Renewed Faith in Humanity
In most, if not all of my posts, I tend to rip on one thing or another, generally because of stupid human behavior. I witnessed something the other day that began with the aforementioned stupid human behavior, but turned into something that made me glad to be part of the village.
It was a hot Sunday afternoon in the clogged up Sam's Club paking lot in McAllen. Sorry, Gene, Edinburg no gotta Sam's. I had driven up to the front of the store hoping I'd find a space within a parsec of the door. Disappointed as usual, I was forced to wait in front of the store as some traffic had backed up. I saw that in the row to my left, a car was slowly backing out of one of the Wonka Golden Ticket spots in what my Dad lovingly refers to as the, "front row". A man in a pick up truck was patiently waiting to claim the space, turn signal and all. Funny thing was, all of us around him knew it and knew the space was his. I looked to my right and saw a Land Rover SUV passing the two cars behind the pick up. I figured the "person" driving was in a hurry and just wanted to get out of there. No harm in that, right? Boy was I wrong. This "person" decided that the newly vacated space was hers.
My beautiful wife and I sat and watched as things seemingly began to move in slow motion. The pick up was already moving to park in the spot when this "person" in the Land Rover tried to squeeze in and take the space. It did, but in the process, the Land Rover ripped the entire front bumper and brushguard off this Dodge pick up.
Flabbergasted, we sat there a second to see what was going to happen. I saw the driver of the Dodge pick up get out to check the front of his truck. He stood there shaking his head, arms akimbo. Suddenly, the driver of the SUV, a young, richer than you, girl and her even more rich than you mother got out with these, "how dare you!" looks on their faces . The mother, who was obviously the owner of the SUV, began to yell at the man as he stood by his truck. The man made some sort of reply, but was no where near as animated as the lady.
Seeing this man, who appeared to be of modest means, being berated by the woman. I decided to get out and give the man my name in case he needed a witness. By this time, a crowd was beginning to gather and that's when things got interesting. The occupants of the SUV were denying that the crash (this was no accident) was in any way their fault and an argument broke out between the parties, sans one, the driver of the pick up. He stayed by his truck looking nervous and confused.
I walked up to him and asked him if he was alright. He said he was okay. I gave him my business card and told him that I had seen everything. He glanced at me and with the look of desperation on his face, asked me what he should do. I told him to call the police and make a report.
Meanwhile, the security guard arrived and got on his cell phone. I could hear him on the phone obviously talking to a dispatcher at the police department. I figured that things were now going to calm down and that at least this man had me as a witness.
Little did I know that on the other side of the man's truck, other witnesses with torches and pitchforks had gathered and were having a polite discussion with the lady from the SUV who was still barking away in Spanish. A woman in the crowd on that side of the truck who had seen what had happened was rallying support from other witnesses, who, probably for the same reason we did, stayed around to help this poor man.
All of us who were witnessess wrote our names and phone numbers on a note pad someone had taken out. All of us were in support of this man. All of us wanted to see that the people in the SUV were put in their place. And all of us felt as though we had done the right thing. All of us, six or more perfect strangers banded together to help another perfect stranger for no other reason than to see that what is right is right.
The crowd disbanded and we all went about our business. I never got a call from a police officer, so I'll have faith that he was one of the smart ones and laid out the facts to the women in the SUV and the case will be closed.
And to those ladies, and I use that term loosely, in the Land Rover. I hope that your crass, greedy stunt was worth doing several thousand dollars damage to your own vehicle. Enjoy driving around knowing that the entire passenger side of your snobmobile now looks like Abe Vigoda's face. More than that though, I delight in knowing that you were wrong and that you were told you were wrong by the hoi polloi you thought we were. So go home to your friends and family and tell them your side of the story and we'll tell our friends and family the truth.
To the man in the truck, I wish you the best of luck in dealing with those people and remember, you're not alone. There's a list of names in your pocket of people who will be there if needed. Of course, I can only speak for myself.
It was a hot Sunday afternoon in the clogged up Sam's Club paking lot in McAllen. Sorry, Gene, Edinburg no gotta Sam's. I had driven up to the front of the store hoping I'd find a space within a parsec of the door. Disappointed as usual, I was forced to wait in front of the store as some traffic had backed up. I saw that in the row to my left, a car was slowly backing out of one of the Wonka Golden Ticket spots in what my Dad lovingly refers to as the, "front row". A man in a pick up truck was patiently waiting to claim the space, turn signal and all. Funny thing was, all of us around him knew it and knew the space was his. I looked to my right and saw a Land Rover SUV passing the two cars behind the pick up. I figured the "person" driving was in a hurry and just wanted to get out of there. No harm in that, right? Boy was I wrong. This "person" decided that the newly vacated space was hers.
My beautiful wife and I sat and watched as things seemingly began to move in slow motion. The pick up was already moving to park in the spot when this "person" in the Land Rover tried to squeeze in and take the space. It did, but in the process, the Land Rover ripped the entire front bumper and brushguard off this Dodge pick up.
Flabbergasted, we sat there a second to see what was going to happen. I saw the driver of the Dodge pick up get out to check the front of his truck. He stood there shaking his head, arms akimbo. Suddenly, the driver of the SUV, a young, richer than you, girl and her even more rich than you mother got out with these, "how dare you!" looks on their faces . The mother, who was obviously the owner of the SUV, began to yell at the man as he stood by his truck. The man made some sort of reply, but was no where near as animated as the lady.
Seeing this man, who appeared to be of modest means, being berated by the woman. I decided to get out and give the man my name in case he needed a witness. By this time, a crowd was beginning to gather and that's when things got interesting. The occupants of the SUV were denying that the crash (this was no accident) was in any way their fault and an argument broke out between the parties, sans one, the driver of the pick up. He stayed by his truck looking nervous and confused.
I walked up to him and asked him if he was alright. He said he was okay. I gave him my business card and told him that I had seen everything. He glanced at me and with the look of desperation on his face, asked me what he should do. I told him to call the police and make a report.
Meanwhile, the security guard arrived and got on his cell phone. I could hear him on the phone obviously talking to a dispatcher at the police department. I figured that things were now going to calm down and that at least this man had me as a witness.
Little did I know that on the other side of the man's truck, other witnesses with torches and pitchforks had gathered and were having a polite discussion with the lady from the SUV who was still barking away in Spanish. A woman in the crowd on that side of the truck who had seen what had happened was rallying support from other witnesses, who, probably for the same reason we did, stayed around to help this poor man.
All of us who were witnessess wrote our names and phone numbers on a note pad someone had taken out. All of us were in support of this man. All of us wanted to see that the people in the SUV were put in their place. And all of us felt as though we had done the right thing. All of us, six or more perfect strangers banded together to help another perfect stranger for no other reason than to see that what is right is right.
The crowd disbanded and we all went about our business. I never got a call from a police officer, so I'll have faith that he was one of the smart ones and laid out the facts to the women in the SUV and the case will be closed.
And to those ladies, and I use that term loosely, in the Land Rover. I hope that your crass, greedy stunt was worth doing several thousand dollars damage to your own vehicle. Enjoy driving around knowing that the entire passenger side of your snobmobile now looks like Abe Vigoda's face. More than that though, I delight in knowing that you were wrong and that you were told you were wrong by the hoi polloi you thought we were. So go home to your friends and family and tell them your side of the story and we'll tell our friends and family the truth.
To the man in the truck, I wish you the best of luck in dealing with those people and remember, you're not alone. There's a list of names in your pocket of people who will be there if needed. Of course, I can only speak for myself.
posted by Powerslave105 at 10:50 PM
4 Comments:
Justice has been served. However, the S.U.V. driver still doesn't get it. If I have a lot of money, a $75,000 plus vehicle and everyone waiting on me, I should be able to push the little people out of the way. I wonder, did this person learn to drive in Mexico?
People can be such assholes. My dad had a little run-in with a shitty driver in Edinburg and th guy tried to blame him after-the-fact. Some great samaritans from the dry cleaners across the street came out as witnesses and helped seal my dad's case.
Renewed faith in humanity indeed.
I added your link to my blog site. Did you get a chance to go to Cook-Em' event?
Yes I did Gene. It was a brief visit, but I was able to make some mental notes, i.e.; a post is in the works.
Did eat the best ribs ever, though!
Post a Comment
<< Home