Yesterday while in Yosemite National Park, we drove into a parking space only to have this woman jump in front of our car, put her hand up to tell us to stop because she wanted this space. Now, keep in mind that we are halfway in the space now. In order to move to another space, we would have to back out. Of course the stubbornness in us now has taken over like an alien possessing our bodies. We totally refuse to move. Then she calls over her two small children about 8 and 5 to come to her and then she sits them in front of our front bumper of the car. My husband turns off the car because we are afraid it will lurch (even if we tried to back out) and injure the children. Her husband arrives in his car and asks if there is a problem so my husband says yes, this lady is in front of our car. Then the man asks if we own that space! The lady says she has all the time in the world and my husband tells her that we are retired and probably have more time than she does. Finally, they move away and we finish parking.
Now I know that we probably could have handled it a different way but I see this a form of bullying and refused to give in. I felt like others probably had and that is why she thought she could do this. What an example she set for her children! Plus I felt she endangered them by sitting them in front of a car that was still running. It is no wonder that children are growing up to think bullying is okay if they see their parents doing this. What will happen when her children decide they want something that someone else has? Does this given them the right to say, "Stop! I want that so I should get it!"?
You know how you think later of all the things you should have/could have done? I wish I had taken a movie of it and told her that I would put it on youtube! I also wish I had told the husband that possession was 9/10ths of the law and we had possession of the space! Maybe we should just have backed out and moved on. I don't know but it was a messy unfortunate incident for all.
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6 comments:
I am so sorry that you had that experience, but I am glad that you held your ground. You are right about the lessons she is teaching her children. I would have had a hard time not jerking the kids out of the way and jumping all over her about endangering her children. How scary! I hope the rest of your stay in that area was pleasant. And the teepee is too cool!
Oh my gosh! I can not believe the gall of some people. I haven't ever heard of ANYONE doing that before. That is just CRAZY! I think you did absolutely the right thing. That woman obviously needed to learn a lesson or two as well! Good for you for sticking to your guns. I think you were 100% in the right! No questions asked. Those poor kiddos though. Gees! What is this world coming too!
I am glad you stood your ground as well - stayed in your carpark, I mean! Some people 'own' the world. Obviously, they are people used to getting their own way.
Yes, sorry to hear that these people were so pushy and rude, especially using the children. No wonder it left such a sour taste. Bummer. I don't get why they thought it was theirs when you were pulling in already. Anyway, I wanted to say that while you did nothing wrong, they could have been really sick people and it could have gotten violent. Nowadays the road rage thing has me thinking twice about my reactions--not out of my virtue but out of self-preservation. I think you have no need to feel embarrassed or guilty--it's just that sometimes it IS safer to walk away from a bully who might be rageful. So glad nothing worse happened! Today will be better.
Thanks for all your comments. I was feeling a little bad about our immature behavior. Then we thought the same thing as Suzanne. We were lucky we didn't get shot or killed. Next time we will act differently and just leave. A stupid parking space isn't worth our lives.
Boy, I'm not sure I'd have done anything differently than you did, but it does make one think how she's raising her kids! I'm just glad no one got hurt.
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