Grandma thinks it's ok to block both lanes of traffic.

[emt]

At wally world today, I turn north to find a parking spot...Grandma is 3/4 the parking row distance and originally heading south. Grandma decides to pull into a spot to her left but stops over my lane and the other lane. Grandma is now blocking both lanes of traffic and cars are behind me waiting; so, I cannot back up.
I now lift my hands up in the air so Grandma can see I have no clue as to what she is doing blocking both lanes. I then move 1 hand forward & backward in a straight line toward the front & rear of my car, hoping she will move off my lane so I may pass her and go to the next isle.
It felt like 4 minutes but probably less with Grandma not budging forward or backward; Grandma now pulls across my lane and into a parking spot by heading East.
I decide oh well I may as well pull into the spot on the West side which was open the whole time but she declined to back up and pull into. Surely Grandma will not say anything as it's her doing blocking the road...
Wrong...Grandma exits her car as I exit mine and immediately starts yelling, "What did you expect me to do?" ......I was now forced to respond or look like a jerk, so I told her I expected you to move forward or backward and clear my lane of traffic....This explanation was not satisfactory as she said someone was standing in the parking spot she was trying to enter (of course she could have simply parked in the West spot that I was now in). As I proceed to walk into the store she is still going strong loudly saying what did you want me to do?
I now look like a jerk with Granny following me....So I now Loudly reply:::"You are a bad driver if you block both lanes of traffic, You are a bad driver if you block both lanes of traffic----There is no excuse----You are a Bad Driver" I now walk rapidly away from Granny, fearing a caning from Granny since everyone is now looking at Granny wondering if she is competent to drive out of the parking lot.....

[moosicman]

This makes me think of something else that bothers me which people do when driving and it is one of my biggest pet peeves. YIELD SIGNS AND STOP SIGNS ARE NOT EQUAL!!!!! IF THEY WOULD HAVE WANTED YOU TO STOP THEY WOULD HAVE PUT UP A STOP SIGN!!! It bugs the CRAP out of me for someone to come up to the end of an on-ramp of a highway or interstate and STOP as if there is a stop sign there. IT'S YIELD YA MORON!!! That means keep going and merge if there is nothing coming!

[TJDiver]

Patience grasshopper...you'll be there one day too.

On a related note...I fell in behind my 83-year old mother-in-law the other day as she was headed home from the store. She was poking along at a very slow pace until she approached a railroad track on a slight incline. That's when the crossing alarms started sounding, and she gunned it, almost pulling a Dukes of Hazard manuever as she crossed the tracks. I thought to myself, "Maw's still got it."...only to find out later, that the crossing bells and lights startled her, and she hit the gas by mistake. Now, we're worried, and discussing the best approach to maybe taking her keys. That's not an encounter I'm looking forward to experiencing, as she's a right scrappy octogenarian.

[Vercingetorix]

Originally Posted by TJDiver

Now, we're worried, and discussing the best approach to maybe taking her keys. That's not an encounter I'm looking forward to experiencing, as she's a right scrappy octogenarian.

The DMV is your friend.

My father was a hazard on the highways. Rather than confronting him, we contacted the DMV and explained the situation. So, the DMV called him in for a "random" driving proficiency exam. He failed, of course. License and keys pulled. It was our family's dirty little secret until the day he died.

[TJDiver]

Originally Posted by Vercingetorix

The DMV is your friend.

My father was a hazard on the highways. Rather than confronting him, we contacted the DMV and explained the situation. So, the DMV called him in for a "random" driving proficiency exam. He failed, of course. License and keys pulled. It was our family's dirty little secret until the day he died.

I dunno...it might be considered a federal offense inflicting that much carnage on our local DMV.

Seriously tho...thanks for the tip...it might come in handy in our near future.

[rayaa3]

"...I now walk rapidly away from Granny, fearing a caning from Granny..."

She sounds like an Okie grandma. I moved here from Austin about 9 years ago. I remember after I got here nearly being run off the freeway by a run-a-way "me-maw" in a 25ft caddy. After getting straightened out, I looked across 3 lanes of traffic to see who was getting paid to try and kill me (seemed like a logical assumption in the moment), and I see this ~74 year old woman, giving me the finger.

That's one of the moments I had an epiphany about Oklahoma.

The other two both involved livestock on the roadway.

9 years later, I'm still here, which only proves that a cheap cost of living carries a long way.

[nrembis]

My Grandpa was getting that way driving....I went with him to pick something up one day, didnt turn out well....ended up being the first time I ever let out the GD word or F word in front of him, made him quit driving and I drove home, scared me half to death...took his keys not long afterwards, sometimes they just dont need to be on the road.

[emt]

Rayaa3:::I looked across 3 lanes of traffic to see who was getting paid to try and kill me (seemed like a logical assumption in the moment), and I see this ~74 year old woman, giving me the finger.

[Doug B]

What I hate the most is folks who don't know how to negotiate a four way stop.

They come to their stop sign, clearly a second or two before I do. They should go first. I've always been told that a "tie" goes to the guy on the right... but to avoid a "tie", many times I will intentionally slow down, and allow the other guy to reach his stop sign significantly sooner than me.

Instead of going, like they should, they sit there, waiting for me to go first.... after what seems like ten seconds of me waiting, they wave me thru.

I become the jerk then.... I don't move. I sit there and look at them, shaking my head no. I make them go first.

[rednose83]

Originally Posted by moosicman

This makes me think of something else that bothers me which people do when driving and it is one of my biggest pet peeves. YIELD SIGNS AND STOP SIGNS ARE NOT EQUAL!!!!! IF THEY WOULD HAVE WANTED YOU TO STOP THEY WOULD HAVE PUT UP A STOP SIGN!!! It bugs the CRAP out of me for someone to come up to the end of an on-ramp of a highway or interstate and STOP as if there is a stop sign there. IT'S YIELD YA MORON!!! That means keep going and merge if there is nothing coming!

This is my personal favorite. Nothing like trying to merge onto the interstate where people are going 70+ from a dead stop!