It is either old age or House Syndrome.

So today I took the wife and kid to the store to do a bit of grocery shopping and on the way home I stopped at a gas station to put some fuel in my truck.

While I am standing out there shivering pumping gas this woman in a new shiny SUV pulls up. She jumps out wearing these thin stylish slacks, what appeared to be a silk blouse, and a sweater. She puts the nozzle in the SUV, starts the pump and gets back in. With the wind blowing the way it was it took me a moment to realize she also has left the engine running.

Well I finish getting my gas about the time she starts and go in to pay for it. I inform the cashier that there was a dummy fueling, unattended, and with the engine running. The cashier looked at me like "so". With that encouragement I decide to get the hell out of there before some thing happens and we all turn into well roasted hot dogs.

I wasn't going to say another word but as the woman in the SUV was finished and going inside to pay just as I was walking out something came over me. I stood in the doorway and told her that I have never met anyone whose life's ambition was to be a french fry. She gets this really blank look on her face while freezing her butt off and I explained that leaving a car running while fueling is a good way to start a fire. She then tells me it was too cold to turn her SUV off.

At this point I told her she had to be one of the stupidest people I had ever met. First off it is 4 degrees out with a -17 windchill and she is not wearing at least a warm coat. 2nd in order to keep from being cold she leaves her vehicle running while fueling putting in danger not only herself but everyone else including my 4 year old son who is sitting in my truck with my wife, 3rd the automatic shutoffs on the pump handles have a greater chance of failing in cold weather vs warm weather so she actually increased the chances of causing a disaster.

At this point she pushes me aside and goes in to pay and as I am walking out I shout to her.....Grow a brain.



Now this really is so unlike me. I rarely "speak out of turn" and if I do it is usually extremely polite and diplomatic.

This incident, has left me wondering if I am just turning into a grumpy old man.....OK I am 40 and not exactly OLD, or am I suffering from what can be called House Syndrome (as in the TV show) where chronic long term pain make you caustic in your dealings with others. This also isn't the first time I have done something like this in the last year since no longer having a real pain management. I can't count how many times I have come upon people standing in an aisle at the store, blocking it 100% talking and talking and after being nice and saying excuse me to no good say in loud voice they should go rent a community center if they want to have a reunion (or something like that).

More and more often I am pointing out acts of rudeness and stupidity in a very blunt matter to the ones who are committing them.

Jim,

You are not committing acts of rudeness but rather pointing out acts of rudeness.

I do the same things. Thank you for your contributions.

I have been doing the same thing! I am finding it very hard to keep my mouth shut and I have some rage which I am taking meds for. Its strange.


melissa

I think it says on the gas pumps to turn engins off. do you think it might help to point that out to them that it is there for a reason.

It is not so much me speaking up or out that has me somewhat puzzled, as I think doing so more easily is one of those things that come with age, confidence, etc, it is how I have been doing it lately.

Like I said earlier I used to do so very diplomatically, often as if I was teaching, but here lately I have been very blunt and abrasive about it. The more I think about though I think it is what I termed the House Syndrome. I have been hurting for so long, and lately a lot more than I used to, that I no longer have any tolerance for stupidity.

One thing I do have to admit though. At times it is a little fun being a "jerk" to the real morons of the world.

Jim,
You know I do think some of it comes with aging (and some from UNtreated CP - definitely makes me edgy, to say the least), and you are way younger than me and a few others here (did we all come over on the Mayflower together??? LOL). But I can remember looking at "old" people decades ago and wondering why they didn't seem to care if they had two different color socks on, or whatever, and now I know exactly why! I - and it sounds like I'm not alone - have reached a point where I care very little what others think anymore. Ok, yes, it does get to me now and then, but basically I've got no energy left to worry about it, and that includes worrying about my being assertive. I don't think you were being mean to that woman, just speaking up, and since she didn't seem to get it with your initial comment, what choice but to add a few extra words? Problem is, she'll think YOU'RE the problem because in her mind she's already justified her behavior.

I do think annoying behavior is different from downright dangerous behavior, as hers was. And like WB said, not just dangerous to herself, but to others.

I know a few people who are able to put such a beautiful humorous twist to a comment and still get the point across - and usually make the person the brunt of the joke, or embarassed, while others are laughing. I'm not talking about sarcasm that's biting, I'm talking about the art of being able to find the humor and twist it around to make your point. It is an art, one which I don't have. Good comedians do, though.

Ok, I'm rambling in the wee hours of the morning and of course, the computer has finally let me make more than 1 post. Let's see if this one holds!

PaLady