a little while ago i was on the public transit in the morning. since i have a regularish work schedule these days i see the same people here and there.

me (and everyone else) was overhearing a conversation by 2 teens. one of them was saying they only drink bottled water at school because they suspect lead contamination in the pipes. (the kids at this school look like rich kids, i don't think there is probably lead but it's not totally impossible i guess.)

after listening to this for a little while i turned around and gave that person friendly but firm lecture that if they think there is lead they should get a testing kit (which is free). [edit: and i told them how to do that.] why let other people drink water with lead? lead is very bad. if there is lead, you could be a hero for finding out. if not actually interested enough to do that, stop being a snob and drink the tap water because municipal water is a gift and you should appreciate it. then it was time for everyone to disembark.

now i see this person sometimes and we mutually actively ignore each other.

what do you think?

  • glans [it/its]
    hexagon
    ·
    4 months ago

    the sentence is phrased ambiguously: i can't really tell who was going the wrong way down the one way ---- them or you.

    in any event: been there done that. but how do you "low key" communicate with someone in a vehicle? i feel like somewhat keyed up is the only way to go.

    • YearOfTheCommieDesktop [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      they were going the wrong way, halfheartedly attempting to squeeze their 6ft wide vehicle in the 3-4ft bike lane. I was biking the other way in the regular size car lane, so I pulled into the center of the lane and stuck my arm out. They stopped, to my surprise, and rolled down their tinted ass window and I yelled (not trying to be too aggressive but I had my ears covered so it came out loud): YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY DOWN A ONE WAY STREET and the guy was just just like oh okay and then we both continued on. I guess if I was really feeling annoying I would've gotten in his way until he turned around.

      I ran into someone doing even worse than this a few weeks ago (wrong way down a multi lane one way with no counter-flow bike lane), but that time I was also in a car. We both pulled up to a stoplight facing eachother, and then when it turned green I stayed where I was and started motioning for them to turn off the one way. They fuckin went straight around my ass, all the while I was pointing and honking and yelling, all because they didn't want to turn onto the highway and have to go out of their way a little, so they continued even further the wrong way down a major arterial road where they could have trivially caused a head on collision. I hate cars.