Last week, I wrote about life’s little situations that try my patience and make me wish I were more tolerant of rude, thoughtless people – on the highway, in the grocery store, at the doctor’s office.
I asked you to throw in your own 2 cents’ worth, so here are edited excerpts from some of your replies:…
Bob also had unkind words for the drivers who pull to the head of the lane at a bottleneck: “The smart move is to move as soon as possible to the open lane which, of course, becomes slow with traffic. But here comes the idiot flying up the lane soon to be closed to traffic so they can get to the front and nose over into the open lane. I never let them in even when they threaten to take my fender off! Unbelievable!”
Gwen wrote in: “Over the years, I’ve developed ‘distraction therapy’ and always have a Reader’s Digest or another light magazine available in my car. I save The Chronicle on the days I have any kind of medical/dental appointment for the waiting room. And I do believe the grocery stores put magazines near the checkout to keep us entertained when we have to stand in their lines!”
George said by e-mail: “You and I must lead parallel lives. How about tailgaters? … I made a bumper sticker about that, and even that doesn’t help. And how about … oh, never mind; there are too many to list.”
Lynne was succinct: “Great article and how I relate to the traffic issue. I call them inchwormers. They need to attend a traffic manners course.
“As for doctor visits, my husband and I always ask for the first appointment but when we arrive 20 minutes early, it appears four other patients also asked to be first on deck. Quite irritating, to put it mildly.”
Lorinda wrote: “I am with you on when two lanes are reduced to one. I am madder at the person who lets the car, or 18-wheeler, in the moving lane.
“The other thing that annoys me is when I am on I-20 and a truck is going under the speed limit. I pass them and suddenly they ‘wake up.’ They speed up and pass me only to slow down again.”
This was posted by Shrimp for Breakfast: “How about people who can’t remember their PIN checking out at the supermarket.
Better yet, you get behind the only person in the city who still writes a check for their groceries.
“It never fails that I end up in the line that moves along until the person in front of me has 30,000 coupons or needs to cash a check. Meanwhile, the other lines are zipping right along.”
SheilaJ15 gets ticked off by “new mothers and pregnant women” parking places: “I have seldom seen a pregnant woman or a parent with babies use those parking places. But over time I have seen dozens of young, healthy people not pregnant or have any babies use them.”
Reach Glynn Moore at glynn.moore@augustachronicle.com.
