Parking Rage and then silent

[HandItOver]

I have had the strangest experience this morning.
I went for a small food shop thinking if I went early, it might be quiet. HA! What a fool!
I have DC 4months with me, need to use buggy, he hates the carrier for some reason.

Im driving round looking for a parent and child space, one becomes free I pull up just in Front of it, blinkers on and go to reverse in. In the meantime some twit of woman with a little sporty car goes to pull into it while I’m reversing. I beep as I assumed she hadn’t seen me.

Here’s where it gets weird imo, she started shouting out the window and calling me a silly bitch, she pulls out of the space and up next to me. I’m still just trying to reverse in the sodding space around this lady.
Shes shouting something and I thought I’m going to have to wind down the window or she’s not going to move back to allow me the space to swing the car in.

She continues her tirade of crap and at this point baby kicks off, great fun. She gets in zooms off round the car park.

I see her as I’m walking in and I spoke to her as I thought she hadn’t realised it was parent and child “I am sorry you wanted that space, I needed the parent and child spot to get my baby out with some room”.

She said and I quote “Do you want a prize for opening your legs or something” 😳

and that was the end of that.
Flabbergasted, who just lives life with this much rage!

A friend who is a psychiatrist has a theory that people who routinely exhibit road rage were particularly poor drivers when they were first learning. They are therefore reliving the fear that they are not as good as everyone else, and therefore are going to lose out, and that this then makes them lash out at how mean and unfair everyone else is being.

@user143677433 this supports my belief that some people are unfit to drive.

I see her as I’m walking in and I spoke to her as I thought she hadn’t realised it was parent and child “I am sorry you wanted that space, I needed the parent and child spot to get my baby out with some room”.

Why on earth did you say sorry to someone who called you ‘silly bitch’ and tried to bully you out of a space?

I’d have spoken to her to tell her she was a rude, aggressive bitch, I sure as hell wouldn’t have apologised or explained.

Bad habit I think, I apologise a lot !

When I drove, I always preferred to reverse in, but it seemed that people had no awareness I was going to do that, or even that it exists as a concept. In supermarket car parks etc, I gave up because people just didn't seem to have a clue. This was years ago so I imagine it's worse now.

Misogyny at its finest.

When I drove, I always preferred to reverse in, but it seemed that people had no awareness I was going to do that, or even that it exists as a concept

See, I get that people aren't expecting it in the supermarket car park. I reverse park in most places but not there, because if someone parks on both sides of you it makes it awkward to get heavy full shopping bags in between the cars to the boot. Boot facing out every time so I can push the trolley right up to it.

@FuntCase

i actually laughed out loud to ‘flap your gums’ 😂😂

It sounds as though you had an encounter with an entitled twat

I had something similar happen a month or so ago. I was walking my dog, on the homeward stretch, and was coming up to cross a small side road which has a club car park off it. I see a white car in the car park and thought it was a learner driver by how far they stopped away from the junction and we get a lot around here. Then, by the position of the car I thought they were going to turn right so I started to cross at an amble. They then turned left towards me so I had to speed up.
As I was crossing, I was muttering to my dog (I do it a lot) why didn't they indicate! Anyway, I'm almost on the other side of the road and see she is gesticulating and shouting. I thought she was maybe lost so I stopped. She wound down the window and shouted 'What did you say?' So I said 'I just wished you'd indicated' and was about to say so I didn't need to rush across the road, but she started shouting that she didn't hit me did she? you aren't hurt are you? and some other stuff and ended with so shut your fucking mouth! before driving off! I was really shocked and it put a bit of a dampener on the end of my walk.
I just thought that maybe she was having a bit of a bad day, didn't know the area and was possibly late and I just happened to be there.

Or she was just a grumpy bitch🤔

@HoppingPavlova literally not possible in a lot of places. Infant car seats are huge and not always the simplest to get in and out, the door needs to be fully open. I drive a normal sized car (not suv etc) and I can only manage that if I park the non baby side right up against the edge of the space, which then prevents the next person getting in their car. When I was a kid in the 80s these sorts of seats didn't exist (and fewer cars around) but now they are required by law. And even car seats for bigger kids have sides you need to get child round, into the seat and strap them in. Physically not possible with mine, aside from 1 further away supermarket which just generally has bigger spaces. So if the 15 P&C spaces are full at my local, I park the other end of the large car park where I'm basically guaranteed no one will park either side of my car.

And your response was

well as long as well mannered people like me are reproducing and not ignorant people like you - humans might continue to exist in the future ….

In remind me of the long long queue at the Tesco petrol station and this woman just pulled around the front and reversed through the exit as someone had just pulled out and a guy said

• you’ve just come in the no entry exit and the queue is that side

her response I haven’t got time to wait in a queue

then her jumping up and down as the Tesco attendant refused to authorise the pump for her - someone else blocked her in whilst the argument was raging and she was screaming. People got out of their cars to watch mouths open.

some nice bloke thought she might be having a bad day or bad news and brought her out a cup of tea from the costa machine and she flung it across the petrol station.

it was just baffling. I mean baffling.

I wish I had thought of something ragging than just gawking at her 😂

reasonable response would’ve been no I don’t want a prize, just a parking space will do!

We should turn this into “What would your comeback have been” thread im loving these

Responses

well at least the child came out of vagina unlike the words coming out of your mouth / they are clearly from another orifice

a prize would have been much deserved instead I have to put up with twats like you

the baby didn’t come out between my legs - sun roof only

trying to think of something funny 😁 failing sorry

There's a lot of strange people out in the world. The best response is no response.

Only today I was in a womens clothes shop, and there was an older lady in there with her husband, who was perhaps 65. He kept wolf-whistling. Like a full on "twit twoooo!" wolf whistle. I kept hearing him, and came to the conclusion he must have a verbal tic or something. Because in no world is it appropriate for a middle aged man to be constantly loudly wolf-whistling in an exclusively womens clothing store?! Bizarre.

I would have loved to respond with “well yes my prize was that parking spot”

Lots of people park in those spots, without children and if challenged, are almost invariably aggressive. When my DD was small enough for us to use them, I asked a guy in a van to move and let us in. He shouted and swore, offered to fight me, brandishing a plumber's wrench!

And I was reversing into a spot, when a woman shot in from the main drag (the spot was right on the end). I had to brake and wound my window down to say, "Scuse me, that's a parent and small child spot I was reversing into." Politely.

She said, "No it's not, I always park there." The sign was right in front of her! She then waved an NHS ID card on a lanyard, and pulled a face at me.

Parking definitely gives people the rage.

There's always one.

We don't live in that time anymore and progress is meant to mean a better standard for all. Why should we continue to make lives harder for ourselves (or more pertinently, others) solely on the premise that you managed so therefore no-one else can possibly benefit from higher standards or comfort.

Did you build yourself an outside toilet because your mother managed with one?

hobbledyhoy

We don't live in that time anymore and progress is meant to mean a better standard for all.

Well, quite. Sadly, it seems that courtesy has been kicked out by self entitlement.

@HoppingPavlova

Cars are definitely bigger now than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Car seats are also larger and are used for longer.

Those points aside, trying to steal any parking space that someone is already reversing into is unacceptable and what the woman said to op was disgustingly misogynistic.

Someone attacked my car with some broccoli the other week in the Lidl park.

I was waiting in a normal space for oh who was in the shop getting milk. Crazy lady though I shouldn’t be taking up a space. I told her to go away and mind her own business. She whipped out her veg.

Thankfully no damage done otherwise I’d have called the police.

I might put it on Insta lol.

Made me laugh 😂 What a nutter attacking you car with a cruciferous. I’d love to see the walk of shame back into the shop to replaced now smashed up broccoli

' well I bet your mum regrets opening hers'.
Although it's probably best to just ignore and not stoop down to her level.
Shes just a horrible individual that is not worth the head space.

"I think P&C spaces should be further from the shop with a safe walkway. This would stop the lazy cunts from parking in them."

One of our local supermarkets has this - they're down the side of the supermarket, so lots of the main car park is nearer the front door, but there's nothing to cross to get from the spaces to the entrance. Seems a very sensible arrangement.

Me - I'm bad at parking, so I opt for the furthest-away spaces where there's plenty of space. But then, I was so late to driving that I'm used to having to walk from the bus-stop to my destination, so parking a couple of streets away doesn't bother me.