So, how was your day?

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Chances are good your day went better than mine.  After a few hours at work today I made the really awesome discovery that I had somehow ripped my pants.  After heading home to change clothes I was on my way back towards the office when a terrible screeching sound starting coming from the front of the car.  It was a lot like the sound a train makes when it is passing by and the rails are just screaming for mercy.

So I turned around and headed back home, changed my clothes to something I could get dirty, took the front wheel off the car, got the noise to stop, took the car for a test drive to make sure it was OK, came back to the house, changed clothes (again), and headed back to the office.

On the way back I needed to stop at Best Buy to pick up some blank DVDs.   I passed a large gray van while looking for a parking space and did not see the Subaru WRX backing out of the space next to it.  The driver had to hit the breaks to avoid hitting me.  I parked one row over and was surprised to find the woman that was driving the Subaru waiting for me.  Then the screaming started.  She was really ticked off and ran out of swear words to call me.  I think she actually started making up a few.

So I decided to try something new.  Normally I would have thrown it back at her with both barrels but this time I just tried apologizing.  She kept on yelling.  I said it was an accident and I said I was sorry.  She kept on screaming.  It said, relax, I said I was sorry and I didn’t see you pulling out because of that van.  The screaming continued.  I tried one last time to be nice about it and even made sure to smile and said, last time – I’m really sorry.

Then it happened.  She hit me with one final “you fat f***” and then gave me the finger and drove off.  Hopefully it made her feel better.

There are a number of lessons to be learned here:

  1. I’ll pay more attention when looking for a parking space
  2. Screaming doesn’t resolve anything
  3. Don’t freak out!  I mean, that women was lucky it was me who was trying extremely hard to just remain clam instead of some maniac that either got out of the car and went after her or followed her back to work or her home.  She was by herself and her trying to get in to a confrontation was not the smartest thing to do.

So the day was not one of my better ones but I’m sticking with the high road.  I hope your day was better than mine!

  • Dr G

    I am so very proud of you for taking the high road with your new friend. Any knuckle head can stoop to the gutter to join people like myself and drop F bombs, but the truly worthy are much better than that. Her reward will come in time.

    A very politically incorrect comment and a suggested 4th lesson for you. When teaching each of my children the joy and skills of driving, I distinctively recall saying to each and yes to the young lady “…be very careful while driving in shopping centers because they are filled with women drivers…”. Women have their own set of rules only known to them.

    I am also very surprised and proud to see you roll u your sleeves to diagnose your VW. I know how much pride you take in the little guy.

    Lastly, were you able to squeeze some work into this hectic day of yours? with all the back and forth driving, multiple wardrobe changes, the love-fest with your new best friend and shopping at Best Buy, just wondering how much quality time was spent “strategizing”. LOL. You do work for the government don't you???