Yeah, if the guy or gal is alot bigger than me, they get a free pass.


Honestly, I used to let this type of thing get to me. I don't anymore. I figure that someone, somewhere will step up and they will see the error of their ways.

Park ranger?

Hall monitor?

Meter maid?

cub scout merit badge?

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Related story but on a freeway.

I was in the 911 yesterday on I75, just enjoying the weather. Coming up to an entrance ramp I see a new GTO merging in. I noticed it had pretty fat wheels/tires and I could hear the exhaust. I almost expected the driver to do something to "impress" me as his buddies were pointing at me.

I gave him a nod to indicate "nice car" and he must have taken that gesture to mean that I wanted to race. No, uh-uh.

For the next couple of miles he would drop back, rev his engine and all bob their heads as in, "c'mon, let's go". I stayed far away from them as they would roar up to bumpers and then have to fall back. I got off at the next exit and took some side streets to give them time to get far ahead. I didn't need anything bad happening to which another motorist could even think I was involved with them.

The car would have shut mine down with no trouble.

Have you seen the size of Zef?!!!! He is not a small feller.

Two incidents here recently involving firemen who flashed their badges during traffic altercations. Both fired.

I had a guy flash a fake(?) badge at me during a road-rage event (he was raging, not me). I started to follow him and it turned into a full-on road chase. He got away, but I turned in his license plate. Never heard anything, but he would have been arrested for impersonating a police officer had I caught him.

Ah, so then "flash my badge" is actually slang for "whip out my shlong" :cool:


seriously, why does a big guy need A badge to 'win' a stupid confrontation?

There is no upside to a confrontation other than to make yourself feel better by occupying some imagined moral high ground. You will not change the behavior of the other person, and odds are the confrontation will escalate. I have had this happen a few times with the last one being when a jerk did an illegal u-turn to take a parking spot I was obviously waiting for. I pulled up next to him as he got out of the car, rolled down the passenger window and said, "thanks for taking the spot I was waiting for." He responded with expletives, I called him an arsehole, and he started towards my car screaming "you f'ing punk I'm going to kill you" (he was in his 50's). I drove off and he kept running. He was insane.

There is no upside. Jerks persist in the world and there are too many people wound tight waiting to unleash some violence. Just drive on and depend on karma do to its thing. It always does...

I suspect the badge is used to de-fuse a confrontation that is heading in a physical direction... rather than backing down.

No, actually I envisioned you asking Zef to his face to explain what type of badge he has.

Guess it was funnier in my mind than in print.

Depends on the jerk. I probably wouldn't have confronted this guy, but I did the guy sitting next to me on the plane with two phones on, texting during take-off.

I usually just point out that they have taken a handicap parking space. Most people know it is wrong and move. The few that like to try and justify their actions, get ignored. I usually say something along the lines of "Well just though you would like to have known" and I walk off. If they are that narrow minded and self centered Karma usually gets them.
It does tick me off, but I don't let it stay with me.

hmm... well fwiw, I don't go by size of the guy, on determining whether I engage. ...It's more about the "crazy/nothing to lose " quotient.

One of the things I enjoyed about being Fire Chief was the ability to write fire lane and hydrant tickets. Nothing pissed me off more ( and still does) is lazy azz people who cant park in a regular spot to go into a store. Instead they have pull right up to the front door. I could go out on a Sat or Sun morning, pull in front of one of the supermarkets or bagel stores and write a bunch of tickets. Another good spot was one of the dry cleaners. But before someone calls me a prick, I ALWAYS hit my siren and air horns to let them know ahead of time. I always gave them a chance to move their vehicles. I'd do that a few times before they got written up. Now i'm not talking about someone sitting in there car. I'm talking about parking it and getting out.
Of course there was always the defiant ones who would tell me I cant ticket them, or tell me they would be out in a few minutes, so I would just say " OK, no problem. I should be done writing the ticket by time you come out of the store"

Other times , if we had a fire call at a store and a vehicle was parked in the fire lane in front of the store, I would purposely have my trucks block the vehicle in so they cant get. Oh well too bad, you shouldnt have been there.

You got it...Club scout merit's one....:D

Fed.

Who talked about wining...?

People that are 6'6", 285 rarely ever act like asshats. They're usually quite laid back simply because no one messes with them to begin with.

Here in philly if you park in front of a hydrant and a fire truck needs it they smash out your windows and run the hose through your car. Even if there's room to run the hose under or around it.

LOL, i think it's great.

Haaa...now:) you gotta point Bill...!