Last night driving back from CT, Luca and I felt lucky that we missed most of the heavy traffic by leaving relatively early. Still, there were a few idiots.
Every time I'm behind someone on the highway who drives erratically, or painfully slowly, I'm reminded of a colleague from the industrial supply company from hell.
When he was driving, and he saw someone bearing down on him too fast in his rear view mirror, he would pull into the passing lane and then (intentionally) drive in tandem with the car to his right. Maybe he'd accelerate slightly, to give the poor bastard behind him hope, but then he would slow down again.
He'd do this for several miles.
Finally, he move back over to the right hand lane as he approached a known speed trap. Then he'd watch as the incensed driver behind him zoomed by, only to get pulled over by a cop immediately.
He took particular pleasure in doing this if the person in question had out of state plates, or drove a nicer car than he had.
(Clearly John did not live in a big city, otherwise he'd probably have been shot at some point.)
So, every time I find myself getting frustrated by the car in front of me, I take a deep breath and imagine that it's just John driving in front of me, trying to get under my skin.
It helps a lot.
If only I could find something equivalent to relax me in other areas of my life....
2 Pearls of Wisdom:
Hehehe... am I a horrible person if John's trick sounds like a good idea? The highways near home have a very small police presence, and it seems like that encourages some people to either tailgate, or zoom around at 150-160 km/h.
When I get tailgaters (usually in one-lane, two-way traffic), my passive-aggressive approach is that I usually just slow to the exact speed limit and hold that speed until they either get the point and move back or find a safe time to pass.
I think that's what I find relaxing about it -- that I could see myself doing the same thing. I understand the motivation.
:-)
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