You know this intersection very well. This is that intersection with no stoplight where you need to turn left, and it is impossible to get your left hand turn. Maybe, perhaps once or twice a month the seas will part and we get to this intersection and rejoice as we skip the stop sign altogether and ease our way into the left lane without as much as a pause.
The rest of the time we sit here, sometimes for up to 15 minutes, waiting for the smallest gap in traffic to exploit and get on our way. Either that, or we rely on the good will of a fellow driver who stalls the traffic behind him and allows you to turn in front of him to spare you the torture of another 5 minutes grinding your teeth and gripping your steering wheel until your knuckles turn red.
What do we do when this Good Samaritan grants us passage? We look both ways, proceed into the intersection, look over our shoulder and give them the wave. It’s a simple and effortless of gratitude that tells this driver: “Oh my God, thank you so much. If I had to sit there another minute I’d have driven my car into a tree. Then you came along and freed me from this traffic purgatory and potentially saved the life of every passenger in my car. Thank you good sir, whoever you may be.”
It’s a universally understood motion. Everybody knows the wave. It justifies our letting in the frustrated driver stuck at the most notorious intersection in town. It verifies that we did a good deed; we helped out our fellow man out of an awful situation, and we can then continue on our day feeling a little better about ourselves.
This random act of kindness works well for both parties. The generous driver feels better about himself and the frustrated driver gets to make it to work on time. So why, I ask, do some people not reciprocate the random act of kindness with the wave?
The other day I was driving down the road and past the death intersection and noticed a pause in oncoming traffic. I saw a driver stuck at the stop sign trying to turn left into my lane and I saw the opportunity to make somebody’s day. I slowed to a crawl and created a sizable gap between my car and the car in front of me, and then I motioned for the driver at the stop sign to turn in front of me.
Upon doing this, my mind underwent the following thought process:
“I am such a good person, I feel like patting myself on the back. Look, there he is entering the intersection because of me. He sure is lucky that I came along and rescued him from that horrible left turn. I – wait a minute, did he forget to wave? MOTHER FUCKER!
How dare he? What nerve! Who does he think he is? How the hell can he not recognize me for my great act of unthinkable kindness? He didn’t even look over. No wave, not even a nod. This douche bag is just going to go on driving like nothing even happened. But something DID happen. I ought to ram my minivan right up the ass of his little Saab two door. What kind of a little bitch forty-year-old man drives a two door Saab anyway? Must be a prick.”
That shitbag had me in a bad mood for the rest of the day. I couldn’t believe he could be so rude. I mean honestly, how hard is it to take four fingers off your steering wheel and raise them up in thanks to the people who help us out?
All I ask is for people to reach into their hearts and empathize with those who do good deeds for us, and give the wave. Just a little wave, that’s all I ask.
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