This list is isn't in any sort of worst to best order. Or bad to worse in this case. It's just a list of things that people do in or to their cars while they are out in traffic or around town that just leaves me scratching my head or generally annoyed at the human race. lol
1. Post Office Pause. I don't know about the Post Offices where the rest of you readers live, but around here all of the Post Offices have outside mail boxes at the exit from the parking lots. In theory this is a great idea. It allows people who just need to drop off a letter or bill to be mailed to do it quickly and easily without having to get out of their car and come into the Post Office. In the real world, however, never underestimate the potential of stupid people to do stupid things. More than a few times I have been trying to leave the Post Office and had to sit and wait behind some idiot who has pulled up to the drop boxes and is just sitting there like they aren't sure what to do. It's a mail box you morons. Put your envelops in the slot and get out of the way. How hard is that? I have actually been behind a pickup truck that pulled up to the boxes and stopped. The driver side window came down. Nothing. Then the passenger actually got out, came around the truck, put mail in the box, got back in the truck and then they drove off. Apparently the idiot actually driving the truck was incapable of reaching through his open window and doing that. Amazing.
2. Music man. This annoying practice is almost always carried out by a young guy, but on occasion you will see a young woman taking part in it. This is the guy who is next to you at the light and has his preferred brand of music cranked up as loud as he can possibly stand it without actually rupturing his ear drums. It doesn't matter what type of music it is either. I've heard it all. Rock, rap, techno, country, pop, heck I've even been sitting next to a guy who was blasting the soundtrack to Star Wars I sh** you not. At any rate, as soon as the light changes, mister music man will be the one that must slam the gas in his POS 96 Dodge Dynasty or what ever sort of junk heap of a car he is driving. (Strangely enough you almost never see someone in a brand new Porsche or Corvette doing this.) The point is, it's time for him to drive like a complete idiot in traffic while blasting his music. For those of you out there that have done or regularly do this, allow me to let you in on a little secret. You - are - not - cool. I know you think you're cool. I know you think that everyone in traffic around you is watching you and thinking "Man, that guy is f**king cool." No we aren't. We are just thinking that you are a silly douche bag that needs to turn the music down and quit ragging out your POS car. No one is impressed.
3. Ruining a perfectly good car. The other night I was stopped at a gas station to get a drink and when I came out of the store there was a 1987 Mustang GT at one of the pumps. What's so unusual about that right? Just that the car was completely stock and looked brand new. It still had the original Mustang wheels. It was red and the paint looked really good which is very surprising for a red car that is over 20 years old. Even the interior was in good shape. The only thing this guy had changed was the addition of an aftermarket stereo in the dash. I took the opportunity to congratulate him on keeping the car in such good condition and not turning it into some rolling automotive offense by way of adding a big giant stupid wing or a set of wheels that has no business on a Mustang or three different colors of fender and one of them just gray primer. This obviously isn't something that we see just on old Mustangs. In fact around here its far more common to see a 10 year old Honda Civic that some kid had decided was going to be his dream tuner car. That is until he got involved in the process of actually turning his mild mannered Civic into a tuner car and discovered that it costs a lot of money to actually do that and do it properly. The end result is a lot of half way finished or not even half way finished cars that have primer colored body kits hanging off of them and sound like a bug zapper on overload. The interiors usually look like a bomb went off because they had big plans to install some outlandish interior in the car and started ripping their stock interior out before they realized that the aftermarket interior they had designs on was going to cost them 5 or 6 grand and they have like 200 bucks to their name. Opening the hood will likely reveal a tangled mess of ill advised attempts to wire in this option or that option and mostly just reminds us why we don't buy cars that have previously been the property of some tuner boy. For any of you tuner guys that might be reading this, some free advice. If you don't have at least 20 grand in the bank to put on your car and pursue your dream of making it a kick a** tuner, don't bother. All you're going to do is ruin a perfectly good car. Your best bet is to leave it stock.
That's about all I can think of for now. Well the truth is I could think of some more, but this post is obviously running long already and I don't expect you guys to spend too much time reading my silly complaints. lol Hey, I'm a grouchy old bastard, what can I say. At any rate, if any of you have any other "why the heck do people do that" sort of stories, feel free to add them here. I'd love to read them.
1. Post Office Pause. I don't know about the Post Offices where the rest of you readers live, but around here all of the Post Offices have outside mail boxes at the exit from the parking lots. In theory this is a great idea. It allows people who just need to drop off a letter or bill to be mailed to do it quickly and easily without having to get out of their car and come into the Post Office. In the real world, however, never underestimate the potential of stupid people to do stupid things. More than a few times I have been trying to leave the Post Office and had to sit and wait behind some idiot who has pulled up to the drop boxes and is just sitting there like they aren't sure what to do. It's a mail box you morons. Put your envelops in the slot and get out of the way. How hard is that? I have actually been behind a pickup truck that pulled up to the boxes and stopped. The driver side window came down. Nothing. Then the passenger actually got out, came around the truck, put mail in the box, got back in the truck and then they drove off. Apparently the idiot actually driving the truck was incapable of reaching through his open window and doing that. Amazing.
2. Music man. This annoying practice is almost always carried out by a young guy, but on occasion you will see a young woman taking part in it. This is the guy who is next to you at the light and has his preferred brand of music cranked up as loud as he can possibly stand it without actually rupturing his ear drums. It doesn't matter what type of music it is either. I've heard it all. Rock, rap, techno, country, pop, heck I've even been sitting next to a guy who was blasting the soundtrack to Star Wars I sh** you not. At any rate, as soon as the light changes, mister music man will be the one that must slam the gas in his POS 96 Dodge Dynasty or what ever sort of junk heap of a car he is driving. (Strangely enough you almost never see someone in a brand new Porsche or Corvette doing this.) The point is, it's time for him to drive like a complete idiot in traffic while blasting his music. For those of you out there that have done or regularly do this, allow me to let you in on a little secret. You - are - not - cool. I know you think you're cool. I know you think that everyone in traffic around you is watching you and thinking "Man, that guy is f**king cool." No we aren't. We are just thinking that you are a silly douche bag that needs to turn the music down and quit ragging out your POS car. No one is impressed.
3. Ruining a perfectly good car. The other night I was stopped at a gas station to get a drink and when I came out of the store there was a 1987 Mustang GT at one of the pumps. What's so unusual about that right? Just that the car was completely stock and looked brand new. It still had the original Mustang wheels. It was red and the paint looked really good which is very surprising for a red car that is over 20 years old. Even the interior was in good shape. The only thing this guy had changed was the addition of an aftermarket stereo in the dash. I took the opportunity to congratulate him on keeping the car in such good condition and not turning it into some rolling automotive offense by way of adding a big giant stupid wing or a set of wheels that has no business on a Mustang or three different colors of fender and one of them just gray primer. This obviously isn't something that we see just on old Mustangs. In fact around here its far more common to see a 10 year old Honda Civic that some kid had decided was going to be his dream tuner car. That is until he got involved in the process of actually turning his mild mannered Civic into a tuner car and discovered that it costs a lot of money to actually do that and do it properly. The end result is a lot of half way finished or not even half way finished cars that have primer colored body kits hanging off of them and sound like a bug zapper on overload. The interiors usually look like a bomb went off because they had big plans to install some outlandish interior in the car and started ripping their stock interior out before they realized that the aftermarket interior they had designs on was going to cost them 5 or 6 grand and they have like 200 bucks to their name. Opening the hood will likely reveal a tangled mess of ill advised attempts to wire in this option or that option and mostly just reminds us why we don't buy cars that have previously been the property of some tuner boy. For any of you tuner guys that might be reading this, some free advice. If you don't have at least 20 grand in the bank to put on your car and pursue your dream of making it a kick a** tuner, don't bother. All you're going to do is ruin a perfectly good car. Your best bet is to leave it stock.
That's about all I can think of for now. Well the truth is I could think of some more, but this post is obviously running long already and I don't expect you guys to spend too much time reading my silly complaints. lol Hey, I'm a grouchy old bastard, what can I say. At any rate, if any of you have any other "why the heck do people do that" sort of stories, feel free to add them here. I'd love to read them.
:lol:
