The interstate on the way to work this afternoon was slow and cloggy, and this girl cut over into the entrance lane to try to get around a few cars. She raced through and ended up even with me just as her lane ran out. I looked over at her and saw she was dressed for fun with this totally entitled look on her face. That irritated me. I didn't let her in, and I believe what I mouthed was, "Are you fucking kidding me?"
She finally oozed in behind me, got over a lane, pulled even with me, and honked. Great. I looked over, expecting a finger or worse, but she and her friend gave me big fake smiles and exaggerated waves. It caught me off guard, and I started laughing and fake-waved them back, and then they started laughing, and then we very slowly passed each other about 8,000 times between there and my exit, the awkwardness of which I solved by fiddling with the radio and concentrating on the car in front of me.
It is boring to complain about traffic, I know, and it is pointless and dangerous to antagonize people. But I also know that people who jump lanes, even ones with a sense of humor, are lame. Especially when they are trying to get to the margaritas or whatever on a beautiful afternoon and I am trying to get to boring work. It does seem to bring the petty right out in me, anyway.