Sidewalk rage

Do you ever get road rage when you’re walking? It happens to me all the time. Partly because I tend to be a fast walker, but mostly because some people are completely oblivious to what is around them. Today, for example, I was walking through the tunnel (Dallas has an underground tunnel system linking the lobbies of several office buildings together – lots of restaurants) after grabbing a sandwich to take back upstairs. This is during the noon hour when there are lots of people in the tunnel – usually not a problem as everyone is walking at a pace that lets you know they are headed somewhere particular and need to arrive at that place relatively soon.

But then, I came up to a group of 3 women, in the middle of the tunnel walking like they were on hour one of their 3-hour lunch break. They were in the middle of the “lane” and left me no room to pass along the right, and I couldn’t pass along the left, as that was the oncoming traffic. So I “tailgate” for a few seconds thinking they would get the picture – you know, speed up or compress into single file, or move over! No such luck. Finally, a break appeared in the oncoming traffic, so I downshifted for better acceleration and began to pass. Then, and just like on the highway, as soon as I barely cleared them I cut them off by moving back in my lane about a step in front of them! That will teach ‘em! Of course, just like on the highway, I ran the chance that one of them would have shot me the finger or pulled a gun out on me, but that didn’t happen. Plus, at this point, we were just outside of the Starbucks, and there is ALWAYS a police officer at Starbucks – waiting to catch the real criminals (those that use all of the half & half without having someone fill it back up).

My only regret is that I didn’t tap on the breaks just after reclaiming my rightful spot in front of the slowpokes.