Apparently, I’m an over-reactive, bigoted, redneck

I’ve always taken pride in my tolerance but it is currently being tested by my instincts. Let me explain: almost two weeks ago my girlfriend, one of her friends, and I were rear-ended, at stoplight, by an immigrant woman who was TAKING OFF HER SHOES while driving. She works in a kitchen, at a casino, and I’m sure she had just put in a long day. Her feet probably hurt. I can empathize: my lower back hurts at times from sitting on my wallet in my ergonomic chair, in my climate controlled office, thirty-two floors above street level, overlooking Elliott Bay, so I understand. However, my back felt fine the evening of the accident because we had just spent the day in Bellingham, shopping for artisan earrings, before stopping off at a party on the way back into town.

She was driving a 2002 Kia Spectra; we were in our five-month old Toyota Prius. I think this is the part that infuriates me so; we are spending our kind of hard-earned money on a vehicle that is better for the environment and now the rear bumper has been scratched by a lesser automobile. Speaking of quality, her insurance was of an inferior sort as well. After hassling the no-name company for two weeks, I came to find out that she had cancelled her policy and was driving around without coverage. So of course, I hate her. Upon discovering this, I immediately took the elevator down to street level, whipped out my cell phone to call her and vent. She was not at work and they would not tell me when she was coming in next. Is that because they are hiring illegal workers? Did that really just cross my mind? It did. Come to think of it, right after the accident occurred, the first thing I said, or maybe it was more of a yell, was, “Do you have insurance?” I wonder if I would have said that had it been some meathead in a Hummer and a three-piece suit...

So now I have an internal conflict as well as an external one on my hands. Nothing new, I guess, but usually I’m not questioning the validity of one of my supposed values. My dad summed it up by saying that is how it goes: you follow the rules and the morons of the world run around screwing everything up. Maybe that’s it, maybe she’s just stupid and my real problem is with stupid people, regardless of race. Or broke. Don’t those two things usually go hand in hand? Stop it! You are from Texas but you have assimilated to progressive Northwestern ideals.
Luckily, we have uninsured motorist protection on our platinum-grade insurance. The woman who hit us did offer to pay for the damage in cash so maybe we will accept it, maybe not. I sure as hell won’t accept pesos though. Just kidding. Isn’t that what they call Black Humor?

Speaking of, there were these three black kids on the bus last night making so much noise…