sorry if this is long.
let me set the stage by starting with yesterday.. on my walk through the neighborhood here in Florida, west palm beach area, someone is walking towards me, but on the left side of the sidewalk.. yes it all starts with something as silly as this. There are a lot more foreigners here and sometimes, they don't understand that customarily, we walk on the right side of the pavement, just like we drive on the right side of the road.
Anyway, this person will not move, won't move over, finally, I throw my arms up, and move.. in passing I say something about your walking on the wrong side. I am met with immediate backlash, "Do you make the rules, blah blah blah.
I wasn't there to start a fight, kept walking and ignored this person, but it upset me, why should I be the one having to move?
This morning, I run into the same person. This time, I decide, I'm not going to move. I end up stopping, and so does she. A bunch of the same as yesterday, and calmly try to tell her the custom. I can here her accent, and mention it, and she freaks out.. why does it matter or whatever.. In my thinking, I'm going ok, she is a foreigner, and doesn't understand, so I'm in let me explain it mode, but she is having none of it. She thinks I'm on some big power trip telling her what to do and demands to know if this is my country and if I set the rules.
At this point, I'm tired of this bullshit. I told her yes it is my country and these are the customs and what she is doing is challenging me.
I told her, if you're foreign, and don't want to abide by the customs of this country, then you don't belong here. Try doing that stuff in any other country, and it won't go over so well for you.
All hell broke loose
This women, likely from Haiti or Dominican Republic is now in my face screaming at me, pulls out her phone and well it's too dark for much of her video to be any good, but she calls me a trump supporter, a racist, a pig, a fat ass, ugly, I can't remember all the bullshit that came out of her mouth. I just kept walking. I did have to tell her, don't spit in my face again. She was that animated, out of control.. saying she was going to put this on the news, that I was a racist (I said nothing about race ever) and this just went on for 20 minutes. She was going to follow me home apparently, and she said she was going to get me fired... 20 minutes later, it ended up her saying she would 'see you tomorrow' before she cut out, not wanting to walk anymore.
So I've taken some time to calm down, but other than bring a camera tomorrow on my walk, not sure what else to do about it. I figure I can call the cops next time, but my wife wants me to change my plans saying this women is crazy and could create all kinds of lies to entrap me.
I don't want to let even 1 idiot like this affect my day or decisions, so I plan to follow my routine.
I guess I feel like people have been way too accommodating to this kind of crap, and when one does that, it just keeps coming. It actually felt like some sort of bullying from grade 4 or something.. and I know she was trying to bait me into doing something stupid, but what the hell is wrong with people today?
any constructive feedback welcomed.