Why do people like to try and mess with me? Happened AGAIN!

[nitrogen]

I just don't get it sometimes. At least once every month or two on average, while out, randomly, someone will try and mess with me. I'm not quite sure what about me prompts this

It happened again while filling up with gas. I had about 1/2 of a tank, and wanted to fill up, as I start my work "week" tomorrow.

I was turning around in the parking lot to pull up to a gas pump with my fuel door on the right side. My car was pulling through, after turning around when some kid in a small sportscar came zooming off the street into the gas station, stopping about an inch from the front of my car.

[the following exchange has been cleaned up for adherance to the 10 year old daughter guideline. Profanity was used by the other person.]

Him: "Hey man that's *MY* gas pump. Back out or I'll mess you up!"
Me: "Ok man, it's yours."

I back up, and pull into a recently vacated pump right nearby. About halfway into fueling, he continues.

Him: "You know man, you're lucky I don't mess you up. Most times I don't give warnings."
Me: (Under my breath) "You don't say"
Him: "If you were smart, you'd be afraid right now, dog.
[At this point, I decide that I'm done filling up, and getting ready to leave. I'm not responding to him anymore, and this makes him even angrier.]

Him: I'm serious, I've popped a cap in people for less than this. Don't disrespect me dog.

At that point, I put the gas hose away, jump into my car, lock the door, and get out ASAP. I'm stuck behind a traffic light about 1/4 of a mile away when I see the kid's car behind me, flashing his brights and honking. I make note of his license plate.

I floor the gas pedal, cross 3 lanes of traffic and make an illegal uturn, which the kid behind me follows, nearly hitting a car. The kid is now tailgaiting me. I floor the accelerator again, running a red light. He gives chase again. At the next intersection, I perform a nearly textbook bootlegger turn at about 65, about 10 seconds before traffic starts flowing the other way. I zoom ahead as fast as I feel is safe, turning into the first neighborhood I find, finally losing the kid.

I call 911 and give the license plate number of the kid. The dispacher requests I meet an officer a few miles away at Firewheel. Apparently Garland's finest has had numerous calls about this car and kid in the past.

So I give an officer my story, and that's pretty much it.

No guns were drawn, or anything like that, though I was afraid it was quickly coming to that point.

This kind of thing happens to me far more often lately than I think it happens to others. For some reason, I feel I've become some kind of bad behavior magnet. I struggle to try and figure out if I'm doing something to attract these people, or if I'm just extremely unlucky. I honestly don't think I'm goading people, but who knows? I don't think I look like some kind of "bad ..." person but again, I'm just at a loss here. With this guy, I basically gave up what he wanted, "his gas pump" without argument, but he seemed to really want some kind of altercation no matter what.

Other places I've lived, I've had your random road rager angry with me that I'm not going 85 in a 60mph zone, or that I don't deny people the ability to merge. In fact, in my youth, I was far more agressive of a driver than I am now, and for whatever reason, I seem to notice MORE inidents, not less.

BTW, what I came out of this experience with:
1) The performance driving class I took a few years ago for fun gave me skills I never thought I'd use.
2) Sometimes people just are looking for a fight. Not giving it to them seems to make them angrier or something.

In other words, I just don't get people.

[shaggydog]

Perhaps your problem is that you frequent places similar to “230grain.com� (the link in your signature line). I clicked on it out of curiosity and extremely sorry that I did.

Almost every post on every thread that I looked at was rife with profanity for, it seemed, profanities sake alone. Apparently the members of that forum do not have the ability to express themselves as adults or rather, they seem to adhere to the philosophy that the more profane one is, the more “grown up� they appear.

How child-like.

How sad.

[Liberty]

Nitrogen,
You have shown strength and restraint. You have my respect.

[AEA]

If that happened to me..........When I finished pumping gas.....I would remain silent as you and draw my pistol and shoot out his back tire.
Then I would say, "you said something about messing me up"?

Just kidding.

You did good, although I would not have done the stunts you did to get away from him as you could have been in/caused an accident....

[KD5NRH]

Him: I'm serious, I've popped a cap in people for less than this. Don't disrespect me dog.

I'd have been "playing with my phone" (audio/video recording, with actually fairly good quality) after his first bit of mouthing off, and I'd probably have had a slight wardrobe malfunction when he said the above.

[AEA]

Ahhhhh....yes....an "unintentional" failure to conceal!
Good idea!

[nitrogen]

Ahhhhh....yes....an "unintentional" failure to conceal!
Good idea!

I was carrying via smartcarry, so that would have been... interesting.

Looking at the poll, I feel a bit better. I expected to see a lot more "nevers" than I see.

[Snake Doctor]

I'd have been "playing with my phone" (audio/video recording, with actually fairly good quality) after his first bit of mouthing off, and I'd probably have had a slight wardrobe malfunction when he said the above.

...dumb.

[KBCraig]

Ahhhhh....yes....an "unintentional" failure to conceal!
Good idea!

I was carrying via smartcarry, so that would have been... interesting.

Scientists studying dominance/threat displays of modern American bipeds have noted that their vocalizations are often accompanied by grabbing the clothing in their own groin areas. Smartcarry seems appropriate.

[KD5NRH]

I'd have been "playing with my phone" (audio/video recording, with actually fairly good quality) after his first bit of mouthing off, and I'd probably have had a slight wardrobe malfunction when he said the above.

...dumb.

Did you have something to say? All that came through was your signature.

[Glock 23]

i put more than once a month.

I generally dont have people threaten to "cap" me, but usually its road rage initiated. I dont think it helps that Im usually out during very late or very early hours (either way, its dark) due to my work schedule.

I used to work with a guy in security. Of our team, he was the biggest and meanest guy we had (6'4" and 240lbs solid) For some reason, every time we had a punk issue with someone acting like a toughguy/bully, they always chose to mess with him.
why? I dont know. I would never pick him as my first target. But his "look" would draw trouble to him for some reason.

[carlson1]

I just don't get it sometimes. At least once every month or two on average, while out, randomly, someone will try and mess with me. I'm not quite sure what about me prompts this

It is your smile and your high IQ.

[The Annoyed Man]

I'm not a guy that people normally try to mess with. I don't know why that is, except that maybe its perhaps I usually fly low and avoid the radar, and when I do interact with others, it's usually with a smile and a friendly disposition. But at age 55, I have run into 2 or 3 bozos over the years.

It hasn't happened since I've lived here in Texas, but once about 3 years ago, someone pulled a gun on me in California. It was a road rage thing. He was ticked off because we both pulled into the left lane at exactly the same time to pass a slow moving bus, but he was behind me, so he to wait for me to clear the bus before he could get past it. At first, I didn't even realize the guy was mad at me. We both arrived at the next light at almost the same time, facing La Tuna Canyon Road, but he was about 1/2 a car length in front of me in the right hand lane. I heard something, and when I looked over, I realized that he was yelling something at me. I rolled down my passenger window and asked "what did you say?"

He said, "You cut me off, man!" To which I replied "No, I didn't." He then cut loose a long string of profanity. At that point, the mistake I made was that I should have just rolled up the window and ignored him. Instead, when he was finished, I said, "You're crazy." He then brandished a large frame semi-auto of some kind (from that distance between cars, I couldn't tell exactly what kind of gun it was) and shouted, "You want some of THIS???? Pull over!!" I waved him off and said that I wasn't going to pull over with crazy man and then I rolled up my window.

When the light turned green, he crossed through the intersection and, sure enough, pulled over. I blew past him, and he pulled back into traffic to follow me, but I had managed to put a bunch of slower moving cars between us. I ran up that canyon road at my smartest pace, hit the freeway at the top, and was a gone daddy. Never saw him again.

In those days, I seldom ever had a gun in the car and I was unarmed. I also was not into a situational awareness mindset so much. That event changed that, and I've always been more careful about my surroundings since then. And since having gone through the CHL application process, my situational awareness level has increased quite a bit.

nitrogen, I think you did the right thing by skedaddling like you did, but I would offer a couple of comments on your own situation...

1) Unless you are in a job in which the risk of exposure to aggressive jerks is higher than normal, say LEO or Paramedic, or something like that, it is NOT normal to frequently get challenged by aggressive jerks. So I think you need to talk to some of your closer friends, and ask them, "Be honest with me, do I seem to ask for trouble?" It may well be that they see something in you that you either can't, or won't see in yourself, and their input might be instructive. But be prepared to hear something that you're not going to like hearing, and also be honest enough to deal with it appropriately if you do.

2) If it is not you, then you need to be more aware about the choices you make as to where you go, and when you do it. Avoid putting yourself into situations where this stuff can happen. What time was it when you went to that gas station? What part of town was in in? How well do you blend into the area the station was in? How were you dressed? What do you drive? There are all kind of factors that can set one up for confrontation, whether or not a confrontation is what you desire.

All of this is part of that continuum between self-awareness and situational awareness, and if this kind of stuff happens to you frequently, it isn't normal, and you need to do some sober thinking about why it's happening, or sooner or later it's going to catch up with you. That's my 2¢. Best of luck in the future.

[WildBill]

So I think you need to talk to some of your closer friends, and ask them, "Be honest with me, do I seem to ask for trouble?" It may well be that they see something in you that you either can't, or won't see in yourself, and their input might be instructive. But be prepared to hear something that you're not going to like hearing, and also be honest enough to deal with it appropriately if you do.

I think this is good advice. Obviously something is going on that if you don't fix it could lead to disaster. Best to you N2.