Saturday night after work I set up the telescope in the parking lot of the SchmelvenElven so that Sam and Josh and David could see the full moon through it. As I was taking a couple of ganders through it myself while I was waiting for them, a car load of kids pulled up. Before they even came to a stop, the driver was yelling out of his window:
"Hey, astronomer guy! Check out the scientific astronomer! Watcha lookin' at through that thing? Wave to the aliens!" Fuck those guys, I'm trying to get the moon into focus.
They all spilled out of the car, four of them, and headed into the store. One guy brushed against the scope, knocking it out of alignment. He apologized profusely. The guy sounded sincere."Hey, no prob," I said.
When they came out of the store the driver was back at it. "Yo, astronomer guy! What the hell are you looking at, bro?" Then to his companions, "Check out the scientist in the parking lot!" Uproarious laughter. Fuck those guys, I'm changing lenses.
Then, as they're backing out, this from the driver:
"Yo, astronomy guy with a telescope in a parking lot! Hey, scientist guy! Check out the scientist! Fuck you man!" Ok, I'd just about had it with this asshole.
"Shut the fuck up, you stupid, drunken moron," I said.
ERK! Went the car as it stopped backing up. "What the fuck did you say to me?" went the driver.
"I said shut the fuck up, you retarded, drunk idiot. Get the hell out of here and go finish being drunk somewhere else."
The guy was incensed. "What if I got out of this car and kicked your ass, huh?"
Ok. In this type of situation, it's always at least three against one. Shit talking only occurs when the shit talker has a minimum of two buddies with him. It's NEVER a one on one thing, EVER, and every time something like this happens - and it happens often - I know that there's a possibility of a physical confrontation. It's why I didn't say anything until the driver said 'fuck you, man'.
I mean, come on. That's a flip switcher, and I have no control when a situation escalates to that point. Am I supposed to just let an asshole be an asshole with impunity? Maybe, but I can't help it when my mouth shifts into automatic mode. I looked back into the eyepiece of the telescope and said:
"Dude. Get your dumb ass out of here if you don't wanna go to jail, because cops can smell drunk and stupid." Boy howdy, did that piss him off.
"FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING PUSSY, I'LL KICK YOUR ASS YOU FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER! FUCK YOU MAN, FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!"
All of this as I still have my eye to the scope, acting as though he's beyond my attention. I can see with my peripheral vision that he's slowly starting to back up again. Feeling relieved and pretty sure that he wasn't going to get out of the car, and while I was still peering through the scope, I couldn't help one more jab:
"Yeah, get out of here before you get arrested, you drunken infant." The guy hauled ass out of the parking lot.
See the kind of shit I have to put up with? And what for? Huh? Why?
Who else does this kind of crap happen to regularly? Is it just me?
