Tuesday, May 16, 2006 by Ospite.


Normally I try and leave early enough for work that I miss rush hour. Unfortunately, today was no such day.

Caught in the left lane, soon needing to make a right hand turn, I dodged traffic, cut someone off and ended up sitting at the stop light next to the same guy I cut off. It wasn't an intentionally brutal traffic move, just aggressive driving. I had to make my turn.

Sitting next to me at that light, he rolls down his window, followed by a barrage of slang profanity I prefer to not utter here. I ignored him completely, which made his anger worse. Turning to look him dead in the eye, I paused, then punched the gas when the light turned green. He peeled out, hot on my heels and I used more aggressive tactics to lose him.

Road rage is getting far too brutal in this country. Headlines swept through my mind as I entered the trattoria. As I was considering the fact that he wouldn't have "called me out" if we were in a restaurant, or shopping, or even golfing, and thinking his behvior is ridiculous, I looked up as the door opened. He walked in.

The look on his face told me he had not followed me there, but rather was looking for an early dinner. The loss of color, in what had been flushed cheeks 5 minutes earlier, told me he sized up my 6'1" frame and compaired it to his waif-like 5'6". I'm not an intimidating guy, but I think he decided his odds were bad. I smiled. He turned around and walked out.

It was going to be a good night.

1 Comments:

Blogger Logical Philosopher said...

Too bad he didn't decide to stay... it would have made for some interesting blogging posts!

I wonder who would have thrown the first dinner roll...

12:29 AM  

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At your service, Ospite

I am not in the restaurant business, I am in the people business. I use every opportunity to people watch, because to me, even the most mundane is fascinating.

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