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  • Road rage today

    I was driving to a dentist's appointment today before work. Traffic was very moderate for this area, but there were indeed cars around. (Especially going the other way!) I was slowing down for a red light ahead and poking at the map on my phone, which is in a holder up above the dash.

    I hear some honking. Looks like the full-size white GM SUV behind me is grumpy about something. OK, whatever. I stop at the light behind another car, and the truck is behind me. I see the driver exit his vehicle and walk up to my window, where he screams "GET OFF THE PHONE!" I look at him, then look forward again. I have acknowledged him and am not going to engage with him any more. He gets back in his truck (marvel of marvels!!) and we start driving when the light turns green. He is behind me for a mile or so, then I turn into the parking lot where my dentist is.

    Hmm, the truck pulls into the lot behind me. So I drive around for a minute, and he is back there. I park, and he stops about 50 feet away. I continue circling the building, and there he is. After a few laps, I call the dentist's and explain to them why I am going to be a bit late. I turn down the receptionist's offer to confront the guy (seriously? NO!!) and keep moving.

    I decide to exit the lot, to make a larger circuit in the hopes that he gets bored. Lo and behold, a local cop is approaching! I honk and wave him over, then pull out onto the road behind him. As I'm explaining to him what is going on, I see the truck exit the lot and go on his way. The cop suggests that he follow me into the parking lot, just in case, and I agree.

    So in we go, and sure enough no white truck. Cop wishes me a nice day, and we go on about our business.


    I'm thinking that the guy really, really wanted to get into an altercation. Why else keep following me? I don't care if I outweigh you by 50 lbs (and I am pretty sure I do!), I am not getting out of my ~2800 lbs of steel armor (AKA my car). If you want to abandon your 4500 lb steel weapon and attack me, that's your funeral, but I'm not going to make it easy for you!
    Last edited by Nunavut Pants; 08-29-2018, 08:22 PM.
    “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
    One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
    The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

  • #2
    Speaking of steel weapons, back when I drove pizza, one of my coworkers, a light-built, older gal who'd be positively screwed in a physical matchup, drove a tank of a Toronado (6000 pounds, dry weight, with a monster V8). Bad side of town, some idiots thought they were going to stop the pizza guy(gal). Well, she's not going to stop and get whatever they think they're going to do, so she nails the throttle to the floor. Big old V8's tend to have a distinctive bawl, and an alarming speed increase. Idiots thought she was bluffing, she'll hit the brakes any time now... any time.... OHSHIIII
    Didn't hear of any other idiots trying that trick since then for some reason. Nobody got hit, but diving for cover on asphalt couldn't feel real good.

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    • #3
      I had a rager follow me a few miles and also suddenly change his mind when he saw I was going to the PD station.
      AkaiKitsune
      Sarcasm dear, sarcasm. I’m well aware that dealing with civilians in any capacity will skin your faith in humanity alive, then pickle anything that remains so as to watch it shrivel up into an immortal husk thus reminding you of how dead inside you now are.

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      • #4
        Quoth Buzzard View Post
        Speaking of steel weapons, back when I drove pizza, one of my coworkers, a light-built, older gal who'd be positively screwed in a physical matchup, drove a tank of a Toronado (6000 pounds, dry weight, with a monster V8). Bad side of town, some idiots thought they were going to stop the pizza guy(gal). Well, she's not going to stop and get whatever they think they're going to do, so she nails the throttle to the floor. Big old V8's tend to have a distinctive bawl, and an alarming speed increase. Idiots thought she was bluffing, she'll hit the brakes any time now... any time.... OHSHIIII
        Didn't hear of any other idiots trying that trick since then for some reason. Nobody got hit, but diving for cover on asphalt couldn't feel real good.
        What a YouTube video that would've made ... especially the closeups on their faces when they realized she wasn't going to hit the brakes ...

        Quoth Rosco the Iroc View Post
        I had a rager follow me a few miles and also suddenly change his mind when he saw I was going to the PD station.
        My mom did the same thing, many decades ago! She and a friend were working for one of those companies where you brought the stuff to house parties (it was a toy company, of all things) and they were coming home from one of the parties when they realized somebody was following them. Her coworker got more and more nervous as Mom drove round and round and here and there ... and the stalker kept stalking ... and then Mom pulled sharply into the parking lot of a police station. The way she told it, the stalker started to follow her in and then must've suddenly had an "OH SHIT" moment and zoomed off.
        Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
        ~ Mr Hero

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        • #5
          I don't habitually carry my ID badge from work with me all the time (I'd be far too worried I'd lose it) but if I did, I could always go to one of The Client's various facilities around where I live and explain the situation.

          I might still be able to get onto the facilities without my badge, if I explained the situation to the guards, or at the very least be allowed to pull over to the security station to show my DL and let them otherwise confirm stuff, while road ragers or stalkers get stymied.

          One of my colleagues unintentionally picked up a stalker once, not even aware she'd done so, until the guy tried to back up out of the entrance when she flashed her badge at the gate. Said stalker got penned in by Security's vehicles while she blithely went on into work.
          PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

          There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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