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Sparkle (1)
At the red light, at the exit of my office’s parking lot, I slowly edged out a little bit, trying to see if I could make a right turn onto the main road. The road was packed with bumper to bumper traffic. I made eye contact with the driver who was stuck where my traffic light was. He was unable to clear it due to the congestion. I didn’t expect the driver to be gracious and let me pass.
I didn’t move my car any further. I didn’t try to get in. Instead, I patiently waited. As I reached for the car radio, the passenger of the car got my attention. “We are not letting you in,” he said.
“Um, OK,” I replied. I never thought that he was going to.
The passenger continued while pointing ahead, “We can’t let you in, we let THAT guy in. We can’t let you in TOO! I am sure someone else will let you in. SORRY!” and then he rolled up his window.
Now, I was angry. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t care about waiting for the light. After all, what was it going to be, five minutes of my life? What got me mad was the fact that he had to explain to me that he wasn’t letting me in and why, and then apologize.
What was the point? He wasn’t going to get very far, very fast regardless of if he let a car in front of him, or not. There weren’t any other cars behind me trying to get in, so it wasn’t like he would be making room for a never ending precession of vehicles. And telling me that someone else would let me in? The nerve! He obviously knew he wasn’t being nice, and he obviously felt bad about it. So why was he doing it then? If he just did what he felt was right in the first place, he could have saved himself the apology.
And this is one of my biggest pet peeves. When someone does something wrong, or makes a mistake, like we all do, why can’t we be honest with ourselves and others and admit it? Why do excuses need to be made? Why do we say thing that we know are going to hurt someone? Does anyone really think by saying, “No offense, but,” that the statement is really going to less offending? I personally find it to be the contrary. If someone has to preface their statement by saying, “No offence, but,” I know I am about to be offended by someone who knows exactly what they are doing.
What drives you crazy?
