Car Rider Lines and My Blood Pressure

 Hey! I”m Lola. I’m going to talk about whatever pops into my head. Don’t expect it to make sense.

Maybe I'll talk about my kids, life as a stay-at-home Grandma, and books that I love ( or hate), movies my oldest son has forced me to watch, Ahem Southland Tales. I know I’m going to talk about my lifelong love affair with books. Thanks to my Mom, Dad, and Grandmother. We usually didn’t live near a library. So, I had to read whatever was around. I read my Grandmother’s gothic mysteries, and my dad’s spy and espionage novels. Lots of Mary Stewart, Matt Helm, James Bond, Leon Uris, and various Harlequin Romances. 

Maybe I’ll talk about aliens, conspiracies, the “Shadow Government”, and other weird things. 

I enjoy Dr. Pepper, cats, and books. So, I think I’ve established my bonafides as a middle-aged, grey-headed Granny. Or as the kiddos call me, Nonni.

I ramble. Get used to it. If I say something wrong please let me know. I make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. But, I love my kids, grandkids, and the few friends who have stuck with me through some tough times. I love oddball people. They make life enjoyable. Who wants to be the same as everyone else?

So, let’s talk about the 1 thing that will make my blood boil. The school car rider line. People who do not follow proper car rider line etiquette anger me more than just about anything. The kids have heard more curse words due to the car rider line than anything else. You can ask my DIL, I fuss about people doing stupid and inconsiderate things in the car rider line more than anything. Many a night I’d start a story and DIL asked, “ Car rider line?” of course it was the car rider line. I have felt pure rage at the miscreants who wait until they are at the front of the line to make sure their kids have all their stuff, fix their hair, or stop to get OUT of the car and open the door to usher their precious child to the sidewalk. This holds up the 30 cars patiently (or in my case impatiently) waiting behind them. If all this needs to be done a parent is supposed to park in the other parking lot to take care of last-minute nonsense. I have told the kids that if I ever get my butt whipped it will be due to car ride line shenanigans. One day I will just blow my top because a repeat offender has stopped the entire car rider line for 5 minutes while she chats aimlessly with her BFF in the car next to her. I can tell if the person causing problems is a Grandma/Grandpa who has no idea how everything works. I give them a pass. We were all new to this at one time.

A car rider line that ones smoothly is a beautiful thing. Everyone drops off or picks up their kids quickly and it flows like a beautiful ballet. There aren’t unnecessary delays and everyone respects the line.

I have found a line that runs with military precision. There are about 12 staffers that work to make sure everything goes smoothly. The only problem I have seen is when a car breaks down. Now, that causes a mess. The line is a serpentine path to the front of the school. So, there is no escape. But, this also means there is no way for people to cut in line.

 

One day in Texas I became so enraged at a line cutter that I called the office and told them exactly what the line cutter did. The front office lady ( who I talked to frequently) was shocked at the person’s brazen behavior and we talked major trash about her. The procedure was to pull up to a designated line and wait. A line formed behind the 1st car. The line already had about 12 cars waiting. BAD BRAZEN MOM passed all of us on the left. She went past the 1st car and then backed up so she was the 1st car. She did this 2 days in a row. I blasted this offense all over the neighborhood Facebook group. I had pictures of her car and license plate but didn’t post them. Other parents joined in the cacophony of fury at bad car rider behavior. On the 3rd day, a policeman was waiting at the car rider line. I’m sure he was there to make sure Brazen Moms behaved and to protect her from a group of pissed-off moms. I guess someone told her of the outrage she was causing. For over a week either someone else picked up her kid or she used a different car.

I truly feel there is a special place in hell for the people who abuse the car rider line. Right there next to the people who lie about overdue library books.