Aggressive, or just plain stupid?

[Monkeyleg]

This afternoon I pulled into a supermarket parking lot. I was still in my car when a guy stopped and started to say something. I couldn't hear him, so I opened my door to get out and on my way.

"Sorry," I said, "I couldn't hear you."

The guy then said, "you drive like a ______ idiot."

Very politely I asked, "really? Why do you say that?"

"Because I was behind you all the way down Oklahoma Avenue, and you kept riding your brakes. You have an automatic, but everytime you did that, I had to downshift."

I thought to myself that maybe the guy was retarded, but I just said, "sorry, but I was just trying to stay at the speed limit."

There's a lot of guys I know who would have started a swearing match with this person, or even punched him out. Happens all the time.

On top of that, I was carrying my .45. Fortunately for him, I'm a non-violent person, but I would have loved to have seen his expression if I'd opened my vest.

I'm always amazed at how some people can be so unnecessarily confrontational. The risks just aren't worth it.

[Brad Johnson]

Aggressive, or just plain stupid?

I vote for Number 2.

Brad

[Gewehr98]

Interesting.  I've been wanting to get a concealed carry permit for my own .45 ACP since I moved back to Wisconsin.  How did you do it, Dick?  (Otherwise, I wouldn't advertise I'm packing heat without a license in a non-CCW state...)

[Monkeyleg]

Gewehr98, do you think the po-po is checking out online forums, trying to identify who the poster is, and then going after him for a Class A misdemeanor?

[Declaration Day]

In that situation, I would have likely responded with a benign "Okay" and a shrug, then gone about my business.   I have been known to respond with "Do you feel better now?".  Either response tends to stump the verbal assailant because, when acting like a jackass, they usually expect you to respond in kind.

I say you handled it perfectly.

Stay safe,
Bryan

[The Rabbi]

I dont think the two are mutually exclusive.  In fact, they might just go hand in hand.

[grampster]

Gewehr,

    Are you not a sworn Deputy Sheriff now?  Are you saying in Wisconsin you need a permit to carry off the job?

Dick,

    You did good.  Any jackass that would follow you into a parking lot to snot on your driving is not worth the time of day.

[Gewehr98]

No.  He's not in my jurisdiction, anyway. 

I just don't want him to get any special attention for something posted on an internet forum, especially since he's quite visible as a lead spokesman for Wisconsin Concealed Carry, something I'd like to see passed after these elections. 

That would hurt things considerably were he popped for illegal carry or brandishment. 

[Chuck Dye]

Tailgaters get it, and give it, in the end.  I generally remind such folk that they are free to pass, stop and take a break, or use another route.  As the driver of an eighteen wheeler that needs seven to nine gears to reach twenty-five miles per hour, I am often signaled by other drivers that I am Number One. 

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

I had a very similar experience a few years back; guy I'm not even aware of follows my family and I up the winding driveway to our church one weekday evening (had a music group practice that night).  He jumps out of his car, frothing at the mouth, and began to analyze my driving vocally.  I politely apologized for causing him any trouble, suggested he drive in another lane or go around someone he gets behind in the future, and went on inside.

In retrospect: If he pursued this situation with me (6'1", 300 or so), he (all 5'5", 120lbs of him) was either coked up, carring concealed, had a death wish, or some combination of the three.

[Monkeyleg]

Gewehr98, I appreciate your concern.

"That would hurt things considerably were he popped for illegal carry or brandishment."

I doubt it. The idea that someone who runs a group that's pushing for concealed carry is caught carrying concealed shouldn't surprise anyone. Besides, when I say "concealed," I mean concealed. I've stood amongst groups of police officers several times, and nobody noticed.

Besides, if some media type wanted to make a big deal out of it, I'd tell them to talk to Democrat Representative ___________, who was an outspoken opponent of our bill, but carries a .357 in his glove compartment. Or Republican Representative ______ who carries a small .38 revolver in his pocket. Or the chief of staff for _______, who has a loaded 9mm in his desk in the Capitol. Or any number of other "important people" who carry every day.

Back to the original topic, though. I'm still amazed by people who willingly engage in confrontations with total strangers. There's no upside to it. It's not like the person being verbally assaulted is going to change his behavior. But there's plenty of downside. In Milwaukee, there's a huge downside potential.

Back when I was young, stupid and rebellious, I did such things. A guy slipped into a parking spot that I obviously was backing into. I got out and jumped on the hood of his car, and started stomping on the windshield and swearing something fierce.

Sometimes I'm amazed that I'm still alive.

[Chuck Dye]

I once had the privilege of observing the following:

Blue haired little old lady in a Cadillac cruising the supermarket parking lot recognizes old geezer in a Mercedes coming the other way down the aisle.  LOL and geezer stop, drivers window to drivers window for a confab.  Twenty-something in a small pick-up passes LOL on her right and parks in parking space hard by the store entrance, enters store.  I park and enter store.

As I am shopping, the LOL finds the pick-up driver in the same aisle I am in and confronts him.  The LOL launches a scathing attack on the pick-up driver for taking "her" parking space.

The pick-up driver, when he finally got a word in, calmly and quietly (so that the LOL had to concentrate to hear) began a Socratic dialog:

P/U driver:  "Do you know who I am?"

Little Old Lady:  "No."

"Do you know anything about me beyond what you have seen and heard tonight?"

"No."

"Let me tell you about my self.

I am NOT a hair trigger psychopath, though you dont know that. 

Because I am not a psychopath, I am not going to follow you home to murder you in your bed tonight.  But you dont know that. 

Because I am not a psychopath, I am not going to follow you home and rig your toilet so that the next person to flush it dies of chlorine poisoning.  But you dont know that. 

Because I am not a psychopath, I am not going to follow you home and burn your house to the ground with you in it.  But you dont know that. 

Because I am not a psychopath, I am not going to do any of the dozens of very nasty things to you that a psychopath might.  But you dont know that.

Now dont you think that, given how little you know about me, that you might be a little more polite?"

The Little Old Lady lost control of her bladder.

In my younger days, I stored that dialog to use as my own, should the opportunity arise.  Now I realize that, of course, it works both ways: the pick-up driver had no idea of what the LOL might be capable of or do.

[Mannlicher]

the last time someone wanted to tell me what they thought of my driving, I looked him right in th eye, and said "now why would I give a XXXX what you think of my driving?"  Leaving him with his mouth open, I turned, and went about my business.