This morning, I was driving to work when some moron guy jumped into my lane without signaling, made me veer my car off the road, and practically killed me. It was the proverbial “David versus Goliath” situation since he was driving a Suburban and I drive a Toyota Rav4. Those of you who know a little something about cars know that his car was about three times the size of my car. One moment we are driving parallel to each other on the parkway and the next moment he barrels into me and almost causes me to have a heart attack.
Now, his car did not hit mine thanks to my cat-like reflexes. However, it did shake me up pretty badly since it happened so quickly. Now, normally, I would have stopped my car, gotten out, and cursed him out so badly that his mother felt it as I have been known to engage in the occassional road rage melee. This time was different, though, because I have been trying to not waste my energy on cursing out other drivers who got their drivers’ licenses out of Cracker Jack boxes. So I kept driving and just stuck my arm out the window and raised it up in the air as if to say,
“What was that?”
He must have been as shook up as I was or just ashamed at his poor driving skills because he slowed down behind me and practically crept up next to me as I was stopped for a red light. I looked over at him and he opened his window and gestured to me to open mine. How could I resist? I slowly opened my window and he said to me,
“I’m so sorry. I guess I must still be half asleep.”
Now, in my mind I’m thinking,
“Of all the lame, moronic, idiotic excuses, bleep, bleep, bleep, curse word here, bleep…”
I couldn’t believe that that was the best thing that he could come up with after ruining my perfectly good Thursday morning by almost squashing me like a bug with his vehicular equivalent of a fly swatter! So, I just answered,
“Yeah, you scared the sh*t out of me…”
Those of you who are gasping at my use of profanity understand that I was really shook up. Plus, I have never said, on this blog, that I don’t swear. As a matter of fact, I have been told I curse like a truck driver. However, I digress…
In the end, I was really proud of myself that I did not curse this guy out and that I accepted his apology in a somewhat ladylike fashion. We both just drove off when the light turned green and went about our business. I can assure you that, had he hit my baby, there would be a different ending to this blog post. After all, never mess with a Mom who is driving to work, did not have any coffee yet, hardly got any sleep, and just spent the entire morning fighting with a four and seven year old so they would get ready for school. That is just playing Russian Roulette with your life.
© 2010, Tough Cookie Mommy. All rights reserved.
I have to say I’m surprised he was willing to apologize! Although he still gets idiot points for nearly killing you, he earns some back for actually caring enough to apologize.
Drivers here in Cincinnati are ruthless, reckless, and do not understand the concept of “merging onto the highway”. 😛
Hi, Steph. He definitely gets idiot points for not being more alert while driving! Believe me, I feel your pain, drivers here in New York City will drive you right off the road and not even think twice about it. I am more aware of it now that I drive with my children in the car. I worry because you can’t control what all the other idiots on the road are doing. People really need to be more careful when they are behind the wheel of their cars.
Great work keeping the road rage in check, it can be soooo hard sometimes!
As much as this guy was at fault I think your reaction (or lack of reaction) helped him to apologize, which is huge – I have never had anyone say that they were sorry after they behaved like a jackass on the road. So there is that.
Hi, Alicia. You are right, I never even thought of that…It is quite possible that, had I screamed and cursed, he would have just gotten defensive and acted like a jerk. That is the first time anyone has ever apologized to me so it did mean something.
Glad to hear you are o.k. that’s the important part. Your sign for the post is perfect. I love your decor. I’ll be back to hear more.
Thank you so much. I’m glad nothing really bad happened because that would have been terrible. I thought the sign was perfect too as soon as I saw it! I’m so happy you like the decor and I would love to have you back anytime!
Thanks God you’re alright! That is a very rare thing to have that guy apologize and that’s really something.
Maureen, you have no idea what a scare this was. You are right, it was a shock to hear him apologize…
Love the new look and glad the worst is over with your transition to WP! You’ll love it in the end, I promise!
Glad you are ok after that scare. He was a big man to apologize, even if his excuse was lame!
I’m glad you like it, Gigi. I have to thank you because B2SB2B has really catapulted me to a whole other level with my blog and blogging. Some of the tools and mentoring that you provided me with really empowered me to do things with my blog that I have been thinking about for some time. I will always remember and credit you with that. As far as that guy, yeah, he did apologize which is the only thing that saved him from my sharp tongue!
I love working from home. Driving makes me CRAZY. Love your new blog, and glad you made it to work safely (although, I’ll admit I read this post last week, too, I enjoyed reading it again, checking out the next home for Tough Cookie Mommy).
Thanks, Pamela. I have been literally pulling my hair out trying to get this right. I pretty much did everything but there is a little left to do with regards to redirecting traffic, permalinks, links, etc. from my old blog. That is too much so I have contracted a wonderful and competent professional to do it for me. After all is said and done, hopefully by the end of the week, I will be writing an extensive post describing all of my adventures to WP. I might need a drink by then…