At this moment, I am extremely pissed off at drivers who do not understand how to operate at a four-way stop. If you don’t know, learn or get the hell off the road.
After stopping, the next major rule is the first person who stops goes first, second person who stops goes second, third person who stops goes third, and so on and so on. Just because you are in a vehicle in which you lack the skill to turn the corner, waving at me to go does not justify breaking the law or rules.
Here’s the situation. The first person to stop is driving a large truck like one of those oversized ones with two rear wheels and tools boxes on the back and crap like that. The second person to stop is driving a normal-sized truck. I’m the third person to stop.
So the first person in the over-sized truck doesn’t trust his skills to make the turn, and instead of waving at the next person who has the right of way, they wave and me and honk their horn. They are damn lucky I didn’t flip them off. You don’t want to go, you want to hold up the traffic behind you, fine, your choice, but I will not take away someone else’s right of way.
So I waited until the second truck exercised their right of way until I did. That’s the common courtesy expected by our social contract. Sit their until you grow mold, I don’t care. But you will not tell me to violate my integrity and take from another. You can kiss my ass.
I still care about our social contract to follow the laws and the rules even when no one is looking, but many in today’s age have their ego shoved up their ass so far they think they have the sole authority to tell others to violate the law or ignore the rules of the road. Fucking jerks.
It’s happening more and more. There’s this one smug shit who’s got himself a stack of cones and cones off a turn lane. Excuse me. Unless you are a first-responder or working for a governmental transportation department, your cone placement doesn’t mean jack shit. It is completely legal to make that turn, so you can shove those cones up your ass. Hope you also bought cone lubricant.
Yesterday, when I turned on to a crowded residential street with cars parked on both sides, I see a white car already between the cars and approaching. Out of respect, I move off to the side to allow that driver the courtesy to make it through with more room and less stress. At that moment, a tiny, loud, spoiler-sporting grey hatchback blasts right past me so fast that I see the approaching white car jerk to a near stop. Fucking asshole. Go ahead, wave at me in your mirror; that’s doesn’t make it okay or you less of a disrespectful jerk.
Seeing such things make me very disheartened and increasingly piss off of late. I try to do things that benefit of the community, little things like pick up trash in public spaces or leave my change at the local convenience store for anyone who just needs a couple of coins to complete their next purchase. Small things like that, but it’s something I can do. I don’t have unlimited resources to do things like fill the potholes in streets, but I have considered how I might be able to do that. I fear there’s probably some liability law I’d be violating. Don’t get me started on the necessary evil of lawyers.
We seriously, desperately need to start caring for one another because no one else will. However, it is so rare that people don’t trust it.
Once when I was buying a soda and some pizza for lunch (yea, it’s not the healthiest lunch, but I enjoyed it, so piss off), I noticed this one gentleman trying to buy something, I don’t know what, don’t care, not my business, and he was counting out some change. The cashier recounted and confirmed the customer was short few pennies.
“Are you sure,” the gentleman asked.
“Yep,” the cashier said. “You still need six cents.”
This went back and forth a couple of times, and I could see the growing stress and worry on his face. I don’t know what he may have been going through, but I do know we all fall on bad times now and again and have to scrap together couch money. He, like all of us, is just trying his best to get through life. I didn’t know him, but I knew if he was shopping at the same store as me, he was a member of my community. So I reached into my wallet, picked out a single dollar, offered it to the cashier and asked, “Will this cover it?”
Both the gentleman and the cashier looked at me for a couple of seconds like I was out of my damn mind, like caring to help another was the most foolish thing anyone could do. But I just went back to completing my purchase with another cashier who said, “Thank you for that?”
The other gentleman offered me the change from the purchase, and I said, “You can keep it; I don’t need it. Just take care of yourself.” I left.
I don’t know if small things like this will ever catch on, produce more caring, more courtesy, more respect to one another. But I don’t know what else to do, and I am so very worried and irritated when I see others who don’t care try and direct me to not care or offer courtesy.
Those people can fuck off.
Leave a Reply