Disclaimer: Yes there is bad language in this post. It’s not the end of the world. If the pic doesn’t do you in, I apologize wholeheartedly.
Men are generally characterized by impulsive, often aggressive behavior, at least in the media and movies. I believe today I took part in just such a demonstration as only half the parties involved.
So I was crossing the street and this guy driving in a silver van begins to make a left turn, even though I had stopped on purpose to make sure he wasn’t moving. I then do a bit of a hop to the right to avoid getting nailed by this guy as he showed no signs of slowing down. Left turns never have right of way. Pedestrians always have right of way while crossing. In any case, this guy slows to have a chat with me out of his open window. If I remember correctly, his exact words were “Learn to walk, you fuck.”
Now, you see, I had paused halfway through the street when I saw this guy start to turn even though I was crossing. He apparently took that as a sign to just turn, even with a whole person there. Anyway, I wasn’t going to take no guff from some middle-aged, unkept and vulgar white guy, so I turned to look at him and pointedly flip him off. I then finished crossing the street.
Apparently, after making his left turn, this guy does a u-turn and steps out of his car after taking it off to the side of the road. Thinking he’d intimidate me, he calls out “Hey, do you think you can get away with giving me the finger, you little fuck?” Now, at this point I thought of many things I could have said to really set this guy off. He was a head shorter than me, looked obese, unshaven, and likely past his best days so I wasn’t too worried about a little roughhousing. That, and no one’s going to beat up a kid on the corner of a busy intersection in broad daylight. Anyway, I opted for the objective, civil route and just replied “You didn’t have right of way!”
He gestured at the street light and told me I didn’t have right of way, but stopped moving as soon as I stopped and turned around to face him. The light was green when I started crossing. I had right of way. Anyway, long story short, I finished the conversation with “I was crossing!” and then, rather anti-climatically, the guy turned to get back in his car. You don’t stop your car twice to verbally pick on someone unless you plan on starting a fight.
Now, for some reason, I feel like I should have done more. Either more to piss the guy off, or more to settle the argument like adults. Or you know, start a street fight. I just don’t get why he got so angry at me for giving him the finger, because, well, he started it. If you’re going to stop your car in the middle of street just to cuss at a kid not half your age after not stopping to let the kid cross, you should not be surprised when someone gives you a finger-flippin’ good time in the middle of the street. That, and he should have fought me. Weaksauce.