Ok guys,
Sorry, have to rant, and kind of rave, about something that happened to me today (this could only happen to me!). I was out and about today, when I suddenly had killer cramps, first time since my K pouch surgery. Not wanting to wait (as I have in the past 3 months, resulting in major Valve problems) I just happened to be close to the hospital I work. Now, I have a handicap parking pass, here in Toronto, it gives us the ability to park on the street, not only without having to pay, but we can park in a no parking zone, and when my gut is bursting, I'm not going to waste time looking for a spot, so, I parked on the street (it's in the heart of downtown, aka there is no parking anywhere else!) as I always do, and put my handicap pass on my dash, and dashed my ass as fast as I could to the loo next to my office. Ahhhhh....RELIEF! I come back out to my car to find these absolutely miserable older men standing beside my car, giving me the dirtiest looks imaginable. As I use my remote to start the car (I like my toys) they jumped back and began not talking, but yelling at me, accusing me of being a fraud, asking where I stole the handicap parking pass. Now, I know it's not nice to yell at old men, but these 2 old fools were getting on my nerves. According to them, no one my age (I'm 43) should need a handicap pass, I thought to myself, how ignorant can someone be? I, calmly as I could (not very) told them they were a couple of ignorant old fools, and told them to mind their own f'en business! But that's not the end, oh no, one of them flagged down a passing cop, and yelled, and I quote "arrest that fraud officer!!!!". The cop gets out of his car and gets an ear full from these senile idiots. He comes over to me, looks at me, and says "Eric?".....small world! Out of the 8000 cops in the city, the one these idiots flagged was an old friend from highschool I hadn't seen in 25 years, I had no idea he was a cop! It was terrific to see him, but sadly, it was a short lived reunion. These men continued to rant and rave to my friend to arrest me, so I showed him my pass (which has my name and info on the back of it) and briefly explained to him about my crappy health. Turns out a mutual friend of ours, who's been keeping tabs on me on Facebook, had mentioned my illness to him only weeks ago, so he already knew. The two of us just looked at these now furious men, and just laughed, I couldn't help it, they were so pathetic! My friend told them I was completely legitimate, and they just got even angrier. John (my friends name) gave them a choice, get lost, or get arrested for being a public nuisance (buy this point a small crowd had gathered). Of course, they chose the latter of the two, but not before insulting me and getting Johns badge number, because, of course, he acted completely inappropriately and let "a complete fraud" off the hook. Sadly, John was actually on his way to a call, so we didn't get a lot of time to chat, but we exchanged info so we can keep in touch. As for the men, they got in their car (which was illegally parked!) and floored it, hurling obscenities out the window! What is with people?
BUT, they actually did me a huge favor, I met a friend I haven't seen in ages, but it still ticks me off people think they have the right to be downright insulting because I use a handicap pass. They are not the first (but are the worst) I've encountered, and probably won't be the last, but why are people so blatantly ignorant? There are days I wish I had a physical disability (not an invisible one) just so no one will bug me!
I just proof read this (always do before I send a message, I can't spell to save my life), sounds like a movie, I swear these things only happen to me! Oh, and by the way, as those old SOB's skidded away, John got their plate number, it's not even their car, it's a daughter of one of the men, won't she be surprised when she gets a ticket in the mail totaling $325 for being a public nuisance and for illegal parking (John said he would have let them off if they had not called him a few choice words I cannot repeat here as they sped away, good!). And that's my day, how was yours?
Cheers,
Eric
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