Zebra Crossings
I, like many people, have to drive for long periods of time during the day. I just cant help noticing that time and time and time again when you, out of the goodness of your heart, stop at a zebra crossing. Even if the person suddenly decides to cross and I screech to a halt from 30 mph to 0 with half the tools and bits and bobs flying to the front of the van hitting me on the head, my McDonalds drink on the floor, and I end up with my face plastered to the inside of the windscreen, all for the person crossing, absolutely, undeniably, makes the conscious decision to not say thank you.
When I say a thank you, i do not mean i expect the person to whip out a bunch of flowers or do a river dance like Michael Flattley across the road for my own enjoyment, (although this would be good, a moonwalk would be even better). Just the slightest nod of the head, 1, maybe 2 degrees would be nice. The slight raise of a finger would be nice, maybe an eyebrow. A thumbs up would be a bonus! With the exception of someone in a neck brace carrying two bags of heavy shopping with no eye brows, I think it should be made into a law that you must say thank you otherwise you will be sentenced to death. I commonly think, after such an event has occurred that maybe i should have not braked, turned my wheel slightly to the left and ploughed them into the nearest tree, but this would be murder and murder is illegal, and so it should be.
I often think to myself, why? Do they do that every time they cross or does it depend on who has stopped for them, or are they just having a bad day? Surely its human nature to just say thanks to someone for stopping for them, do they fight this natural urge consciously or are they so used to doing it that it becomes natural. Does this reflect on the personality of the person in question, seriously there should be studies done on this.
Is any one with me on this one or am i just waffling on about crap that no one is interested in.
Its just that it really bugs me when this happens, I spend my whole day being polite to customers, not just because i have to but because i am genuinely polite to people.
And while were on the subject, why did they choose the colours of a zebra to decorate the crossing, if it were black and orange would it be known as a tiger crossing, and why is a pelican crossing called that, what has that got to do with a pelican? Anyway thats another subject.
What do you think about the questions raised in this article, and do you, yourself never thank the “stopper”, and why?
