A Very Angry Infiniti

Dear VERY Angry Silver Infiniti….

I had a very scary experience at the Lehigh Valley Mall the other day. And it’s really bothered me. I have debated blogging about this, but in the hope that someone will think a little bit before acting out, here goes…

Several days ago I was driving to the Lehigh Valley Mall. I exited Route 22 for Route 145, and as many of you know, there are two exit lanes. One stays straight into the Lehigh Valley Mall entrance and the other continues straight down Route 145.

I was the only car exiting the highway. As I was heading into the mall I did not attempt to change lanes. I always check to see if anyone is coming because I have a small child. I did not see anyone. As I moved forward, I heard someone blowing their horn at me.  He continued to blow his horn at me as he moved into the lane behind me. Honestly, I did not see him. I checked but he must have been in my blind spot as I exited because I could not see him.

But I proceeded into the mall entrance. The couple in the silver Infiniti proceeded to FOLLOW me into the mall and around the parking lot. As I realized they were following me around the parking lot, I searched for Security. There was none to be found. 

After they trailed me through the parking lot for the outdoor section and into the parking lot in front of JC Penney’s, I pulled over in front of Penney’s. He pulled alongside me and began to SCREAM at me about being on my phone, not paying attention etc. His wife was next to him yelling at me as well. I had my 2-year-old in the back. When she began to cry, my window got rolled up, and I pulled away. And I hunted out security, but of course by then the silver Infiniti was gone.

And it shook me up. But it made me mad too. I admit I did not see him. I wasn’t on my phone. I had my phone in my car but wasn’t on it. I never talk on my phone and drive at the same time. Sometimes I play the iPod for my child but I never talk on the phone. I don’t know if he mistook the iPod for a phone or what. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that he basically chased me through the parking lot to scream at me about not yielding.

I admit it, I didn’t see him. And if he hadn’t been screaming at me, I might have apologized. IF HE HADN’T CHASED ME THROUGH THE PARKING LOT. But seriously, you follow someone through a parking lot and harass them because of a failure to yield. Did it cause an accident? No. Did it inconvenience the driver by about 10 seconds? Yes. But it took him longer to follow me around and scream than to just get behind me and park.

And to make matters worse, he scared my child. And that made me MAD. I stewed about it for quite awhile. So, my angry thoughts went something like this -- what kind of crazy chases a mother and child through a parking lot to scream about a phone and failure to yield? Who lets their husband do that? (I would be divorced). What kind of angry person do you have to be to do something like that? I mean, I get aggravated in the car, but I have never, ever contemplated pulling something like that. His karma is in the negatives (which secretly makes me happy). And I’m pretty sure he must make his wife’s life pretty miserable if she just sat there and let him do it. Control freak?

I am only blogging about it because I hope people read this and think about it the next time they beep or make rude hand gestures and totally flip. It scared me. It scared my child. And that made me mad.

Have we totally lost our minds that a minor failure to yield leads to being chased through a parking lot and subjected to harassment? Have we gone so far down the path past civility that we treat each other like this? Seriously people? My hope for humanity was seriously diminished the other morning. And I can only hope we can read this and remember to be a little more patient and tolerant with each other.