I'm not leaving the house for the rest of the day......

[Mighty Girl]

There must be something in the air, or EVERYONE around here has decided to start smoking crack...

I took my daughter and went out to run a couple of errands. Nothing major. I'll list what happened in the order they occured:

1- As I'm driving, I'm passing a highway exit where a lane merges into my lane. MY LANE. This minivan almost careens right into the side of my car...then has the audacity to honk at me and flip me off.

2- I continue driving, the above mentioned halfwit suddenly realizes they're in a turn lane, and they don't want to turn, so they slam on the brakes in the middle of the intersection while turning the wheel and finally come to a stop. So their van is sitting diagonally in the center of the intersection while cars go around them. They flip EVERYONE off.

3- I make it to the store and even convince my daughter to ride in the cart so we're not there all day. Nothing big happens, just the regular - people blocking aisles with their carts, letting their kids run rampant, etc. Doesn't make me happy, but I'm not exactly shocked. then I pay for my stuff, my purse is sitting on the counter- then I'm done and I pick up my purse and put it on my shoulder and WHACK this woman right in the boobs with my purse. I turned around stunned, mainly because usually when someone is standing that freaking close to me, I can usually feel it. She laughs, then my daugher asked why she was laughing- so I said rather loudly "She's laughing because she was standing way too close to me so she got hit with my purse". Seriously, my purse is not really that big- do you know how CLOSE you have to be for it to hit you during a regular activity?

Last- but definitely not lease, we went to the pet supply store next door. I'm looking at a couple of things- as always my daughter is within arm's reach, and I felt suddenly uncomfortable. I look around and this guy is staring at my daughter. He was about 7 or 8 feet away. So I put her behind me while staring at him, and he starts looking around and at the ceiling. Being the mouthy and curious sort, she says indignantly, "Mommy, don't push, you're not supposed to push people". So I just got down at her level and said very nicely that mommy wanted to move her farther away from certain people. So then a few minutes later we're standing in line, and this idiot in front of me has way too many questions. Really dumb ones. And I don't mean they weren't good questions, but they were questions you would ask a veterinarian, not a clerk in a pet store. Meanwhile, the leering jerk is just kind of loitering around some stuff. We finally got our turn- and the clerk apologized for taking so long and I said, once again quite loud "Oh, it's not your fault, there's just a very wierd guy here who keeps staring at my daughter and I want to get our stuff and leave". Immediately, a few moms start looking around for who the wierd guy is, and he makes himself scarce.

That's it, I'm done. I'm staying home and giving the world the finger.

[BookstoreEscapee]

That's why everybody has delivery these days. So we can stay home and until we forget them all. Hope you are having a better evening

[Becks]

1- As I'm driving, I'm passing a highway exit where a lane merges into my lane. MY LANE. This minivan almost careens right into the side of my car...then has the audacity to honk at me and flip me off.

2- I continue driving, the above mentioned halfwit suddenly realizes they're in a turn lane, and they don't want to turn, so they slam on the brakes in the middle of the intersection while turning the wheel and finally come to a stop. So their van is sitting diagonally in the center of the intersection while cars go around them. They flip EVERYONE off.

Were you driving in NJ? That sounds like some peoples' MO out here.

[ArenaBoy]

Good job on trusting your instincts Mighty Girl and it was great that you exposed him in that way.

[protege]

Were you driving in NJ? That sounds like some peoples' MO out here.

That sounds like 99.9% of the idiots driving in PA too

All the idiots were out Saturday--one of them managed to cause a nice 4-car accident in Monroeville. Apparently, one idiot decided to merge onto I-376 from Rt 22, and didn't bother looking for traffic. Crunch! Things weren't helped by 2 additional cars then slamming into the wreckage At least there weren't any serious injuries, and the mess got cleaned up quickly.

[blas]

Rest assured there were plenty of morons driving in WI this last weekend (when aren't there?). Again, a snowy day. Again, the state patrol advising all drivers to take it slow and allow time. Again, on the news last night....over 40 accidents and rollovers and people stuck in the ditch. People, they don't say it for their health.

Last weekend at Wal-Mart, I nearly got ran over by a kid. They need to outlaw those skater shoes......the shoes that you can roll along in, like skating? Some dumb little kid couldn't control his shoes and nearly bounced off my left hipbone. Oh, I guess it wasn't an accident. After all, he'd been ramping up like a bull ready to attack over by the blood pressure machine, then took off at ample speed and nearly hit me several feet away by the hair/cosmetics stuff. Go do that on the sidewalk or in your own home. If I wasn't in such a good mood that day, I would have probably tripped the little butthead as he flew past me.

[tollbaby]

She laughs, then my daugher asked why she was laughing- so I said rather loudly "She's laughing because she was standing way too close to me so she got hit with my purse". Seriously, my purse is not really that big- do you know how CLOSE you have to be for it to hit you during a regular activity?

No offense, but you whacked someone with your purse and not only didn't you apologize (basic courtesy), but you made a snarky comment about her being in your personal space...

As said, no offense, but personal space or no, that's just rude.

[Becks]

Rest assured there were plenty of morons driving in WI this last weekend (when aren't there?).

When the people from Illinois actually STAY in Illinois?

(No offense to anyone from Illinois. It's a WI thing.)

[Darkmage]

When the people from Illinois actually STAY in Illinois?

(No offense to anyone from Illinois. It's a WI thing.)

I live in Illinois and apologise for our idiots invading your state. My all time favorite is being behind a women doing her makeup in the rear view mirror as she is cut off by a guy reading the news paper on the steering wheel.

[tollbaby]

I live in Illinois and apologise for our idiots invading your state. My all time favorite is being behind a women doing her makeup in the rear view mirror as she is cut off by a guy reading the news paper on the steering wheel.

*snicker* My best friend lives in Zion, Illinois (he was born in ... Highland Park?) and I've *seen* people do that on the interstate!

[Becks]

I live in Illinois and apologise for our idiots invading your state. My all time favorite is being behind a women doing her makeup in the rear view mirror as she is cut off by a guy reading the news paper on the steering wheel.

I saw something similar to that, once, when on a field trip to Chicago. I was deeply disturbed.

[DesignFox]

I'm sorry but in this case I have to agree with Mighty Girl...I mean, I GUESS I would have apologized for bumping into her...but I would have done so with a Glare of Death. I farking can't stand it when people crowd me. There is no reason on this planet that you need to be standing right up my ass as I'm am trying to cash out at the register. Sorry. BACK UP! Have some freaking courtesty! People do this ALL THE TIME at the mall, and I can't stand it. Sometimes, I WILL bump into them on purpose to make them feel like a moron for cramming themselves so close to me. There is no excuse for that, and it is one of my biggest pet peeves.

And Blas, those shoes are called Heelies...I hate them, too! The floor of our store is smooth wood and the kids go careening around it like a roller rink. I am waiting for one of them to get hurt.

And as an evil aside- one kid was careening around the food court on those things and did a huge face plant...I had to hide my face because I couldn't help but laugh my ass off (obviously, the kid wasn't hurt). I'm sorry...but there's a time and place for messing around- shopping malls, not the place.

[petslave]

*groan* don't get me started on heelies.

When I was in the hell pit (aka Pet's Unlimited) kids would zip all over the store, never mind the fact that there are many small animals in glass cages. Needless to say, I was quick to let them know that they would stop using them or be forced out of the store.

But my worst experiance with them? My father and I do photography, and we were a a rink for speed skating tournament. We had our nice new 17" LCD monitor attatched to the laptop so interested parents could see pictures of their children.

My Dad had just dropped off the camera (Canon Rebel XT with our 70-200mm image stabilised lens, for those interested *about $5000 worth of equipment + monitor*) when this little maniac rolls past and wipes out clean on his rear, hitting the table in the process.

The monitor wobbled precariously and then tipped back, falling onto the camera. Luckily nothing was broken, and after righting the monitor I leaned over the table and said to the kid "Under no circumstances are you to use those thing around this table anymore." he made himself scarce very quickly.

[tollbaby]

The night I was coming home from my last trip to Chicago and got delayed for 2 hours in Montreal (again! it had happened on the way down too, which is why I prefer direct flights), this family had two boys and a girl, all wearing Heelies.

SMALL, TINY little "local flights" terminal. These kids, I kid you not (no pun intended) careened through the terminal for TWO FREAKING HOURS! Omg, I swore then and there that I'd never buy my kid a pair of those damn shoes (nor will anyone else get away with buying them any).

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"People do this ALL THE TIME at the mall, and I can't stand it. Sometimes, I WILL bump into them on purpose to make them feel like a moron for cramming themselves so close to me. "

I do that, too. I hate people standing so close to me I can't move without touching them. I call them "creepers." If I notice them, I will often toy with them in line, shuffling forward slightly, and watching them doggedly shuffling forward to close the gap, as if that 3 inches of space is a gaping void in the line. I'll do that untill I get a rhythm established. Then, to deliver the killing blow, I'll shuffle forward then IMMEDIATELY SHUFFLE BACKWARDS. Not a big, obvious step, mind, just a small little natural shuffle...but remember knee-jerk behind me is stepping forward. Bam!

It has never happend to the same person twice. Hehehehe. Just stay off me and it won't be problem. I'll do it with a cart behind me, too, although I'll give it a little extra hip and grunt as if it hurt. Most people have the good sense to be a little embarassed. Hopefully, they will learn to not shove their carts up a stranger's ass in the store.

I know, I know. I suck.

I did this to Funkstain (my nasty co-worker) once. He had a habit of crowding your space. We had a studio so big you could put a skating rink in there, and he has to walk so close to you that his dandruff is practially falling on you. He also lived in fear of getting written up for yet more sexual harassment incidents. So while he was more than willing to push the envelope getting in your space, he would go to great pains to avoid touching you.

He used to walk up behind me while I was fiddling with the studio cameras. RIGHT behind me. So one day I just stepped back, hard, and damn near knocked him on his butt. He freaked out. And he stayed well away from me after that.