Fear of Parking Lots

Ok, so this happened about a month ago (exactly one week before Christmas to be exact). I haven’t written about it so far because I was slightly embarrassed and somewhat appalled. I try to keep my page lighthearted, but this event is still somewhat plaguing me a month later. Since it has had such a great effect on me, I thought it may be helpful to get it off my chest.


I had an appointment in Dublin, Ohio on a Friday afternoon. I was planning on stopping at the grocery store on my way home since I was going to be making bunches of Christmas cookies that weekend. I decided to save some highway / sitting in Friday afternoon traffic time, and go to the Giant Eagle in Dublin. That way I could just take back roads home from the grocery store and get to work on those seven (yes, seven) batches of cookies! I was in such a great mood. It was the weekend, I was about to start baking (which I love to do), and Kevin and I were going to start (and finish) our marathon Christmas shopping session on Saturday. I was just leaving a voice mail with Kevin to let him know what I was up to, and then was going to head into the store. I was in a turn lane to go into the grocery store plaza, when I hung up the phone. I happened to glance in the rearview mirror and noticed a small red car behind me. I pulled into the parking lot and parked towards the back since it seemed that everyone had the same idea as me and was doing a little Friday afternoon grocery shopping. I looked again in my rearview mirror and noticed the little red car had parked behind me in the next row over. I threw my cell phone in my purse, made sure I had my list, and stepped out of the car. A man (who was shorter than me, probably in his late 50’s with grey hair) stepped out of the red car at the same time and yelled “That was SO STUPID”. I looked around thinking that this man had to be talking to someone else. I noticed that there was no one else around, and he was walking directly over to me. This isn’t good at all, I thought to myself.

“Excuse me?” I said.

“I can’t believe you are so stupid”, the mean man responded to me.

“Excuse me sir, do NOT call me stupid.” I responded, trying to maintain composure. By this point he was walking right next to me, no one else was in the parking lot (of course), and I was starting to shake.

“You were on the PHONE in a TURN LANE. YOU ARE SO STUPID!” The man repeated.

“HUH?!?” I replied, absolutely dumbfounded. At this point the guy looked to me like he was about to start raging. His face was beet red and every vein was popping out of his neck.

“You think you’re pretty cool, don’t you???” He said. I was at an absolute loss. Here this guy comes at me out of nowhere, and starts screaming, calling me stupid, and then making some comment like he thought I thought I was some kind of hot shot teenager. I am 30 years old….I am WAY past the point of thinking I am “cool”. I needed to do something to make him back off, since he was so blatantly ignoring the concept of personal space.

“No, I don’t think I’m cool.” I said sarcastically. “Are you going to hit me or something?!?!?” I asked in a much louder voice, trying to attract attention of anyone else that may be able to help me. I really didn’t think he was going to hit me, but I needed him to back away from me since I was starting to get scared. I also had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I was thinking back to what I did when pulling into the parking lot. He was behind me, so I obviously didn’t cut him off. There was also no one else coming towards us, when I made the left turn, so I hadn’t cut anyone else off. I was at a complete loss as to why this man was flipping out on me.

“No, I’m not going to hit you” the man responded. He lowered his voice and backed away a little. (May I emphasize “a little”.) Then he got mad again and waved his hand at me and said “GET THE *F* OUT OF HERE.” Ok, who was he to tell me to get out of here. Wasn’t he aware this was a public place???

At this point I was so frustrated with this guy. He was yelling at me, but not really giving a good reason why. He swore at me, which I don’t appreciate, nor have I ever had anyone do before. Even if I had done something to him (which I 100% swear I didn’t), no one deserves to be talked to like this. I was out of ideas.

Finally I we were almost to the entry of the grocery store, and he was keeping pace with me. I wanted him to speed up or slow down and just let me go on my way. I was done with this conversation.

“You go ahead, I am done talking to you.” I said as I stopped walking. He slowed down and gave me a nasty look and muttered something like “stupid *b-ch” under his breath. At this point, I lost all control of the composure I had been keeping for the last two minutes. I raised my voice and said. “Get a *F*ing life, *a*hole”.

At this point we walked into the store, with him ahead of me. I know my face was beet red because I could feel it burning. It felt like I had just gone to the beach and spent all day in the sun. I was shaking so bad, I could barely push the cart. Mostly from the conversation I had just had, but partially because of what I said to that guy. I have never said anything like that to anyone before in my life. I was near tears, but managed to hold them back.

Looking back, I should have just left the store. I walked around in fear that this guy was going to be in the aisle I needed to go down. I somehow managed to finish my shopping, paid, and left. The red car was gone when I got back to my car, and I never saw the guy again. I walked quickly around my car in fear that he may have keyed it or something, he was that unstable. I wished I had just gone back and written down his license plate or something before he left. I don’t know what I would have done with it…but I don’t think it would have been a bad idea to have it.

I told Kevin about the situation on my way home. He was about ready to drive over and hunt down this guy and beat him up (although, I can’t imagine my sweet, good-natured Kevin beating anyone up)! He told me if this ever happens again (god, I HOPE NOT), to take out my cell phone and take a picture of the guy, then walk over to his car and take a picture of his license plate. Good ideas…but I hope I never have to use them!

Now, I would definitely say I am nervous in parking lots. I am always worried that someone is going to go off on me for no reason. I actually was walking out of Best Buy the day after this happened, and heard a man behind me say “Excuse me, miss?” I about jumped out of my skin. I turned around and looked at him and he proceeded to ask me where I had gotten my coat because he thought his daughter would really one like it for Christmas. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, managed to tell him “Macy’s”, and smiled, trying not to let him know that I was shaking like a leaf. He smiled and said thank you, and walked into the parking lot.

I’ve replayed the situation over and over trying to figure out what I did to make the man in the Giant Eagle parking lot SO angry at me, and I really am stumped. Maybe he was having a bad day, maybe he had work or family problems. I will never know, but I hope it never happens again. Word of advice, always be aware of your surroundings. It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night, you never know who you may run into. I know for a fact that I am extra careful now, and will never stop looking over my shoulder….

Winter Blahs...

It’s no secret that I HATE Winter. I hate cold, I hate snow, I REALLY hate ice. Everything is brown, gray, and depressing. For the past two weeks, it’s barely broke 30 degrees, the high temperatures this week have been in the low 20’s, and we’ve barely seen any sunshine. Don’t get me wrong, I am used to winter. After all – I have lived in Ohio almost all my life. (Had a one year hiatus in Baltimore, MD). I also grew up around Cleveland, where they get a LOT more snow than we do here in Columbus. But, when you’re a kid, snow and winter stuff is fun. I would get together with friends and make snow angels, have snowball fights, and make snowmen, and be excited to wake up and hear that you have a snow day!

As an adult, you’re not as lucky, you don’t get “snow-days” regardless of the road conditions. Kevin and I agree on the fact that people from Columbus have no idea how to drive in snow. A word of advice, having an all-wheel drive car or SUV does not mean you can drive 70 MPH on ice! People like to do that here, and often end up on the side of the road smashed into a guard rail or in a ditch!

Winter sports frankly don’t interest me much either. Although, my husband LOVES skiing, we have never gone together. I have been skiing once in my life (about 7 years ago), and was on my butt about 90% of the time. The worst part about it was I was skiing in OHIO. There is no good skiing in Ohio, yet I was still tumbling, sliding, and crashing every chance I got. I even had ski patrol come over when I had gone into some brush on one of the hills to ask if I was ok. Ugh! How embarrassing! Skiing and ice skating are definitely not the sports I should be participating in…

At least the dogs enjoy the snow!

I’ve been working on Kevin for several years now to move down south. And, I think my “winter-hatred” has finally gotten to him. Now, I’m starting to hear the same kind of rumblings from him that I have been saying for years. Hmm, maybe someday I will be lucky enough to be blessed with living by the ocean and even possibly having the Florida resident discount to Disney World. I can always dream, right?!? ;-)

But for the time being, I’ll sit here and watch the snow fall outside my office window.  We’re supposed to get 3-5 inches of snow today and tonight. It should be a fun drive home. Look out everyone, my Pilot has 4x4!!!