karder wrote:I never cease to be amazed by how rude people are. About 6 weeks ago I pulled into a gas station. I was driving my work truck which is a long bed and because of the radius and limited space I could not pull directly to the pump. I pulled as far as I could and put it into reverse so I could back up and correct my angle. I check my mirrors and see a dumpy low rider going way too fast that appears to be about to dart behind me, so I sit and wait for him to pass.
I guess he sees my reverse lights on so he lays on his horn for a long blast as he goes behind me. What a jerk, but who care right? He tears up to the pump and a heavily tattooed guy about half my age and twice my weight gets out. I straighten up my truck and pull up to the pump behind him. He apparently thinks I am coming after him, because as I step out of the truck he starts to backpeddle with both his hands in the air saying "whoa whoa man. We're cool, we're cool".
I proceed to swipe my credit card and start to pump. When he sees I am just getting gas he kinda of mumbles "Oh. Ok. Cool." I look at him and ask "Rough day?" He gets really embarrassed, and goes, "Huh? Yeah. No. It's cool", then gets in his car and drives away without even fueling up.
I had a young fellow helping me that day so when the low rider guy drove off I tell my partner "he seemed a little high strung". My partner goes "I don't know. I thought you were going to go tell him something too. You had a look." I explained to my young friend that my "look" was annoyance from being honked at, but reasonable adults have control over their emotions. It seemed like a foreign concept to the young lad.
There are a lot of crazy people and gas stations are a great place to meet them. Personally, I don't want to engage any of them. Let 'em flip you off and cuss and honk. It is not worth your time to respond to them. If they attack you, you have to defend yourself, but otherwise I would just let the crazies pass on by.
IME, it's the people who can control their emotions that are the most dangerous. When they have to be.