The Day I Made One Lady’s Bad Morning Worse

Today my gas tank was on empty, so I needed to make a trip to fill ‘er up.  I pull into the gas station and notice that there are only two pumps open that are on the same side of the gas port.  I roll up to it, planning on pulling all the way through, at the same exact time that, we’ll call her ‘Bad Day Becky’, pulls in on the other side who obviously has the same plan as me–to pull all the way through.  We make eye contact, and she proceeds to do throw her arms up in exasperation over my nerve to pull into the same gas port at the same time as her.  Bad Day Becky is probably in her mid-to-late 40’s, and she doesn’t look like the type to react like this.

I get out to pump, and she stays in her car.  Okay…you’re all brave inside your car, and clearly I’m VERY scary, so stay put until I’m done, m’kay?!!  Of course it takes FOREVER to fill the car up, and I glance over at her several times to see that she is talking on her cell phone and avoiding eye contact at all costs.  Finally my tank is filled, so I put the pump back.  Bad Day Becky feels now is a good time to exit her vehicle and to start filling up her tank.  I turn to her because, though I’m VERY scary, I am a nice person at heart.

“I’m sorry I upset you, but we did pull in at the same exact time.”

I didn’t think she heard me because she totally ignored me until she broke out in some weird spasm with really obnoxious eye rolls.

I responded with, “Wow.  That’s how you’re going to act?”

“I’m having a bad morning, okay?” she responds back.

“Lady, you’re not the only one with problems.  My husband got laid off 16 months ago.”

Oh yeah, I dropped the ‘my husband got laid off’ card.  It works.  It does suck that he got laid off.  I’ve hardly slept a restful night since.  That could be from stress from running Modern Bird Studios and ModTots, but for today’s purposes, we’ll blame it on his getting laid off.  So, technically, that means I have had 16 months worth of bad mornings.  My ’suffering’ trumps hers.  Boom.

More weird, exasperated spasms.

I should have gotten all Adam Sandler/Big Daddy on her.  “You’re not mad at me, you’re mad at your father.” And then she would have gotten all Steve Buscemi back, “I am! I am! I hate my father!”

I laugh, get in the car, and drive away.  I just made her bad morning worse, and I didn’t even mean to.  Win?