Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Reckless driver, rude behaviour......
I was early for my next appointment after sending Elliott to school. So I parked in the school lot to sit out the awful traffic & drink my coffee. Cars were whizzing in and out. Noticed a black Lexus SUV that came zooming in maniacally. Thought to myself, " With people driving like that in school, I hope no student gets hit."
I realized later that this car was parked hastily a few lots away from me. This man, in home clothes & looking very irate, shouted at the top of his voice at another man who was standing near his car.
Rude man shouting (RMS) : HEY! WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO MY WIFE? (who was sitting in the passenger seat)
Teacher (T) : I was just asking her about parking here.
RMS: I JUST PARKED HERE FOR A MINUTE. BLAH BLAH BLAH...
T: You don't have to shout. I just noticed that ......
RMS: THERE ARE SO MANY LOTS HERE. WHAT'S WRONG WITH PARKING LIKE THIS? BLAH BLAH BLAH
T shouting now: Why do you have to be so rude? These are reserved lots and I was just asking....
RMS: DO YOU WANT TO GO SEE THE PRINCIPAL? LET'S GO RIGHT NOW!!!!
The long & short of it is that this RMS was completely unreasonable & looking for a fight. After a good 10 minutes of shouting at each other, he drove off in a huff & a puff.....as maniacally as when he drove in. I was so glad I wasn't dragged into it. They were, after all, shouting at each other right in front of my car. I thought it was a bit like watching little kids at war with each other. Except these were grown men....in their 40s.

2 comments:

auntymich said...

someth similar happened at acjs too - the principal emailed all the parents to broadcast the bad behaviour as an admonishment not to do the same...

Conrade Yap, (Dr) said...

Just one impatient and rude person can easily wreck the mood of the larger community. I am not looking forward to situations like these.

Sometimes, it might be better to send a strong letter to the culprit first rather than to send an indirect mail to all. Not only does the culprit potentially 'missing the point' but it also uses up the rest of the people's time and resources, which might breed more impatience in others.