So of course, the solution is to write about it on a forum. What happened was I've been slaving away in the bedroom the whole day, and I thought to clear my head by taking a drive around the block. While I was waiting for traffic before I made a right turn, an old man from the other side of the road was starting to cross the the street. He got annoyed because I was in his way, so while he was circling my car he also pounded on it. Obviously he'd also been having a bad day, but I was unable to let it go. I'm not a confrontational person and normally I would've let it go, but this time I just couldn't. So I ended up yelling at the old man and giving him the finger. Would've followed him home to TP his house, too, if only I didn't still have a lot of work to do at home. ...just out of curiosity, is pounding on someone else's car technically illegal or is it just bad manner that makes said car owner mad?
I'm not sure if it's illegal, but I would definitely be pissed if someone did it to my car. Don't blame you for flipping him off, to be honest...
Ever notice how much more easily your middle finger sticks up by itself than any of the other fingers? There's a reason for that.
Why else would we come to the forums...but to write about our bad days, of course. The way you handled it is so what I would do. With that said...I would feel badly about it later, as well. As for pounding on the car..I don't know, good question. It should be illegal.
Destruction of property. There's no excuse for that. Old people deserve the finger, probably more often then younger folk.
Back during the Hundred Years' War, the English longbow was one of the most devastating weapons against the French. The French therefore went out of their way to capture bowyers and to cut off their middle fingers, rendering them unable to fire their longbows. They sent back the maimed bowyers to dishearten the English and discourage use of the longbow. It then became a gesture of defiance for the English to raise the hand and extend an undamaged middle finger.
I would've honked at him when he was right in front of me...or revved my engine. (I have a stick...makes it easy to be mean.)
Oh come on Cog, everyone knows that. What they don't know, is that on QI with Stephen Fry, he actually said that it was a myth, and there's no real evidence to support that. Could be wrong, but go figure. *shrug*
You people know everything! haha I love it! I wouldnt feel bad about yelling at him. If he would have made a dent in your hood, then that would have been illegal. I think technically some screwy lawyer could say it was assualt, but that wouldn't be worth the trouble seeing as if there wasnt a mark on the car or a survelliance video or witnesses there wouldn't be a way to prove he touched it. See how much I learned watching The People's Court while on bed rest last summer? haha
I really don't blame you for doing that. He may have been mad, but there's no excuse to just pound on someone's car.
Heehee, I do that to kids when they ride their bikes in front of me and won't get out of my way. Or I yell at them that I'm not afraid to run them over and go to jail to teach them a lesson. Is that too much? :redface: *feels dumb for not knowing that*
I've heard that explanation before, and I always wondered how they made the jump from doing it to the French to doing it to one another.
Because the gesture lasted longer than the French threat, which is to say, 2 1/2 seconds. By the time the finger came down the English had already forgotten why it went up in the first place. All they remembered was feeling angry. Edit: Oh, and the next person to honk at me in a crosswalk has a decent chance of ending up with a 1/16 X 5/16" hole in their hood as I jam my car key through it.
if your car was illegally blocking the crosswalk area, making that old man have to walk around it and thus be in danger of being hit by passing traffic, then i can't blame him for pounding on your car in anger...
You really think that's normal, acceptable behavior? I mean, yeah, the TS shouldn't block a crosswalk, but travel two or three blocks as a pedestrian in my town and it will happen to you. Is it okay to do that every time, then?
Well, you DID block a crossing. What did you expect? In the future, don't give people a reason to thump your car, and don't react so immaturely when you're in the wrong.
I don't think it's ever right to physically retaliate against someone (or their property) for a minor irritation like that. I can see giving the finger. I've given the finger for much lesser offenses, and gotten it back. It's something that you can easily shrug off. But if you freaking touch my car, I don't care what it is that I did wrong. You'll wish you'd stayed home. I mean, if you were walking and someone was standing on the sidewalk and blocking your way, would you punch them in your frustration? Probably not (unless you're a total douchebag). That old dude knew that Ferb wouldn't get out of her car to retaliate, so he had no problem taking out his frustration with a nice safe barrier of glass and metal in the way.
I think giving him the finger is plenty enough. People can be assholes, and it just feels good sometimes to yell back and flip the bird. Don't worry about it, you shouldn't feel guilty. You gotta let that anger out here and there or else it gets stuck bottled up inside you.
I have to admit, there was a time in my younger years when some jackass stopped his car blocking the crosswalk in Boston. Well, it;s not that uncommon, but he really pissed mne off. I hopped up and marched across his hood (fully ready to leap the rest of the way if the car so much as twitched). I think he was too stunned to react.
I agree. It's one thing to be like "thanks for blocking the crosswalk, a**hole" or flip him off, but to hit his car? That crosses a line.
Pounding on the car is absolutely illegal! In California, that is a clear assault, and if there was damage, he'd also be liable for that.
