The other day, I was picking up a prescription from the pharmacy after work. It was busy, as everyone else was making their after-work-errand-runs. So I was waiting, with blinker on, to turn left into the parking garage for Trader Joe's and Rite Aid. The line was backed up to get into the garage, and there were a number of cars waiting to make right hand turns in, as well. So I waited. As I waited, other cars were able to make left hand turns to exit the garage because I was following traffic flow rules, creating space for them to exit. The woman behind me, though, was not happy. She laid on her horn. My assumption initially was that she was probably upset because she wanted to go straight and didn't want to wait for me to be able to turn left. But I was wrong. Her blinker was on, as well. So she had to wait to get into the same garage that I was going to, yet for some reason felt the need to lay on her horn. Where was I supposed to go? Well, apparently I was supposed to block all traffic. At least that's what she did after I eventually was able to pull into the line for the garage. There was no space behind me in line, but she did not wait as I had. She pulled right behind me, blocking all traffic. People behind her could not go straight because she was still a bit in their lane. People going the opposite direction could not go because she was completely blocking their lane. People turning left out of the garage could not go either. All so that she would be sure to have her spot in line to get into the packed garage. What irritates me even more is that I am fairly certain that if she had been in any of the other cars that were blocked at that moment, she would have been laying on her horn at herself. I hate hypocrisy...
Another instance came on the elevator in the building where my office is. There is some relevant background for this story. These elevators suck. Flat out suck. I have waited almost 15 minutes for an elevator to come before. I have also been on one where, after someone pushed for the 1st floor, and the elevator hesitated slightly at floor 1 before just continuing up to higher floors. Those people had to ride all the way up before going back down to (hopefully) get off on the correct floor. The doors do not always have the safety feature where they stop closing if they sense motion. They will squash you if you let them.
So I'm on an elevator. It is mildly crowded, but not ridiculously so. There is still plenty of room. We stop to let some people out on a floor, and we hear a woman running to catch the elevator. She yells for us to hold the door, then sticks her arm in to try to get on before it closes. A few of us on the elevator frantically ask the woman standing near the buttons to push the "door open" button. She ignores us. After the woman's arm is in, we ask again for this other woman to push the button, as the door is not responding to the motion. It's still closing. The woman outside removes her arm, so that it is not squashed, and the woman inside remains still. After the door closes, she bitchally (yes, I made that word up, but it's apt) says, "She can catch the next one." Seriously? It was that hard to push a freaking button? It wasn't that she tried and couldn't find it. It wasn't that she tried and it didn't work. It wasn't that moved a muscle at all... She just sat there. I suppose in other buildings, waiting for the next elevator wouldn't be a big deal, but I'm telling you - 15 minutes! Elevators skip floors erratically. My friend won't get on the elevator without her cell phone because she simply doesn't trust them. And this woman can't push a simple little button that is right in front of her face!
I just wish everyone had some sense of empathy or at least thought for other people.
