Not a mess with story, but still a funny road rage one. Had a relative driving on a 4 lane road. They need to make a left somewhere (but not at light), they slowed because they though they need to turn “here” but then realized no, its down “there” just a little bit. Now keep in mind this is a small business/houses and apartments kinda area where the speed limit is 35 and the cops enforce it, not some major high speed highway. Well some road rage dude just wasn’t having any of this dawdling, so he pulls up beside them on the right, screaming and yelling and giving the bird. And, not just a short burst either. He should have kept it short though because he rear ended sombody else who was stopped to make a right turn in the right lane.
…while he LAUGHED?! Yep. He deserved it.
Lotsa times. So?
Personally, I’m grateful for the people who didn’t enable me, who held me accountable. Including the people whose reporting of my behavior got me to the attention of authorities. And I had a LOT of authorities paying attention to me. Some with badges. Some with judicial robes.
Those are called wake-up calls, and a wise person heeds them. It wasn’t until I took personal responsibility that I got well. that included discharging my debts, making other restitution, making direct amends wherever possible, and changing my behavior.
That enough SaG for you?
He said he was in Ocean City, right? Dealing with drunken assholes is the raison d’etre for the Ocean City police.
Ratting out a kid to the police who yells a curse word at you is now considered badass?
Was it just yelling a curse word or was it also because of the implied threat to run over a kid with their car?
Reading the OP over, I find no use of the word “badass” nor any suggestion that the OP considers himself “badass.” In fact, the OP makes a point of saying this wasn’t a Clint Eastwood moment. While some of the stories in this thread describe some pretty “badass” behavior, making someone sorry they fucked with you does not by definition entail acting in a “badass” manner.
Oh yeah, right. Like they seriously intended to run the kid over with their car.
“Hey guys, before we unpack our beach umbrellas, let’s run this guy’s kid over!”
Please.
The real badass thing about it was how controlled I was. Normally when somebody ticks me off it ends with bodies and explosions (my real life adventures inspired the Die Hard series of films.)
What makes it badass is that I was so restrained and appropriate.
It does when you set it up like he did. I’m sure those kids are real sorry, having to listen to a cop for 5 minutes. Set those buggers straight, I’m sure!
Pretending to use your vehicle as a weapon can quickly become inadvertently using your vehicle as a weapon. You don’t fuck around when you’re driving a car.
Back when I was about 15 I started working at a Harley shop. The owner told me up front that when it came to the 1%ers I was going to have to find my own way; he would NOT fight my battles for me. One dude, officer in one of the “name” clubs, tried to duck his bill and just ride off. He got to the end of the street to find his brakes were out. After basically dumping it and then walking it back to the shop he gave me this “My fucking brakes are out” I replied with “Funny - folks who pay for their work rarely have that problem”. He started at me and I pulled myself up to my full height (which ain’t much) - and he backed away. He later told me he saw something happen my eyes that looked a whole lot like a casket - that I was ready at that moment to kill or be killed and I didn’t care which. Never had a problem with him or any of his brothers after that. Been a few times over the ages my eyes have gotten that look; not a bad little talent to have.
I think everyone has the potential. I saw the same kind of thing on a housewife once. Its interesting to see.
But hard to develop. At least for me, what with the eyes rolling back in the sockets and the dead faint and all.
Have you ever shared your troubled past with the patients/prisoners that you too often seem to hold yourself above?
YOU could have been one of them, and I get the feeling from your many posts about the charges you have in your care that you somewhat enjoy lording your status and authority above them, instead of showing empathy or compassion. There but for the grace of God and all that, right?
My past is no secret to my patients, though I avoid personal disclosure as a rule, as 10% of my patients are psychopaths, and I don’t always know which they are. Even so, the prison grapevine keeps even the new guys well-informed about my history. As such, I’ve had a number of patients come to me specifically, asking for information and help with their addictions.
And I do spend a lot of time giving all appropriate patients pertinent, non-judgemental information about the medical disease of chemical dependency. It’s not my mandate to treat them for that, that falls within our dept. of behavioral medicine. But they get pertinent medical facts about it from me. That includes the necessity of taking personal responsibility for their disease and their actions.
And I’m well aware that I could be a patient in my institution, not an employee. It was thanks to both ‘tough love’ on the part of others and my own facing up to the truth and making changes that prevented that. I see far too many people fail on both those counts, being enabled and blaming everyone but themselves.
And I reject your assertion that I enjoy “lording status and authority” over my patients. Such behavior would be pathetic, given the inherent disparity in status between any incarcerated felon and civilian employee. You got a cite for that very offensive allegation? :dubious:
But when I get a patient who threatens not only my nurse, but her kids, my empathy and compassion goes to my nurse, not my patient.
And when I get sued yet again, for “violating” a patient’s “constitutional right to be free of pain” because I don’t agree that he needs oxycodone for his horrible back pain (which doesn’t keep him off the basketball court), I will decompress and vent by pointing out such egregious behavior either to my peers, or in an anonymous manner at places like this, or both.
Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?
As it should; I certainly wasn’t faulting you for that in any possible way.
My point was you mentioned a new prisoner (5 DUI’s) and it occurred to me that someone with a heavy duty drug addiction in their past had likely committed the same crime on many occasions and maybe shouldn’t be casting stones.
I am not trying to denigrate the very challenging work that you doubtlessly perform day to day, in less than ideal surroundings; I have read your posts for years, and have always hoped that your personal struggles would make you an advocate for the prisoners that are in your care who are after all, in many cases, fighting against some of the same demons that you yourself once were faced with.
Too late to edit—I can understand how you (or anyone else, myself included) would maybe naturally put themselves on a higher moral plane than a murderer or a child molester, but I have driven drunk, as have many, MANY others reading this post, and never had to face the consequences, and I guess that I figure that I am not really any better, in an ethical sense, than a guy who happens to get caught.
I did read where the specific prisoner I am referring to badly injured someone, which is a whole different story, but the point is that there are certain crimes (mostly so-called “victimless crimes” but crimes nonetheless) that I don’t feel that I am in a position to judge others too harshly for…
Finally, I am sure that you are a fine Doctor and do what you think is best for your patients, and I apologize for my earlier comments that offended you.
MPB
I’d hardly call that casting stones. That’s pointing out the inevitable progression of the disease if remission is not achieved.
Rather than suffer an incident where I physically hurt someone (whether in an MVA due to impaired driving, or harming a patient due to impaired practice) due to my addiction, I’d want to have someone nail me to the wall before I did so, and help me hit bottom and recover (which is how it worked out.)
To do as my one patient did, to not get the message after 4 previous DUIs and jail time and mandated alcohol treatments, and to commit a 5th DUI and injure someone else would be anathema to me.
So the guy’s doing hard time for that. And that is a logical consequence of his behavior. I’m okay with that. I’m grateful it wasn’t me, but it could have been. And it would also have been just, had it been me. But the guy can still find recovery, and change for the better. He won’t be in forever. He can choose to change. Many of us did.
That’s an awfully broad brush you’re painting with there.
I had a pill addiction and a serious binge drinking problem. I never drove at all during that time. I still tell people I don’t care if you drink and drug yourself into the gutter, but if you get behind the wheel you might as well take out a gun and start shooting people.