We all see crazy shit on our drive to and from the workplace. Hell, it could be any time we get behind or in a car. From the random homeless dude panhandling for money then turning around to piss on the sidewalk, to the twenty something chubby chick high on ecstasy with a pacifier in her mouth, we've seen a lot of things. But what I saw the other day was just wrong. Plain and simple. W-R-O-N-G.
I was heading south through Garland on my way home from work at 4:30pm. It's one of the benefits of working with a school district. Notice I didn't say FOR a school district. I get the benefits of working there, but the pay scale is much better suited for my over-indulging gaming habits.
As I make my way home, I pass through no more than 3 school zones, on the same road. It's a factor of this road in Garland, and part of my commute. I accept it. There's no way around it.
This road has three lanes heading southbound, 3 northbound, with everyone under the sun fighting and jockeying for position to get home .25 seconds faster than the next guy. It's funny to sit back and watch just how far and how much people get worked up over to get home a minute or two faster than the guy next to them. Like the school zones for me, everyone has to deal with other obstacles on your drive home that you might not notice, but are part of the territory. DART buses stopping, school buses that stop at each railroad crossing, cars that slow down to turn right at lights, you have to take into account all of these things into your drive. Get stuck in the far right lane and you'll probably have to wait for a DART bus to pickup and drop off a few passengers.
All of this stuff is really pivotal to the story. I know it might seem like mindless banter right now, but it all adds in to the grand scheme of things.
As I'm heading down the road in the middle lane, I look over and see a dirty, busted up Kia Spectre to my right just ahead. The front end looks to have been smashed up and the hood is crumpled. Let's also not forget the back end has got red electrical tape over a broken tail light in the hopes of "fixing" that problem. I love that move. Let's make it as inconspicuous as possible, but when the slightest breeze takes it off or it gets wet, now I've got a nice streamer behind my POS car.
I desperately want to get the man behind the wheel's race out of the way, but I feel that by doing so I'll sound really bad and slightly racist for this story, so I'm going to hold off (for now anyway). The actions of this douchebag should not be laughed at or slighted over because he's one race or the other, and I haven't really given anything away by the broken down Kia Spectre already, so we're fine there.
I glance over to my right side as I slowly pass him and carefully bring my attention back to the front of my car. There's a big ol' Suburban in the way that I need to watch out for and it needs my undivided attention to not ram it. As the Suburban in front of me slowly gains speed and pulls away from me, I see a glimmer of gold from my right side. What could this be? Does his passenger have over-the-top flamboyant jewelry that caught the glare of the sun and sent a beam of light my way? Does the driver have on a gold watch? I saw him put the piece of gold shiny whatever-it-was back into his lap, so it could be a watch?
He brings this piece of gold back up again and I realize he's driving his broken shitty Kia Spectre while drinking a 28oz Miller High Life. It's 4:30pm, and we just left a school zone. Yeah, I guess it's close to 5pm somewhere, but goddamn dude, is it really that important to drink and drive at this time of day (or anytime of day for that matter)? Maybe if you didn't drink your Miller High Life and get drunk, you'd be able to drive better and wouldn't have fucked up your front end or backed into someone and broken your taillight?
Not only was this guy drinking and driving at 4:30pm through school zones, he was also setting a great example for his 7 or 8 year old son in the passenger seat. Really dude? This is the example you're setting for your highly impressionable kid? That it's okay to head on down the road at anytime of day and drink and drive. Then on top of that, his fat overweight wife was in the backseat passed out or asleep, just out on a leisurely drive to take their son to a soccer game.
And this got me thinking: this is what some people do with their freedom.
I couldn't believe it. It's just sorry.
(I'm almost positive by now you should be able to pick out what race this person is (I left clues). If not, leave me a comment down below and I'll post there.)
