Pet Peeve - Inconsideration

I’m sitting here trying to decide what to write about tonight when, suddenly, it’s hitting me, like a big, bright light bulb over my head. Oops, I’m wrong; it’s my neighbor’s headlights shining right in my front door. Apparently she doesn’t think anything of parking right in front of my door and not turning off her automatic headlights before she leaves the vehicle. Now, you might say, why don’t I just shut my door and the lights won’t be bothering me. I say, why should I? It’s my home and I have the right to have my door open whenever I choose. I just can’t figure out why people feel the need to be so inconsiderate of others. When I pull in the parking lot after dark, my headlights are out as I turn in so they don’t disturb any of my neighbors as I’m navigating to a parking spot. It’s not a big parking lot; it’s more like a square cul-de-sac with 20 parking spaces total. Not only does this bitch feel the need to leave her headlights on, but she also has to take up two parking spaces.

I’ve lived here for three years and, in that time, have, pretty much, parked in the exact same spot every day, as have the rest of my neighbors. There is no assigned parking here; it’s basically a courtesy that we all just stay out of each other’s way. It’s kind of like lunch tables in the school cafeteria. Remember? On the first day of school, each group of students would scout out the table of choice and it stayed the same throughout the year. There was no changing tables (unless you were changing friends), and nobody tried to horn in on someone else’s “territory.” This chick moved in, though, and thinks she owns the place. She immediately started parking in the spot where one of my neighbors (one I call a friend) regularly parks, even though she’d seen Friend parking there already. What the fuck is up with that?

When Friend went to discuss the issue with New Girl, Friend tried to be polite. She brought up the issue of New Girl taking up two spaces; New Girl took offense and said that someone had scratched her truck so she was going to take up two spaces. Yea, no; we don’t do that here in Grown-upville. Then Friend brought up the issue of New Girl taking the spot she’d seen Friend parking in and asked New Girl to please pick one spot and stick with it. New Girl got huffy and slammed the door in Friend’s face. So much for Friend trying to be nice. It may have worked, though, since New Girl hasn’t parked in Friend’s spot lately. Now she parks on the line between the two spaces in front of my door…all the time; hence the issue of the headlights for tonight’s blog.

I remember when I learned to drive, and the years after, that I still lived at home with my parents. The neighborhood we lived in on Long Island had the houses sitting really close together. When I’d come home at night, my headlights would point directly through the front windows of our next-door neighbors’ house as I pulled in to our driveway. I got into the habit of turning them off before I started for the driveway so as not to offend or irritate the neighbors. My mother asked me about it one day saying that she was afraid I’d hit the chain-link fence that ran between the two driveways. I explained my reasoning which my mother scoffed at. I still didn’t change my habit, but did show her an article in the newspaper a couple of days later about a guy who shot his neighbor because the neighbor kept shining his headlights into the guy’s house. I rest my case.

I’m not going to shoot my neighbor by any means, I would never shoot anyone, I don’t even like guns, but I am wondering if I should speak to her about it. I mean, I don’t know if it will do any good; she’ll probably just take offense to it and slam the door in my face. My dilemma, though, is that, if I don’t get to move this summer, I don’t want to spend the next year with this chick’s headlights shining into my living room every night. I’ll have to think about it for a while, or until I get really annoyed. I know this is a small issue compared to what some people are dealing with in their lives, but it’s not just about the headlights, it’s about basic inconsiderate human nature. I do all I can to “do unto others” but it never seems to work in my favor, I always seem to get the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Oh, now I know what my next blog will be about. Until tomorrow…peace to all.