Friday, May 4, 2007

Opinion Poll - Am I Being too Sensitive?

This is a real situation and I am asking your opinions and feed back:

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend of mine.  This person was rear ended on the freeway on the way to work.  The person who hit the car was an illegal alien with no driver's license and no car insurance.  The rear bumper of my friend's car was extensively damaged but no one was hurt.  The other driver, of course, did not want the highway patrol to be called but my friend insisted and phoned for help.

When the highway patrol arrived, the officer took all the information and at the end of the interviews, etc., he told my friend that the other driver had no license and no insurance and unfortunately, my friend's insurance would have to pick up payment for the damages.  My friend asked what was going to happen the the other driver.  The officer said he had written him a ticket and since he had no license and no insurance he was having his car towed.

I asked my friend, "Did you stay until the tow truck arrived to take the car away?"

"No, I had to get on my way and get to work, why?  What would you have done?"

"Oh, I would have stayed.  It would have given me satisfaction to see him pay consequences.  I probably would have even taken a picture with my cell phone camera."   Note:  the thing about the picture was said, laughing and kidding.

My friend snapped, "I have got to get back to work, I don't have time for your Jerry Springer stuff."

I ended the conversation by saying, "Ok, good bye." and hanging up.

I wanted to know what any of you would think about the Jerry Springer comment and what connotation that reference brings to mind.  I am withholding my feelings until I get feedback as I do not want to poison the well, so to speak.

Thank you very much.  Love,  Kathy

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Huh?  She got mad?  Seemed a bit funny to me......

You would think she'd be more mad at the guy that hit her....but maybe she was just having a bad day.  Didn't seem to start off very well!

((hugs))
Jeanne

Anonymous said...

She over reacted when you was trying to lighten the situation ,maybe it wasnt the time to be funny lol ....love Jan xx

Anonymous said...

I think she may have misunderstood and thought you were laughing at her. That and the shock of being hit not to mention the bill for repairs probably put her in an unreceptive mood.
Debbie
xxx

Anonymous said...

I don't think you said anything out of order...I most likely would have said something similar. I think your friend overreacted..most likely due to the stress of the situation (I hope). Is she normally like that?  I wouldn't worry too much about it....maybe just apologise to her for possibly offending her with that remark and let her know you were saying it to try and lighten the situation. There are people in this world that refused to laugh in the face of adversity...I have a friend like that as well. Their whole life gets focused on one event and can't look past that.

Hope you too can resolve this. :)

God Bless.

Janis

Anonymous said...

I agree with you.  Unfortuantely the illegal alien thing in this country is out of hand.  And what happened to your friend is exactly why our insurance rates, medical rates, etc are constanly increasing.  I'm sorry these people have bad living conditions in their country but to come here they need to immigrate properly, according to the law . And they should have to speak English to get a drivers license.  In my opinion, the driver of the other car, should have been arrested and then deported, if he is in our country illegally.  I hope I never see the day when our national language is Spanish....linda in Washington state

Anonymous said...

Is your friend normally this quick to take offence at something like this?,  if not then maybe she was to upset due to all that had happened to her earlier in the day to see that you were trying to make a light joke of it and cheer her up,  Why dont you try phoning her again and explain that you were only trying to make her laugh, as for the comment from her about Your Jerry Springer stuff, I think that was uncalled for from her, why dont you leave it a day and then phone her to ask how she is feeling.
Please dont let this break up a good friendship between you, the longer you leave it the harder it will be to mend the rift between you, you never know when she has thought things over she might realise that she over reacted with you, and contact you instead,
Good Luck with whatever you decide to do, and I hope that you manage to patch your friendship up
Love Lynne xx

Anonymous said...

Having only recently received compensation for injuries sustained in a road accident that wasn't my fault (after nearly 4 years) I can understand that your friend may have taken your comments the wrong way, even if you are okay after a crash (as other people were in my car) it still can affect you deeply being involved in an accident. However I do think the illegal should have been arrested & deported, we have far too many illegals in the UK as well to such an extent that real british people like myself are made to feel like strangers in our own country & none of the major political parites will dare do anything about it for fear of being branded a racist.
Talk to your friend & try to sort it out, friends are too precious to lose...VampJack x

Anonymous said...

She may of been upset and thought you where laughing at her instead of seeing the irony of this guys car getting towed. I'm with you on this one, but I do think she over reacted and it came back on you . (Hugs) Indigo