Curb it

December 9, 2013
For some reason, I seem to attract angry people from time to time.  I suppose we all do because they are out there. When I do, I always attempt to explain myself but as was the case yesterday, my words usually fall on deaf ears.
My mom called me and asked me if I would take her to Fred Meyers to pick up some prescriptions.  Now let me preface this with the fact that my mom is closing on 87 and yesterdays temperature was slightly above zero most of the day.
So, I used Judy's car which is warmer and has heated seats and I drove over and picked her up.  We drove to Freddys talking with the radio on softly playing peaceful Christmas music.
When I arrived, I asked her if she only needed to pick up her prescriptions and she said that she had a couple of other things but not much.  So, I made the decision to drop her off at the door and keep the car warm for her.  Normally, I would go in with her but with the cold, I opted for her comfort first.  I told her that I would be close by where I could see her and would pull back up and pick her up.
I hoped to find a parking spot where I could keep tabs on the door but as I drove around the lot, I saw that was just not going to happen.  Then, I spied a guy parking along the curb waiting.  I looked at the curb and it was yellow.  Now, according to the DMV, yellow curbing is for loading and unloading and is designated primarily for commercial vehicles such as UPS.  But today was Sunday and there is generally no commercial on that day and I figured I could keep my eyes open and if one did by chance, I could always move on.
So, I slid behind him making sure that I was not blocking any avenues or the front of the store.   There is a side street where drivers can pick up prescriptions from and I insured that I was not blocking that either.  Shortly, the guy in front of me picked up his passenger and I then pulled up in his spot.  I still was keeping my eyes open for an open parking spot where I could see the door.
A van pulls along side of me and rolls down his side window.  At first, I thought it was either a friend or a customer who wanted to say hi.  But instead, I turned to find an angry man in his minivan screaming at me.  "Don't you know you are blocking traffic", he screamed.  He called me a couple of choice words while I tried to explain that I was sitting in a yellow zone.  While he yelled a car traveled the opposite direction quite easily which should have showed him that there was plenty of room but did not.  He then flipped me off and drove angrily around the corner.  The roads were quite slippery and I hoped that he would not hit something in his anger.  I would have felt at fault since I was the one he was angry with.
He came walking around the corner just as angry and I prepared for a confrontation.  Instead, he stopped and took a picture with his phone of my license and yelled something else at me.  I rolled down my window and waved for him to come over and speak to me.  He shook his head and walked toward the store. I wanted to explain to him what I was doing thinking it might make him feel better knowing that I was keeping my car warm for my 87 yr old special passenger.
A couple of minutes later, a parking spot with view of the door opened up and I slid into it.   A couple of minutes more, he came back out, walking around looking for me.  Then I thought of the fact that my business name was on the back of the vehicle.  He probably will not be coming into my place of business.  I justified that with his anger, I probably did not want him anyway.
Then I realized that my vehicle was actually a commercial vehicle also.  If I would have been delivering a cater, the yellow zone is just where I would have parked as I unloaded and brought the food inside.  A few years ago, I had actually done just that and parked in that same yellow zone as we catered a event for Freddys.
I actually thought of trying to walk over and talk with him but two things stopped me.   One was that look in his eye.  He did not look like one who was open for discussion.  The other was my mom who was walking out of the building.  I quickly drove over, loaded up her things, and took her home in a nice warm car with heated seats and soft Christmas music playing in the background.