Today during lunch, I went to the bank, whick is located in a Safeway grocery store. To my great surprise, I found that I couldn't get through to park my car.
Why, you may ask?
Two elderly gentlemen were parked in the middle of the driveway in a large Impala. One was sitting in the car while the second was standing behind a Cadillac Escalade that was parked in a handicapped spot.
I put my car in park, noting that there were at least SIX cars behind me. I called to the man outside the car and asked if he thought he could move so that traffic could filter through.
His reply: "Nope. We are busy turning in this car that is illegally parked in a handicapped spot".
I asked "do you think you could park next to it so that traffic can get through?"
His crabby reply: "No. We are doing important citizen's business here today."
My (still calm) answer: "You need to move. You are blocking traffic and causing a serious potential for accidents."
Him: "Nope. You all have to wait."
Me (hysterically): "There are cars backed up to the road now. It is dangerous. Move now."
Him: glares at me and doesn't move.
Me: "I am calling 911. You are causing a hazard."
Him: "To hell with you all. I am almost finished."
In the meantime, the guy behind me has gotten out of his car and is swearing at the two old guys. There is lots of honking. A store employee has come out and is observing the scene. It is chaos.
The senior citizens pull into the next spot. I hear this:
"Just wait until this happens to you. You kids don't appreciate a damn thing we have done for you!"
We all are able to proceed to parking spots and go about our business. I count 18 cars behind mine. Yikes.
As I walk in, the store employee is still getting an earful from the old guy about his rights as a senior citizen...
Moral of the story: Two wrongs don't make a right.
For the record, my grandma is in a wheel chair, and I have been very upset at seeing non-handicapped (lazy) types use those spots. I just don't see how blocking traffic and making a scene is going to fix things.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
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3 comments:
There's an elderly gentleman in my neighborhood who thinks he's single-handedly responsible for keeping the mosquito population in the neighborhood under control because he personally calls "the city every day to come and spray." I wonder how many people have tried (and failed) to tell him that the neighborhood is always sprayed for bugs based on a well-established and very publicly-available schedule, and all his phone calls accomplish is adding to city "call clutter." The amount of energy the man expends on his useless mosquito battle could be put to better use.
Being old is no excuse for bad behavior or taking one's personal pet peeves out on society as a whole.
Sea-of-Green, you have hit the nail on the head! Thank you for sharing your example in the fellow that you interact with. :-)
I wish that these folks would have a sense of reason along with that sense of social responsibility. Bad attitudes and and abhorent behavior don't suddenly become acceptable as we age. I wish... LOL!
What's worse is when old people yell at my wife because she legally parked in a handicapped spot because she doesn't "look" handicapped. Never mind the over 200 broken bones she has had to go through in her life because of a genetic condition.
I really hate old people. Not all, but most.
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