1. I'm driving home from work yesterday, taking the same route I usually take at about the same time and traveling the same consistent speed - slightly above the speed limit. The lane to the right of me is about to turn into an exit only lane and the two lanes to the left of me are open.
Suddenly, a car pulls up on my left side. It's a black SUV of some kind and the driver is matching my speed. They then pull a little forward and then a little back, then forward, then back again. Mind you, this all happens in a few seconds. Finally, they slammed on their brakes and darted in behind me. I glanced in my rear-view mirror to see a woman silently shouting with rage and flipping me off so intensely that her hand was shaking. She then changed lanes again to the right to exit the highway. Not sure how to respond, I gave her a friendly wave and went on my way.
Clearly, there is more to the story, but I can only guess at what that might be. She pulled up next to me, then realized this was her exit. She was reluctant to go faster than the speed were traveling and disinclined to slow down. Apparently, once she pulled up next to my car, she expected me to teleport out of her way - or slam on my brakes to let her over. I did neither, and she was enraged.
2. We share a water system with our neighbors and recently the water softener in their basement hasn't been clearing out the smell or the iron in the water. The neighbors out of town this week so we're watching their apartment and gathering their mail, etc. The landlords dropped off some "rust out" salt on the neighbors front step and we didn't want to leave it there. So, my room-mate called the neighbors on their cell to get permissions to take the salt into their house - since they had left a set of keys with us.
The softener tank was already full, so we added some Rust Out powder to it, then headed upstairs to the garage. Hit the garage door button and... nothing. The neighbors had unplugged the opener as a security measure - and the only way to get to the cord and outlet was to climb on top of their SUV. Which was my job, since I'm taller and more limber than my room-mate.
I manage to get on top of the SUV without doing any damage to it or myself and get the opener plugged back in. It wasn't easy and when I started to get back down to help move the 80 lb bags in, my room-mate stopped me and said he would get the bags. He went over and pushed the button while I'm still on the roof of the SUV and all of the sudden he tells me to "look out!"
The garage door is coming up - and headed right for me. Like some kind of James Bond death trap. I shout to my room-mate to hit the button to stop it - but he was too far away already. I had two thoughts in my head in those moments. One, how to keep myself and the SUV from being damaged and two, how to I keep the door from being damaged by me. I tried to recline on the roof hoping the door would pass over me, but it stopped well short of hitting me at all. Still, I'm stuck and now have to wait for my room-mate to move the bags in the garage and then hit the button again. That is, after he stops laughing uncontrollably at me.
He gets control of himself, brings the bags into the garage, and closes the door. I pull the plug on the opener and then carefully climb down - still making sure to not damage the SUV. We lock up behind ourselves and go back to our apartment. My room-mate still thinks this is hilarious. I'm not quite ready to laugh about it yet, but I'm guessing that with change eventually.
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