I can’t believe I was just talking about road rage being on the increase a couple of days ago and today my parents were subjected to what I can only term as shameful behaviour.
My parents were looking for a parking space in the local shopping mall this morning. The mall near their place is huge and it is always incredibly difficult to get parked.
My Dad saw a spot and had partly driven into it when another driver came from nowhere claiming the space was hers. My Dad hadn’t seen her before driving into the space. He was not aware anyone else had dibs on the space but she was carrying on so much he actually offered to give it to her.
By this stage the other driver was completely off her head and was swearing and shouting at my parents. My parents are both in their 70s and while neither of them are shrinking violets, they are not used to such public altercations.
Anyway, the woman refused the offer of the space and drove off shouting out her window: ‘You’ll be sorry for this you %%##@@!’ My Mum and Dad shrugged but forgot about it soon afterwards.
When they returned from doing their shopping both of their front doors had deep scratches running the full length of the door. My Mum said they were so deep she could actually fit a fingernail in the groove.
Am I jumping to conclusions in thinking the irate driver scratched my parents car?
She was a woman in her mid to late 30s, well-dressed in a black SUV. Can you imagine treating an elderly couple in such a way just because you didn’t get a parking space?
I am so angry right now that if I came across her I would ram her car and if I saw her car in the street I would torch it. How dare she?
My Dad called the Police but because he had been too flustered to get the woman’s license plate the Police will have to rely on CCTV footage to try and track her down.
My Dad can have the scratches repaired on his insurance but he will have to pay the excess. A hefty $550.00. A very expensive trip to the shopping mall.
Sometimes I wonder what drives people to behave so irrationally over something as insignificant as a parking space. My mum’s voice was shaking when I was talking to her on the phone and afterwards I felt like weeping. My parents are getting to that age where all I want to do is protect them. I don’t want anything bad to happen to them, you know? If I ever catch that woman, she is going to rue the day.
