Rudeness

I am in.a.mood. 

My basic demeanor lends me toward being happy. I get stressed and anxious, sure. I worry about stuff that I can't control and I think I might be a little on the hyper side. For the most part I identify myself as a happy person. I let things roll off my back.  I go with the flow.  And sometimes... rude people really piss me off.

So I went to Wal-Mart.  This goes against my rule of "Never go to Wal-Mart on the weekend because all the crazies are there and Rebecca, you are simply going to get irritated."  I really should just FOLLOW my rules and life would be good.  But I had already been to Publix today, and another of my crazy character traits is I get all weird about going to the same store twice in one day.  I don't know why I care. It doesn't even matter.  Anyway, needed a couple of things I had forgotten and went on to the store. 

The situation that occurred had nothing to do with Wal-Mart. It had to do with some crazy lady who was determined to get a parking space.   My philosophy on parking is I'd rather walk than stalk a spot and wait for someone to unload their stuff.  Walking is HEALTHY.  Waiting is kind of a waste of time. And time is precious because due to my inability to organize and remember what I need to buy on a given day I seem to never have enough.

So here's what happened.  I am driving in the parking lot looking for a space.  Not necessarily a close space just a space.  I rounded the corner and there was a car pulling out.  There was also a car that had fully passed the car pulling out just sitting there.  In the way, so the guy couldn't even pull out.  I sat there and waited for the lady to pull on up and go for the next space, but she didn't. I guess in her mind she got their first.  In my mind she needed to move on because she was past the point of no return. Right? Am I wrong?  So I sat there and felt my blood pressure rise because I don't do confrontation but I felt this very strong urge to stand my ground.  She waved me to go around her and I smiled and waved that she should go on.  She glared at me. I sat there. Then she started backing up all the while glaring at me as if to bully me to move.  I continued to stand my ground and then she did something I couldn't believe.  Maybe it's just because I couldn't pull this particular backing up maneuver.. or maybe that I would never, ever have the audacity to do this... she swerved around me and continued backing. There wasn't room for her there.  I was scared the crazy lady was going to hit me at this point and ended up honking my horn and moving on. You should have seen the look on her face when I honked. As if I was the unreasonable one here.

My analysis of this situation (because oh my goodness, I am the Queen of rehashing and over analysis) is as follows:

1. She was crazy.  Or maybe not. Maybe she just really wanted that parking space.  She was thin, so I doubt she was lazy. Perhaps it was because she had gotten there first.  Yet, the rule I follow is if I am past the space when I see the person is leaving and someone is behind me I figure it's my loss and the next guy gets the space.

2. The poor guy who was trapped in the parking space was probably doubly annoyed at our little standoff.  And rightly so.

3.  I completely overreacted. 

I was so embarrassed that I didn't even go into Wal-Mart. I ran into CVS on the way home since I really only needed a couple of things.

I am slightly irritated that I ended up bailing out.  But clearly this other lady wasn't backing down. She's probably celebrating her victory right now. The funny thing is I didn't even care about the parking space (really!)  I just was so appalled at her bossy, rude behavior.  In the end, none of it matters. I'm laughing now at how upset I became over something so silly.  But it seems like politeness is becoming a lost art.  That's what disturbs me the most.