Misunderstood

Dan and I took the puppies for a nice trip to Walgreens tonight. The Walgreens by us allows dogs inside and even gives them treats at the pharmacy, so they love coming along.

When we pulled into a parking space, there was a fancy car a few spots down, parked right in the middle of two spots, the way drivers of nice cars do when they want to avoid being knicked by a neighboring car door. Dan had recently learned, though, that some people key cars that do that just to get back at them for taking up two spaces.

When we got out of our car, Dan commented to the owner of the sports car that some people key cars for parking like that. That really set the guy off. He heard it as a threat, not the friendly warning Dan intended. And from then on, he was determined that Dan had threatened to key his car out of jealousy. He was cursing at Dan, threatening to beat him up (which I think he would have attempted if Dan wasn't so big), and just generally being angry. Dan tried to explain to him that he didn't care that the guy had parked that way, he was just warning him that some people do. But the man was beyond the point of reason. He'd made up his mind that Dan was a jerk who was jealous and threatening, and that was that.

I went in with the dogs and made Dan stay outside to make sure the man didn't retaliate by keying my car. And when I came back out, the guy was still having words with Dan and told me to keep him on a leash, then flipped us off in a final farewell as I got into our car.

I'm thankful that no one was hurt, and saddened that this angry man had his young daughter in the back of his car. And it was a definite wake-up call to listen before reacting and assuming you know what someone is trying to tell you.