Lady, just knock it off already.

[I am the Lizard Queen!!]

So, I live in an area that gets very very cold during the winter; we're talking, "exposed skin will freeze in 90 seconds" kind of cold. It sucks, obviously, and as a result if you are driving you have no choice but to start your car ahead of time or even use a command start and leave it idling if you have a very quick stop to make. It's a crappy thing to have to do, both because you burn through gas at a ridiculous rate in winter and also, obviously, environmentally, but there just isn't any other option. Your car will freeze up faster than your poor exposed skin and the scream of tortured engine that you hear when you try to start your car and drive immediately is pretty unnerving.

So...that takes us to a few weeks ago. It was coooold. I was also having a very bad week for a number of other reasons and feeling all-around cruddy. I had to run some errands at lunchtime, including phoning my dentist. I left a message for them to call me asap as I had a tooth that had cracked in half (!!!!!!) and was pretty uncomfortable.
After my phone call I run into a grocery store and then quickly hit a drive through for food that I can try and chew on the ok side of my mouth. I decide to quickly eat my lunch in the parking lot while I wait for my call back because I have to turn my cell phone off as soon as I get back to work and I really want to connect with my dentist before then, if possible.

So, here I sit, contentedly swallowing whole bits of chicken because chewing is too horrible, when a woman comes over to my car and knocks on the window. Dummy that I am, my first thought it, 'Oh, nice lady. maybe she needs help?" I roll my window down and she pushes her big, sour mug right at me and says "EXCUSE ME, but is there a reason you are sitting in your car and letting it run?"

Me: 'Um...I'm sorry?" I actually can't figure out what she is asking me.

BigSourMug: "It's just that, my son has been noticing you sitting here running your car and he is getting REALLY UPSET!"

I'm still not getting her point. Even though she was an older lady, my first thought was that she might have an infant or a toddler that was bothered by the sound of my engine, but that makes no sense either??? I look where she is pointing and see a man who is, at the very minimum, 40 years old, sitting in the car beside me with his face stuck up to the window and scowling at me with pure hate.

Me: (for some reason, still trying to be civilized, despite my skin going numb from my unrolled window, my throbbing tooth and the laser beams of stink eye coming from beside me) well, I'm waiting for an important phone call and...um....it's really cold outside so I have to run my car."
So then she pulls this face that I can hardly describe; she makes these incredibly exaggerated wide eyes, and drops her stupid mouth open and pretends to be completely shocked by my "rudeness"

BigSourMug "Oh!! So, are you saying it's none of his business that you are being incredibly wasteful????"

Yeah, ok. F*ck you lady. I am so done explaining anything to you or your emotionally stunted man-child and you need to get out of my space right. f*cking. now.
Me: With the biggest, friendliest smile I can give with a swollen cheek..."Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying! Thank you SO MUCH for your concern, though. Have a great day!!!" And I rolled my window up in her face.

Now, before my BigSourMug attack, I was actually getting ready to leave, but not now, no way. I settle back into my seat and I turn and wave at the Smolderingly Hateful Manchild while BigSourMug goes back to her car, shaking her head at my ignorance and refusal to obey her every command and immediately turn my car off and sit in freezing temperatures just to try and please her.
I mean....just....really? It's not that I don't see her point, because I do. Yes, it sucks that if you are in your car you have no choice but to run it, it's not something I enjoy. But at what point do you decide that you are allowed to dictate to other people something that is not the slightest bit, your personal buisness? I am actually still so irritated by this, even though it was a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure if I were to follow this b*tch around for a day I could pinpoint about 100 differnet areas where she has room for improvement herself, you know?
Just...gah!!!!!

[Pixilated]

If you had backed your car up to her driver's window and were filling her car with exhaust, I could see her point ... otherwise, yeah, it is wasteful but your reasons for doing so are understandable (I live with a Southern Ontario winter, which basically means the snow is melting as of yesterday, LOL -- but I'm sure Mother Nature still has a few surprises up her sleeve and in the not-too-distant future I will regret telling Mom's snow-removal guy I no longer needed his services ...)

In any case, your "offence" is hardly of the magnitude that requires somebody else to come up and lecture you about it and scold you for "upsetting" her son.

"Sooo ... your son is upset? And this is my problem because ... ?"

[Slayer]

Some people just love putting their nose where it doesn't belong. I guess certain moms never stop speaking for their child, geesh. So stupid.

Anyway, a little side note. Here it's illegal to have your car idling for more than three minutes. Though I don't know anyone that's gotten ticketed. Probably because it's a waste of time for a cop to sit there and time a car for three minutes lol.

Honestly, with most fast food places, you don't need much time to eat. Doesn't sound like you were idling for long at all. And it's cold! Consideration needs to be made for weather.

[ADeMartino]

"I will take your request under advisement and submit it at the next WHO GIVES A SHIT meeting the week after HELL FREEZES OVER. F*ck you very much for your input, buh-BYE now!"

[Food Lady]

She got out of her car into the freezing cold to complain about you wasting fuel that you pay for?? I would've said that all the animals she eats waste more water, fuel, and energy than my car does. And furthermore, my footprint is lessened by the 20 years of taking public transportation before I ever dreamed of having a car. I fight ignorance and rudeness with facts. But that's me.

[Rainman]

You are alot nicer than me. I have a very low tolerance for strangers I consider stupid butting into my life (your situation MORE than qualifies) and when it happens to me I usually keep it quick and obvious how I feel about their complaint.

[Sapphire Silk]

While it is wasteful to idle your car, the only person that impacts is the owner. Pollution is another matter.

But it still isn't SourMug or ManChild's business. MYOB.

I lived in North Dakota for two years, and people routinely idled their cars on super cold days.

[froglet]

Isn't it said that turning your car on after only a few minutes uses more resources than idling for 10 minutes because of the initial injection for engine turn-over?
Or something like that.

[ADeMartino]

Isn't it said that turning your car on after only a few minutes uses more resources than idling for 10 minutes because of the initial injection for engine turn-over?
Or something like that.

It depends on the vehicle. Older carbureted modes, particularly the larger engines, used quite a bit of fuel to start up, and the claim was it was cheaper to let them idle for five minutes than it was to shut it off then start it back up five minutes later.

Depending on who you talk to, fuel-injected vehicles (almost everything since the mid-1980s) don't have this problem, and you should only shut them off if they're going to idle for more than about a minute.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

At her first question I would've replied, "Yes, because it's cold" and then proceeded to immediately roll my window back up.

[raudf]

I'd have been like, "Oh, that's nice, dear. Tell your son he needs to learn to play nicely with others now, you hear?" Or just rolled up the window. Whichever would have sent her into a raging temper tantrum.

[computeraide]

I think I would have been tempted to sit there and rev the engine a few times as I rolled the window up, all the while staring blankly at her. :P But then, I have begun to grow crotchety with age, from dealing with self-entitled people.

[ralerin]

My aunt was an SC just like SMF in the story. On a visit to the US (aunt lives in Quebec) she actually went over to a car sitting in the parking lot that was idling (sunny day, 60's, early summer I think), tapped on the window and went into an all out rage that they needed to save the planet and how dare they let the car idle.

My mother had to pull her away.

[Pagan]

Depending on who you talk to, fuel-injected vehicles (almost everything since the mid-1980s) don't have this problem, and you should only shut them off if they're going to idle for more than about a minute.

How's that supposed to work if you're sitting in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic where you might sit for 2-3 minutes, move a few feet, sit for another 2-3 minutes? Seems like constantly stopping and re-starting the car would be worse. Not to mention pissing off the people behind you.

[Slayer]

(aunt lives in Quebec) she actually went over to a car sitting [...]

lol, the Quebec government did a huuuuge campaign when it became illegal to idle for more than three minutes. Was that fairly recent?

[...] if you're sitting in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic [...] Seems like constantly stopping and re-starting the car would be worse [...]

I would think sitting in traffic wouldn't be part of that.