Today's pet peeve

I work at a place called Stuyvesant Plaza. The main part of the plaza is a shopping center, mostly for rich people (fur shop, jewelry stores, gourmet foods, etc.) Though there is a Fridays. I guess rich people need fried mac and cheese too. Behind the shopping mall is an office park. This is where I work.

There are two ways to leave the office park. There is a road out to a side street or you can go through the shopping center directly on to the main road and a ramp for the highway. As I take the highway, I go this way. Even though most days I end up annoyed.

You see, the exit from the plaza is a bit peculiar. Let’s see if I can actually describe it. You can only turn right as it is a curving exit (not that this stops the public bus – I’ve seen multiple CDTA buses turn left across 4 lanes out of this exit. Awesome. Anyway, the main road has 2 lanes going in the west direction. The exit from the plaza curves and becomes a third lane which then turns into the on ramp for the highway. There is a solid line separating it for several feet and then a dotted line before turning back into a solid white line and separating from the road to curve onto the highway.

Here’s the thing – it is a separate lane. There is no stop sign. There is no yield sign. One would assume, and I do, that the correct thing to do is exit the plaza without stopping and then change lanes at the dotted lines if you need to do so.

This seemingly simple process is apparently far too difficult for some people. I spend far too much time sitting in a long line of cars because some dumbass has stopped and is waiting for there to be no traffic coming in any of the main lanes so he/she can cross the solid white line immediately. Or, even better, the person has stopped and is waiting for there to be no cars coming in any of the lanes so he can continue IN THE LANE HE IS ALREADY IN! I am in no mood for this at the end of my work day.

I hate the stupid.

I’d go out the other exit, but that would involve two traffic lights and likely take even longer since I’d be making a big circle back to where I want to go. Though I do sometimes go that way during the Christmas shopping season. That involves stupid drivers AND selfish, oblivious and stupid shoppers. I get tired of going 2 miles per hour because some idiot parent is more concerned with getting the shiny package to the car than making sure the 3-year-old doesn’t run in front of cars.

Like I said, I hate the stupid.