Warning: This post is about to get completely non-politically correct and probably offensive to some.
It is shocking to me that I work with senior citizens and enjoy it because I completely can not stand them when they are out in the real world (as opposed to in captivity at whichever rehab setting I may be working at at the time).
Here is very annoying anecdote from a Pikesville senior citizens (they are notoriously the worst) today:
I pulled up to a famously long red light (It is an intersection that you have to wait for all four directions to go during one sitting so you can be stuck there for around 5 minutes). Anyway, I decided to call my answering machine while I was sitting there. As I pulled out my cell phone, I noticed a male octogenarian next to me, waving furiously. I thought maybe I had a flat tire or something (which, ironically I did end up having later in the afternoon- on the other side of the car) so I rolled down the window. He started screaming and flailing his arms at me that I should "put that thing away" and that "I was going to kill someone with it."
OK, first of all, last I checked, I was holding a cell phone. Not sure when anyone has ever actually killed someone with a cell phone. But all jesting aside, the main thing is that I was at a very long red light and I was just checking my messages. Besides that, I know this may not be a good answer, but in Maryland it is not illegal to use a cell phone while driving. Ideally, should I have been using an ear piece? Definitely, but as long as that is not the law, I was not violating any of Maryland's wonderful statutes. Therefor, this man really should have just minded his own business.
If I had any guts whatsoever (I never do), I would have yelled at him that he was a lot more likely to kill someone at his age while driving than I was by driving while talking on the phone. I've taken courses on the reduction of peripheral vision as well as the reduced reflexes in the elderly- I am fairly certain that those can't be safe factors in driving. Of course I waited until my window was rolled up to yell this at him (without actually looking at him of course) as well as saying that someone should have taken away his license years ago.
Do me a favor, when I become a mean old lady, just take me to a field very far away, and just leave me there. Thanks in advance.
Posted by peninah at June 27, 2005 03:36 PM | TrackBackMaybe with his impaired vision he thought you were holding a pistol or something.
Or
Maybe he was on a deeper level, insinuating that technology was destroying the human race.
Posted by: blogholer at June 27, 2005 11:07 PM