Shawn, waitaminute. “If you cut me off in traffic, then you’ll probably get the finger. If you clearly demonstrate that you do not possess any elevator etiquette, then it will be obvious by the look on my face. That kind of stuff.”

What would I do if someone: 1. cut me off in traffic or 2. ignored elevator etiquette? Let’s see.

Probably depends on my mood. My wife says I’m moody. So, good mood, nothing. Bad mood, probably cuss the driver (of course while in my car, out of earshot of the driver because I’m a wussy) and say something directly to the ass for not learning elevator etiquette. It is VERY important. Unless you only go into one story buildings.

That they piss him off is clear, but they probably annoy you too. So you would shrug it off (as would most of us). That’s what Shawn did as well, though he vents about it afterward.

But if he was going to do something, what would it be? Mumble “idiot” under his breath or pull out his Glock? All you Texas guys have Glocks, right?

Sure, things bother me. When it happens, I recognize it and appreciate it. If I sense an imminent threat, I deal with it. If it’s not, I let it go and get on with my life. As a general rule, bad manners and obliviousness don’t create an imminent threat.

SHG,

Shawn gave us a couple of good examples: cutting him off in traffic, or ignoring elevator etiquette.

So, we project our personal experiences onto what each other writes, and we end up talking apples and elevators. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

And I don’t push people out of the way on the elevator, but there is definitely elevator etiquette. You can’t tell me there is nothing out there that bothers you, that is your pet peeve. I mean, come on.

Shawn, how’d you score?

I actually saw a criminal defense lawyer shove a civilian out of an elevator recently. The civilian was trying to get aboard, and there was room for him, but he apparently wasn’t acting decisively enough for the lawyer. So the lawyer shoved him with a hand in the middle of the chest. I’m sure he thought the situation called for being a jerk.

David,

It sounds like Darden gave up his power to F. Lee, with spectacularly bad results.

I’m not really talking about being passive here, though it might be perceived by outsiders as passivity. I’m talking about not letting other people’s bad behavior affect my balance unless I absolutely can’t avoid it.

Reminds me of a quote by the great Texas singer-songwriter Charlie Robison, “Don’t know why you gotta be angry all the time”, as well as a story about the OJ trial. It seems the defense team saw that Darden was very angry so they sent F. Lee up to challenge him. They knew Bailey would further piss off Darden and had Bailey say “if you had any balls, you’d have OJ try on the glove.”

Apparently Marcia Clark was against it, but Darden, acting purely out of anger i suppose, called Bailey’s bluff and played right into his hands.