Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The One With the Sticker Shock

Today was a very frustrating day. Things were going well until about 9:00 am., and suddenly everything tumbled down in a domino effect, and by noon I was so mad and stressed out that my hands were kind of shaking. And then I spotted it. It was a sticker on the back of a Honda Element: “Baby in Car.”

Even in the days when I habitually drove around with babies in my car… sometimes lots of them… I never went for those “Baby on Board” stickers. But I didn’t really give them much thought either. Until today. When something snapped. I thought angrily, what earthly reason do they have for telling me there is a baby in their car? Now, I will admit, I was not driving in the best frame of mind. But that sticker really bugged me. Guess what… even before I knew that you had a baby in there, I was not planning to strike your vehicle with my Suburban. I wasn’t planning to tailgate you, sideswipe you, or even make an unsafe lane change anywhere close to you. It really hasn’t changed anything for me. Even if you had a sticker that said, Ugly Person in Car: Please, Put Me Out of My Misery; or maybe: Old Person in the Car: Already Lived a Full Life… even then, I still wasn’t going to hit you.

Maybe that wasn’t even your purpose in informing me. Maybe you were just flaunting it. Trying to make infertile women suicidal. Or, HEY, CHINA! Look at me… PROCREATING. Over. And over. And over. Two, three, four, babies… take THAT, zero population!

Finally, I felt that I just had to catch a glimpse of this sticker-worthy child. I pulled up alongside, and caught a glimpse of a suit. A thirty-dollar manicure caressing a six-dollar Starbucks cup. Wait a second… there’s no BABY in there. You dropped the little darling off at daycare, didn’t you? If indeed there ever WAS a baby. Now we have gone from annoying to just plain FRAUDULENT. And at that point, I may or may not have cut her off. Made my day just a little better.

6 comments:

Cranberryfries said...

Haha. I was never one for those sticker/signs either. But seriously that whole story was just darn funny.

Raechal said...

haha! I hate those baby on board signs too! hope your day got better :)

Gr8Life said...

Well the story of your bad day sure made my day if that helps at all. So funny! Now when I see one of those signs I will have to look to see if their really is a baby in the car. Before I just never cared before, but now I won't be able to not look. And I'm sure I will think of your story every time I see one now.

Choosy mom said...

I think that you misunderstood the purpose of that sign. I don't think she was telling you to be a more careful driver around her because there was a baby. I think she posted the sign on her car to explain to the world why she's such a frazzled, dangerous and distracted driver. I need to put one of those signs in my car so people realize that the reason I accidentally swerved lanes was because I was trying to hand my baby cheerios in the back seat, or the reason I am speeding 20 above limit is because I cannot handle the shrill baby scream that will not stop. So next time you see the sign, don't get mad- steer clear. It's a fair warning that the car may make unpredictable stops and swerves.

RSM Text Factor Gurus said...

i loved the comments about China....

Amanda @livetoloveandcraft.blogspot.com said...

lol..i love how you are with words!!
I actually have a "Baby on board" sign on my car..
I have one so people know why I am being slow, swerving (ha!) and so on..that way they will have some patience with me. ;)