Seinfeld, Fried Green Tomatoes Collide in Park Cities
Like most of Dallas, I was Partners Card shopping last Saturday. I was going north on Preston, headed to Orvis to buy a Christmas present for my brother, and spotted a parallel parking space right in front. I pulled over, put the car in reverse and proceeded to park.
Then, in my rear-view camera, I spy a white Porsche (heading south on Preston) that had crossed over three lanes of traffic pulling into my space. I sat there stunned and watched her try to maneuver her car into my space. As luck would have it, I pulled forward and found a better space. As more luck would have it, she was headed into Orvis too. She had to face me.
She looked at me and said (with a high-pitched, whiny voice), “Sorry, I thought there were two spaces.” Really? There was a fire hydrant. I responded with a big smile and simply said, “OK.”
My question — why do some people think they are so entitled? Is it the Porsche? Is it their age (she was probably mid-30s to mid-40s)? Is it money? Or is it just that they were raised wrong?
Tell me — what has happened to manners?
7 comments to "Seinfeld, Fried Green Tomatoes Collide in Park Cities"
Kind words and daggers for eyes are often effective to make your point.
The answer to your question, which I suspect was rhetorical by how your tipped the nature of your social viewpoint, is that they where just raised wrong. No doubt that was very bad behavior, but people’s sense of entitlement comes in all colors, sexes, ages, and economic circumstances. My observation is that one’s reaction to entitlements depends on if one is on the paying end or the receiving end.
I wouldn’t quibble for a minute that civility seems to have become a lost art, but I’d suggest this isn’t at all unique to rich middle aged women. A cynical reader could conclude that it applies equally to a biased journalist making a generalization that the profile of her readership is ill-mannered and self-entitled.
Have you seen Fried Green Tomatoes? Let me set the scene. Kathy Bates is looking for a parking space in a crowded parking lot, finds one and someone else takes it.
Kathy Bates: Hey! I was waiting for that spot!
Girl #1: Face it, lady, we’re younger and faster!
[Kathy Bates rear-ends the other car six times]
Girl #1: What are you *doing*?
Girl #2: Are you *crazy*?
Kathy Bates: Face it, girls, I’m older and I have more insurance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx0z9FjxP-Y.
It would not have mattered if the driver had been male or female, black, white, green or blue. I would not have cared if she had driven an Infiniti, an El Camino or a split pea green/yellow Datsun B210. This could have taken place in Atlanta, Portland, Red Oak or Plano.
What she did was wrong, not to mention illegal. And I just wondered what makes people think they can act this way and get away with it by simply saying so……rry.
Leave a Reply