Extremely Bizarre and disturbing Automobile Attitude



Feanor

New Member
Jul 21, 2003
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Hi all!

Its been aquite a while since I posted last but I've been looking in often to keep caught up :)

The other day I saw a bit of car culture that I found rather disturbing and it prompted me to consider just how ingrained that type of mindset might be:

I was standing in line at the post office the other day and just wistfully trying to pass the waiting time by checking out the FBI's 10 most wanted poster :) when all of a sudden I heard a woman say rather loudly "You need to move that"

I turned around and about three people behind me was a large woman (I'm actually trying to be kind here because she was more than large... ok, to be really honest she was grotesquely obese) I surveyed the rest of the scene behind me; there were a few more people in line then when I last observed, but right at the end of the line was a road rider in shorts and local club jersey with a backback, helmet and a few letters in his hand... He was also sporting a confused look.

Pardon? (French Accent)

"I said you have to move your bike, I paid for that meter and its mine, you don't have any right to put your bike there until I'm done"

I Looked out the window with everyone else in line (the woman really was quite loud) and sure enough, there was a Colnago kryptonited to the parking meter right outside the front window. Itwas on the sidewalk side of the meter...

"Excuse me please, I am not understanding, I am just locking my bike to the, how you say? to the pole?"

The woman continued on, and starting talking about how while the meter was running with her money the parking spot and the meter were her property and he HAD to move his bike. In fact she started to get pretty agitated and people ahead of her and behind her were putting in a bit of distance. She then said "In America we drive cars, you can take your bike somewhere else"

The cyclist was in a state of utter confusion and probably either did not have the vocabularly in english to respond, or was just stunned into disbelief as I was.

One of the women behind the postal counter asked the woman to please calm down. Then they turned to the gentleman and to my absolute disbelief asked him to move his bike!!!

Now the cyclist was doubly confused as was I, and I HAD to say something... It came out something like "Are you kidding? He just has his bike locked to the meter, what's wrong with that?!"

"The postal worker who asked the cyclist to move his bike then turned to me and said "I'm not speaking to you sir..."

It was kind of this interactive stand-off, where there was a moment of uncomfortable silence... Then suddenly the cyclist threw up his hands, said something in French and walked out of the Post office after adding "You Americans are all crazy!"

After he left the large woman said "If they come to this country they need to learn the rules here"

It was all getting too surreal to me and I decided to forego the stamps I needed to buy and walked out too... as I passed the woman I really could not think of anything to say, and so I said "That wasn't right"

She just glared at me and said "Then you can leave too"

I walked out wondering very intensely wether it bothers people to act so rudely that it makes people uncomfortable... I was also wondering how much of her attitude was simply her being "nuts" and how much of it was indicative of any undercurrent of animosity car drivers have of cyclists...

It bugged me for quite a while... I really hope it was a one time deal...

Feanor
 
Very unfortunate. I don't think it indicates the culture at large, she is just a fat piece of ****, that doesn't know her place in society. Imagine what that guy thinks of Americans in general after this experience (hopefully it is the only one). Upon thinking about it, the postal worker probably just viewed it as easier to tell the polite cyclist to move his bike than to deal with the FPOS monster. When you questioned her it was reaction to questioning her authority. Hopefully the french speaking cyclist won't go back to wherever he is from and give more damning (although deserved) stories about the US. Of course the best thing would have been for everyone to defend the cyclists right to lock his bike to the meter and make him feel like the lady was a freak but situations like that are tough to determine the right thing to do and hindsight is always 20/20. :(
 
What a disturbing scene - I could not believe what you just wrote! I guess it says more of the loud and ignorant in any society - not just the States (although I must admit in my one visit there, it is the MOST automobile centred society i have had the privilege to visit). Here in Oz it is true to say our cities are becoming much more bike friendly and more folk are riding than ever - especially in the inner suburbs. What, don't the fat and ignorant read or listen to current affairs - many experts are saying we have reached peak oil supply already and we are on the slippery slope in terms of supply - the car is obsolete - long reign the bicycle. Such ignorance really sucks, not fat and ignorant pigs like that even understand that if it wasn't for immigrants and pleasant foreigners the States would not even exist! People should stand up to the loud, bully-like pigs and point their bottoms in their general direction and fart very loudly!
 
knowing me, i probably wouldve tried to embarass the hell out of that woman. I definitely would've made her feel like a piece of ****.
 
HoosierOLMO? said:
knowing me, i probably wouldve tried to embarass the hell out of that woman. I definitely would've made her feel like a piece of ****.

I agree, this woman needed to be shut up. I have no patience for completely ignorant morons--which seems to be the majority here in the states now. In many ways, I can see why people in other countries don't like "americans". But, as I always say: "People are just ****ing stupid"--it will be forever true....
 
flynn said:
What a disturbing scene - I could not believe what you just wrote! I guess it says more of the loud and ignorant in any society - not just the States (although I must admit in my one visit there, it is the MOST automobile centred society i have had the privilege to visit). Here in Oz it is true to say our cities are becoming much more bike friendly and more folk are riding than ever - especially in the inner suburbs. What, don't the fat and ignorant read or listen to current affairs - many experts are saying we have reached peak oil supply already and we are on the slippery slope in terms of supply - the car is obsolete - long reign the bicycle. Such ignorance really sucks, not fat and ignorant pigs like that even understand that if it wasn't for immigrants and pleasant foreigners the States would not even exist! People should stand up to the loud, bully-like pigs and point their bottoms in their general direction and fart very loudly!
From the description of the story, I don't think it was really an anti-cycling motorist situation, just a fat bloated self-centered waste of life who enjoys pulling a power trip any chance she can. She would have done it to a runner that tied their dog to the meter as well. It is still disturbing though I agree for two reasons, 1) that there are people seemingly integrated into society that could behave in such a selfish and pointless manner to begin with 2) that when she realized he was a foreigner it only reinforced her resolve as evidenced by her anti-foreigner comments...what a great cultural exchange. It was also unfortunate that the mail clerk was so spineless as to try to quiet the beast rather than do the right thing and tell her to STFU or GTFO. After that there was nothing really that could be done by the by-standers as evidenced by the "I wasn't talking to you sir" response which I'm sure just reinforced whatever made the beast think she was correct.

Such is one of the prices of liberty for all I suppose.
 
I was a soldier for 20 years and visited a lot of countries and I found, in general, that rudeness is not solely a USA commodity. We probably have more than our fair share, but, if you remember, France was known as the rudest place on Earth for many decades. (While there, I found the French people very nice and polite.) I've been all over Europe, SA, and some part of Asia and Africa, and let me tell you something-THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!

I agree with Hoosier, I would have done something to insult and embarass the woman. Ask her, and her friends to hold the noise down. "Oh, I sorry, I thought you were several people." Or, tell the cyclist to please move the bike before she gets mad and eats us.
 
martin_j001 said:
I agree, this woman needed to be shut up. I have no patience for completely ignorant morons--which seems to be the majority here in the states now. In many ways, I can see why people in other countries don't like "americans". But, as I always say: "People are just ****ing stupid"--it will be forever true....

Yeah, I agree, people all over the world are stupid. The difference is that in America the stupid ones are the most vocal and visible. She makes a great ambassador eh?
 
I would have flipped her a quarter and told her to switch to decaf.
 
If it is any satisfaction she will probably die a horrible, lonely, early death from a stroke, heart attack or other complications from being fat, sedentary and stressed. :rolleyes:
 
tayvens said:
If it is any satisfaction she will probably die a horrible, lonely, early death from a stroke, heart attack or other complications from being fat, sedentary and stressed. :rolleyes:

Unfortunantly it will be dragged out over several years of heart attacks and other health related problems. Guess who will get stuck with the bills? Lets just hope she didn't breed.
 
He should have just pretended not to speak English. She would have passed out from yelling eventually.
 
tayvens said:
If it is any satisfaction she will probably die a horrible, lonely, early death from a stroke, heart attack or other complications from being fat, sedentary and stressed. :rolleyes:
Thanks for cheering us up, tayvens.
 
wilmar13 said:
Unfortunantly it will be dragged out over several years of heart attacks and other health related problems. Guess who will get stuck with the bills? Lets just hope she didn't breed.

If she did breed she would have made sure whoever was unfortunate enough to do the deed did not stay a moment longer than he paid for.
 
tayvens said:
If she did breed she would have made sure whoever was unfortunate enough to do the deed did not stay a moment longer than he paid for.

You mean that he WAS paid for?
 
wilmar13 said:
You mean that he WAS paid for?

Ah yes, of course.

Actually I am now starting to feel sorry for her. Maybe buried deep, deep, deep inside this large angry woman is a frightened little girl who just wants to be loved.....or maybe her Daddy never bought her a bike after she squashed the first one and now she has a thing against cyclists.
 
tayvens said:
Maybe buried deep, deep, deep inside this large angry woman is a frightened little girl who just wants to be loved...

Well perhaps, but IMO there is some emotional philanthropy that would just be a lost cause and here is such a case... however read another way there seems to be a little bit of sexual innuendo in what you wrote so if that is what you are implying rather than a lost cause I would say it is a suicide mission. Maybe we can add this to the ways to kill yourself thread.
 
wilmar13 said:
Well perhaps, but IMO there is some emotional philanthropy that would just be a lost cause and here is such a case... however read another way there seems to be a little bit of sexual innuendo in what you wrote so if that is what you are implying rather than a lost cause I would say it is a suicide mission. Maybe we can add this to the ways to kill yourself thread.

No sexual innuendo intended, unless of course it is my subcounscious getting in the way again. Maybe I wish to be a male praying mantis and be killed after sex by a larger angry female.... but I doubt it.
 
tayvens said:
Ah yes, of course.

Actually I am now starting to feel sorry for her. Maybe buried deep, deep, deep inside this large angry woman is a frightened little girl who just wants to be loved.....or maybe her Daddy never bought her a bike after she squashed the first one and now she has a thing against cyclists.
Or maybe she once eat a cyclist who didn't agree with her and gave her an upset stomach.