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Inspired by vikingchyk's thread here about impatient idiots in car parks.
Here in the UK, the best response to this kind of jerk-ass I know of is our old friend malicious obedience. The tale dates from about 2006, in the great metro traffic jam that is London.
An affronted staffer, a friend who was also my mentor, was annoyed by a cyclist zipping BEHIND him while he reversed into a space (suicidal much?) in our parking yard. He trundled straight up to the facilities office, and demanded the near miss book (RIDDOR, as we're in the UK) be filled in, which sets off the whole Health & Safety response. Upon objection, he offered to call HSE to complain about the coverup and refusal to acknowledge the near miss (fighting words!)
The upshot, when the H&S manager asked for a "chat", was along the lines "Either *you* tear that cyclist a new a**hole for doing that so he won't do it again, or I will co-operate very thoroughly with an investigation, and tell them the only safe thing to do is bar all cyclists from the yard on pain of HR."
We had a lot of cyclists, so the latter option would have caused massive indigestion, and almost certain retribution from other cyclists when word got out about who's fault it was they had to walk the last 100m to work.
A new a**hole was apparently duly torn.
Here in the UK, the best response to this kind of jerk-ass I know of is our old friend malicious obedience. The tale dates from about 2006, in the great metro traffic jam that is London.
An affronted staffer, a friend who was also my mentor, was annoyed by a cyclist zipping BEHIND him while he reversed into a space (suicidal much?) in our parking yard. He trundled straight up to the facilities office, and demanded the near miss book (RIDDOR, as we're in the UK) be filled in, which sets off the whole Health & Safety response. Upon objection, he offered to call HSE to complain about the coverup and refusal to acknowledge the near miss (fighting words!)
The upshot, when the H&S manager asked for a "chat", was along the lines "Either *you* tear that cyclist a new a**hole for doing that so he won't do it again, or I will co-operate very thoroughly with an investigation, and tell them the only safe thing to do is bar all cyclists from the yard on pain of HR."
We had a lot of cyclists, so the latter option would have caused massive indigestion, and almost certain retribution from other cyclists when word got out about who's fault it was they had to walk the last 100m to work.
A new a**hole was apparently duly torn.
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