4357
Pt. 1
Lately, I have wondered if there are all that many rude people in the world, or if I just have a special knack for finding the small percentage of people out there who are rude.
And, oddly enough, it always seems to involve yours truly and some type of conveyance.
I previously wrote about an incident from 8 or 10 days ago.
"At the time, I was pedaling my bike down the sidewalk, as I tend to do five days a week. (Keeps my weight down to a stealthy 225).
"And, as I approached the local McDonald's hamburger joint, and I was about to cross a two lane access road next to the restaurant, I noticed a small sedan preparing to enter the highway. And, as I am prone to do before passing in front of a vehicle, I attempted to make eye contact with the driver.
"Apparently, to no avail.
"For as I asserted my right of way, (after all, I was on the sidewalk, and pedaling a non-motorized vehicle), the car accelerated. And given the closing speed, and distance between my bike and his automobile, I realized I was close to finding myself beneath the front wheels of his weighty conveyance.
"I immediately gripped my handbrakes. 3 feet. 2 feet. 1foot.
"Both the driver, and I came to a screeching halt at the same moment.
"And rather than lying prostrate beneath the wheels of the sedan, the driver's forward momentum had taken him sufficient distance that the front wheel of my bicycle was an inch away from leaving a small dent in the passenger door of his vehicle.
"And it was about then that I temporarily lost some of my sanctification. (Yeah, I did).
"I screamed loud enough so that the man, or possibly woman, (I didn't pause long enough to distinguish the gender of the driver), would hear me through the closed window.
'Aren't you gonna stop?'
"And with that, I pedaled my bike behind the car, and never looked back."
Pt. 2
And then, night before last I decided to drive to a nearby town, my hometown of Bartow, to pick up a whopper with cheese at the local Burger King.
And, as so often occurs, after I paid at the window, the employee asked me to drive around, and park out front while they were preparing my burger; which I proceeded to do.
Parking in the usual location, in one of the spaces on the other side of the street adjacent to the restaurant, I brought up Channel 76, The Elvis Channel, and waited.
Approximately three minutes later, I heard a commotion behind me. Someone seemed to be talking to another person, but I could not make out their words.
Now, I realized whoever was talking was talking to me, and talking to me loudly.
"Why did you park out here? Don't you see the spaces by the building?"
And the young lady's tone was so condescending, 70 years drained quickly through the hourglass, and I was 5 again!
However, I managed to respond,
"I have always parked out here when I was waiting on my order."
The woman shoved the paper bag into my outstretched hands, did a 180, and headed back to the building. And as she was halfway back from whence she came, I leaned out my window, raised my voice slightly, and said,
"Cheer Up!!!"
And having examined my motivation, I realized that my agenda was, at the same time, both encouragement and sarcasm; if such a mixture of purposes be possible.
Afterward
And then, I was pedaling my bike on the sidewalk again yesterday.
As I neared the entrance/exit to/from Circle K, I noticed a car leaving the convenience store, and preparing to turn onto a four laned highway; parallel to the sidewalk upon which I found myself.
It was a virtual repeat of the incident I described at the beginning of this story. Had I continued across the driver's pathway, I would have found myself beneath the front wheels of his vehicle.
I will spare you any additional verbiage regarding the foregoing incident. (It was Groundhog Day all over again).
Given my tendency to run into all these rude people while on a two wheeled conveyance or in a four wheeled conveyance, perhaps I'd be safer walking.
by Bill McDonald, PhD
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