What are ya.... stupid?

A few weeks ago, when I stopped at the gas station to fill up my tank, I had the strangest experience.  It was late at night, and I had just started pumping my gas when another car drove up to the next tank.  As the woman got out of her car, she was talking on her phone and smoking a cigerette.  I said a short prayer in my head thinking something like, "Lord, please don't let her blow us up tonight."

And before I knew it, I heard this voice saying, "Excuse me. Can you put out your cigerette before pumping your gas?"  Much to my surprise, it was my voice!  Never even looking my way, she smirked, "yeah, yeah."  She was so rude that I was really taken back by the whole situation.  I continued to talk to her as if she was mature enough to respect my request letting her know how much I didn't appreciate her smoking and pumping gas. 

She commented then in a loud voice to the person on the phone, "Oh, some b***** keeps talking to me."  And so I replied, again pertending I had a saine person on the other side of our lovely "conversation", "Excuse me, but I know someone who had gas blow up in her face and I really don't want to see that happen to you or me." 

The woman then laughed way too hard at whatever was being said in her conversation, put out her cigerette and then got in the passenger side of her car while still pumping her gas.  Thankfully, my gas finished pumping, and I drove away, making every effort to not look over at her and show her my pet bird. 

While on my drive home, I still couldn't believe that I called the lady out.  And at the same time, I was still amazed at her rude and selfish attiude too.  The thought of me calling out to a stranger in that voice was eirily close to a voice I had heard once before in my life.  It was a few years ago, and I was on vacation with my parents.  We were on the smallest of the Three Sister Islands just above Niagra Falls.  Signs were posted everywhere warning visitors not to wade in the water... as this was Niagra River and the force of the water was so strong.  However, one nit wit guy decides to start walking out into the water.  Before I knew it, we were all watching him take a teenage girl by the hand to convence to her wade too. 

I couldn't take the insantity of the situation and was about to walk away from watching these two idiots die, when a loud, booming voice came from behind me saying, "What are ya? Stupid?.... You must be a pretty good swimmer!" Everyone on this small island just froze.  I thought for sure it was a park ranger (like Smokey the Bear himself), but when I turned around, I was shocked to realize it was my dad! (For anyone who knows my dad, it is rare that I've ever heard him raise his voice.)

I think he may have yelled more, but my mom and I weren't hanging around to find out what happened next.  I think it took a good 1/2 mile or more for my dad to catch up with us.  It was very traumatic, but who knows, maybe he saved their lives.

I don't think I saved any lives with my gas station experience.  But at least I wasn't willing to just wait for what could have happened.