highway but a car or two will get all up in my bidness. So what I do is slow down and then they have no way of getting around me. all they can do is slow down too. it’s a nice trick because it’s not like i’m driving like them–i’m doing just the opposite. But you should hear me swear at them left and right in my car.