Short lived Christmas spirit

So today while at Starbucks (or $4 bucks), I park my C4S in a really safe spot - or so I think. A guy in an SUV beater parks around 18" from my passenger door. On my way out, I very politely say "I hope you were careful not to hit my door with yours." He gives me this big s-eating, ear to ear grin and says literally "I don't really care about your car" and walks away - fortunately, no ding. But what an a-hole. I was really close to smacking him - but then lord knows what he would have done to the Porsche. Why do people have to be that way. Jealousy, I guess. Good thing I didn't tell him it's my birthday today (it is) What a total and complete schmuck!!

The bigger the SUV, the smaller the ________ (fill in the blank). Happy B-day Phil!

You're just going to have to buy a beater... to go to Starbucks.

I think the fact that you said that showed your insecurity and no one likes being told what to do. I would say nothing, it probably is more likely to provoke a reaction if you do.

I've been hearing quite a few tough guy stories on the net about being in Starbucks parking lots. LOL!

Phil, as much as I hate to come in with tough love, you should have NEVER opened your mouth to begin with. What inthe world did you expect from that dialogue? To him, it may have come across as "hey **********, I hope you didn't ding the door of a car you could never afford in your life". If anything, he was being honest with you. He really doesn't care about your car. Only we do

Dell - I hear you. I really was not being a jerk - really asked him innocently, but I'm sure it came across that I was being arrogant. I wish I had the ***** to say to him what you intimated in your quote!! In any event, he was still the ******* here, not me. I'm just glad my car didn't get dinged.

Phil, glad to see you understood what I was trying to say. I can actually picture how you said it and know you meant it in the kindest way but to him it came out like I said in my previous post. You are right though, he was an ******* for his comeback, but do you blame him? Jealous of your sweet ride

Phew, close call Phil. I hate people like that and they're too many of them around. Glad that the baby didn't get dinged.

I'm glad you said something. In a perfect world we could somehow reduce the gene pool that produces these people. I cannot think of a legitimate reason for his behavior and would consider him lucky that he did not ding your car. Saying nothing allows him to continue his rude behavior as if it is ok.

What rude behavior required him to say something? By parking close?

I'm with Dell on this - there's no possible good outcome that could come of saying something - you learn your lesson, move on and don't park in a situation like that again... well, not if you value your paintwork.

You gottah love the haters in this world....lol. Its a balance, without them this world will be too dull.

i park very very very far away from star bux or shopping malls, far away as in my garage at home ;-) you just dont know what ppl would do.

Yikes. You can't really win in that situation. I would have just got in my car and driven away, with a few blips on the throttle. Besides, you should be supporting your local independent coffee roaster anyway!

I usually park any of my cars (especially the Porsche), as my wife would say, "in the next county." This space was adjacent to the S-bux lot and was truly a one car space - the jerk just parked next to me so that 1/2 of his car was on the grass and his driver's door was no more than 18" from mine. He clearly did this with intent - there were lots of spaces in the S-bux lot. I'm just really lucky the car didn't get nicked. What a damned jackass.

Gotta agree then that he went out of his way to annoy you. I'm like you, I'll also park "in the next county" (unless it's Montgomery) Just chalk it up to a jackass - thankfully in the minority.

That is why everytime I go to starbucks or something like that, I stay in the car and send my Girlfirend to get the beverages Sometimes is a pain not being able to just park anywhere when going out in the P.

In my younger days, I had a very nice Acura Integra and would always park far far away (at the end of the lot in most occasions), one day I come out of the mall and no cars were even close (at least 150')to my car but some jerk had the ***** to walk all the way to it and dinged my door with his shoping cart and had left it there. Ever since that day, I told myself that anytime I take any car out, it's a chance I take and that I had to live it. I know it blows but that is life. Now I park my cars where parking is available and never had another ding.

Had a similar situation with my '99 M Roadster. It was the Saturday night before Easter (2001) and I needed something at Home Depot. I parked way at the end of the parking lot and there were no cars anywhere near me. I was in the store for a couple of minutes and when I came out, there was a huge shopping cart that looked like it was rammed into the driver's door. Not just a ding, a HUGE dent. Cost me nearly $1000 and it never looked right. Every time I walked up to the car after that, I could see the imperfections so I traded the car in. Now I plan ahead. If I'm going to any kind of shopping mall, I take my truck.

You know, there's logic to saying that you should park next to another car, then they cannot take a runup at your car with the cart. Sadly, I also have a horror story of the same kind - Saturday afternoon, rainy day, Target parking lot with my Mercury Mountaineer. Parked at the back of the lot next to a nice Acura - no other cars nearby. The driver of the Acura rammed a cart down the side of my car before leaving - I assume to get something into their car... I had severe scrapes and red plastic embedded (some is still there) into the molding of my car and the running boards. Up until that point there was not a single mark on the car, even though it was several years old and had been well used. I was (and still am) pretty annoyed at their lack of consideration. There's no accounting for the mentality of idiots like that.

3 words: Starbucks Drive-thru - at least the jerk did not ding you tho. I agree with the poster that said you should support the local coffee house. Starbucks and others are soooo big. Don't want to get on a rant here, but soon you will be able to drive from California all the way across country and feel like you never left home - every small town in the US will be littered with Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and other crappy establishments like Baja Fresh, Panda Express, Rubio's and Macaroni grill. I personally love the hole-in-the-wall places and the small places that show off local flair. Down with Starbucks Sorry - rant over

No need to provoke in that situation. If you saw him touch your car, then different story. I usually take whatever space is available. Not that i don't care, but my car is just as important as the next person's. I think that people respect the fact that i will park it almost anywhere. I can say that i have had no dings in the last two years, and if I am in a tight spot, people seem to make an extra effort to not open a door into the car.

If you don't want dings assume all people will be like that lightbulb at $tarbucks.

Starbucks sucks. So do rednecks in suvs. I'm sure his wife is the same way when parking her minivan. Total arrogance and then the care free oh well when they do hit something. Rule of thumb, if you love your car, don't park it anywhere.

Nothing wrong with SUV's... Something has to pull the boat... As usual the problem is between the steering and the seat...

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LOL did you really say that? What a weird thing to say to someone.

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Things were different back in 2006...

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wtf!? how did this show up on my first page?? I just went back through the post dates to see who the douchebag was who revived a 3 year old post and it was me??? I blame this on RennList.

Phil - Seems like that guy intentionally pushed you buttons. I was like you till I had my first ding (passenger side) and to be honest I feel relieved, cause I don't care anymore. Our cars are a great piece of automotive machinery. But keep in mind thas all they are. Happy that he did not ding it.

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If you must....

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now that is funny!

Phil, I know this is well in the past now but you handled that way better than I would have. I'm still in my mid 20's and full of testosterone. My daily is a Scion Tc, not the nicest car in the world but I love it none the less, when ******** are inconsiderate and do crap like that I make it a point to not be careful with my belt buckel or the rivets on my jeans when I'm sliding into the 4" space the left me to get into my car. I would never intentionally mess up someone's car, but I show them the same ammount of respect that they showed me. I think it all stems from this sense of entitlemnt that people have today, they park in no parking zones or jam into a space that is obviously not for their car. I'm a pretty docile guy, but if you mess with my car you might as well have just punched me in the mouth.

I guess when you're old(er) and 5' 7", you mellow a bit - out of necessity, not by choice

Some people just dont care. I was watched a lady at work get out of her brand new Chevy Suburban (paper tags still on it). She must have wacked the car next to hers 4-5 times with her car door. Didn't even give it a second thought. Well the hell???

You drove your car? Out of the driveway?????? OMG

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Whenever someone parks to close to any of our vehicles, I simply fold both of their mirrors closed. It's my relatively harmless (until they need to change lanes) way of getting back at them for being inconsiderate.

Phil, Glad your car didn't get dinged (2 1/2 years ago!!!). I believe that most people do not give a crap about their cars and therefore they don't give a crap about your car. We went to a convenience store last weekend, my pregnant wife and 2 year old son stayed in the car, and a lady driving a Navigator opened her door right into the side of our car (not one of the P-cars) with my wife looking at her... When I got back into the car, my wife told me she didn't think the lady even knew she did it. I went to that side of the car to look at it, while the lady was still there, and I purposely let her know I was looking for damage from her door. I didn't see any damage but it's still BS that people do this stuff.

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Just to the local Starbucks - two mile drive!! After that incident, I'm lucky to make it to a 7-11.

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No question - last year, was in a hospital lot, and parked my wifes 328xi in the corner. When I come out, there's a lovely black LeSabre parked around 6" from me, and a new ding in the rear door. When the owner comes out to get his car (older couple - there's a surprise) I show them that the ding lines up perfectly with their door and that they should take responsibility for the damage. I get all their insurance info, etc. and when I contact their insurance company, the owner denies the incident completely - although I had pics to "prove" it. I wrote him a note asking him to do the gentlemanly thing - to take responsiblity and pay for it. Never heard back from him. Bastard. The car was turned in from lease a few months ago, and I wasn't charged for the ding - but it just pissed me off how people not only don't care about other people's property, but have the audacity to deny it when clearly they were responsible.

My wife was sitting outside her work having lunch last year with her car parked right in front of her when some woman pulled up next to it and just popped her door into the side of my wife's car. Being right there she saw it and so said "Excuse me, you hit my car with your door, please be more careful". So what does the woman say? "Mind your own ****ing business!" I don't remember the rest of what happened, but it involved the woman coming back to her car later and hitting my wife's car with her door again when she thought she wasn't looking. There was a scratch, but that door was keyed in a huge way a few years back anyway. I just don't get people sometimes.

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I do. Many of them are just miserable, angry, jealous a-holes who have zero respect for other people's property. Simple as that.

True story: about a year ago, my co-worker picked up his 2006 BMW 330i on a Friday after 3 months in the body shop (for rear-ending another car). The next day (Saturday), he gets this monster door ding on his front passenger door during lunch, right on the crease and down to bare metal. It went back to the body shop the following morning for another 3 months. Whoever parked next to him (out in BFE) did not leave a note or anything. $800 worth of damage. Yeah, this country is going down the tubes... ///Michael