Rainy Days - Rainy People

The weather in the Northeast sucks. Cold and rainy. It is supposed to turn to feezing ice tonight - yay! Always nice to enjoy this weather in the City. This is supposed to carry on until the weekend. I would rather it snow a bunch instead. Oh well.

My entire office is sick. People are complaining of Broncitus-like symptoms and sore throats. Sneezing, coughing, etc. Yesterday I stayed home from work with a killer sinus headache. Today I am back in the office with a pile of work to do. I suppose it is that time of year! Yuck.

Along with the icky weather comes icky people. For example:

On my way home from the gym this morning I noticed a car pulling away from the curb in front of my building with its backdoor hanging open. I thought this was very strange. The driver - a car service driver - put on his hazzards and got out of the car. I was walking toward him. I thought maybe someone had jumped out of the car without paying their fare and was running off down the street. I looked to see who he was chasing after.

The only person I saw in front of him was a woman waiting for the bus. She was all wrapped up against the weather carrying her umbrella, the paper and a purse. To my surprise he ran right toward her! She tried to get away from him and ended up in the busy street, narrowly missing being hit by a car. He began hitting her about the head and face. I was stunned! There were 5 to 10 people walking on the sidewalk, not to mention all of the cars on busy Washington Avenue at this time of day. He didn't care who saw him assault this poor woman. He walked past me with a snarl on his face and got back into his car. I looked at him in the face but he would not meet my stare.

I shouted to the woman "Do you need help?" while he was still within ear shot. I didn't want him to think what I just saw him do was OK. She seemed a bit dazed. I walked over to her and asked her if she knew the man. She told me she had gotten into this car - it was a Taxi and Limousine car - and told the man where she needed to go. He told her he wasn't going to take her. So she got out of the car and went back to the bus stop to catch the bus. Apparently when she got out the man pulled away before she could close the door properly. That is the only contact she had had with this person. He felt the need to beat her because she left the door to his car open.

I asked her if she knew which car service he worked for and she said she didn't. She also refused any help and said "...God will punish this man. He will be dead by the end of the day." She had tears in her eyes. I felt so sorry for her, but thought maybe her punishment was a bit harsh. I was thinking more along the lines of writing down his TLC plate number to call it in, not imparting heavenly fury. I also felt sorry for the man who was going to get the wrath of God cast down upon him! I told her that I was sorry this had happened to her. She thanked me and I went inside to get ready for work.

I guess the moral of this story is, always make sure you close the door behind you and never mess with someone unless you know exactly who they have pulling for them on their side.

I am just glad that I did a good deed for her. Maybe she will ask God to do something nice for me in return!