Need your opinion. I cursed out an older gentleman. (Mart: crime, gangs)

[sinsativ]

Originally Posted by Steel Man

I would have said loudly "may I help you?" to get his attention. Or you could have used some humor like "need some help breaking into my car?" Making him feel guilty would be my first line of defense in a public area. If diplomacy doesn't work, then...

Thanks Steel, thats what I was trying to get at, not the direct terrorist, just using the analogy, of, you never know what something can be.

[OzzyRules]

Spill some off color paint onto the hood and let it dry. Then no one will ever mistake it for their own car again.

[PopsGuysRule]

Originally Posted by fierce_flawless

I feel for the guy. My mom does that kind of thing a LOT. She's a bit scatterbrained. It's not her age, it's just her (and I inherited it!). She has a big red Dodge pickup and mistakes pretty much any other big red truck (regardless of make) for hers if she's been inside somewhere and not sure where she parked.

I'd probably do it too but my vehicles never look anything like anything else in the parking lot. There's always some obvious feature (dents, fading paint) that make mine obvious.

Well, I tried to rep you for your refreshing and endearing honesty, but goshdarnit... I have to "spread it around"....

You know, I actually don't know, maybe I should be taking offense when Bot tells me I have to "spread it around some more before I give it to so-n-so again!!!"
Sounds like someone I knew in highschool.... Oh, wait, that was ME I think.... yeeesh....

somebody stop me.....

[SilverCreek78250]

Just yesterday, my wife and I sopped into a garage sale. I parked the truck on the street. It is a small black Ranger. We looked around, chatted with the people at the garage sale, then walked back and started to get into our truck. Both of us.

As I had my hand on the handle, I noticed some junk in the back of the truck that wasn't mine, then looked up at my wife and said, "Hey, this isn't our truck." We both sort of laughed when we realized that somebody else had pulled up to the garage sale and parked their black Ranger a few feet in front of ours.

My first question is, why do so many people in Texas have black vehicles? But that is not part of this discussion.

We both giggled and quickly walked to our truck, but I looked back toward the other people expecting to have to apologize for the error. Nobody even noticed. If someone had yelled at us, profanity or not, I would have simply pointed to our truck and apologized for the error.

Given the circumstances described, old guy or not, I don't see that the OP did anything wrong, though he may have waved or smiled or something as an apology once everyone realized the innocence of the situation.

Look at it this way. If you had stood quietly in Bill Miller's (I personally like Bill Millers) and watched some old guy steal your vehicle, you'd be writing in here asking what you should have done, and everyone would have told you they would have shot him or at least yelled for him to get the $^*()^%^* away.

It was a mistake - but not yours.

[Deep Forest]

My response is (coming from someone who found themselves sitting,waiting for a stop sign to change) your reaction should have been a little more subdued. It's really crappy when somebody gets mad at you and you honestly don't know why. After having this happen to me my tolerance level for "old folks" went way up and I go out of my way to humanely deal with them. Life isn't getting any easier.

[SA Greed]

Wow, I really appreciate all of your responses and as mentioned I did feel bad and that's why I posted to see what you guys thought because believe it or not, most of your opinions, I value. To clarify, we were in the drive thru, not inside of the restaurant. I was in drive with my foot on the brake and felt that I could only say something because I didn't want to run anyone over. Also, I didn't know he was an older gentleman until afterwards. Thanks again for your responses.

[crazyworld]

My husband has a navy blue Ford Explorer.the other day he climbed into it (so he thought) and it wasn't his...got out quickly feeling like a jerk...
Honest mistake and glad for his safety that someone didn't react.......

[ryneone]

Well IMO maybe you save his life. Maybe he will pay attention more next time. What if he does that to the wrong person on day. People are crazy. Did you over react yea but who cares we are human. It probably made it worse that you pride and joy was going nuts. Something tells me you would not have reacted the same way if you were alone.

[SA Greed]

Originally Posted by ryneone

Well IMO maybe you save his life. Maybe he will pay attention more next time. What if he does that to the wrong person on day. People are crazy. Did you over react yea but who cares we are human. It probably made it worse that you pride and joy was going nuts. Something tells me you would not have reacted the same way if you were alone.

Exactly, If my wife was not with me, I may have acted differently.

[Paka]

I bet he is at home feeling worse about trying to get into your car than you are about the incident...things happen...and how could any of us known how we would have reacted not having been in your shoes.