Puzzled
Today I'm at home with my eldest. There seems to be a nasty virus going around daycare, so I'm at home nursing him back to health hoping that I don't miss two days of work. My wife is away on business, so it's just me and the kids.
We've had a great day. Some puzzles -- a lot of puzzles, some reading, I got a bit of work done -- thank goodness for VPN's.
As I was puzzling with A, I was remembering an odd discussion I had yesterday. At work our Maintenance guy and my receptionist were in my office at the same time. They got to talking about how I ride my bike in all the time and how pretty much offends them. The conversation started out jovial enough, "ha, ha, I can't believe you ride everyday with all those bad drivers around." this is fine I deal with this on a regular basis. I would usually say some thing to the effect that "it's not that bad, drivers are generally courteous to cyclists, blah, blah, blah". But then the conversation started down the path of "when I see a cyclist on the road I ...(insert some way of maiming here)". This is the part I became uncomfortable with. At work I am above them on the "food" chain, and yet as soon as I am "labeled" a cyclist I somehow drop down to something akin to road kill -- which is where the conversation was going.
So I guess it comes back to the respect notion that I have been discussing. Cyclists don't get any
respect. I finally had to interject and say, "Actually I do own the road. I do have a right to space on the road and just because I am going slower than you doesn't mean I should get less respect." It is funny I do like to maintain a friendly attitude with our staff, but when it gets to the point of racism it is difficult. I guess I really should have said "get the h*** out of my office!" But I didn't.
So I'm puzzled -- how does a person get like this -- are they jealous that I am fitter and happier than them? Are they upset because I save umpteen thousand dollars a year on commuting expenses? Or are they just stupid?
But the puzzlement continues -- how many more think like them? How can we change these "bigots" attitudes towards cyclists?
It's a puzzle.
Peace
We've had a great day. Some puzzles -- a lot of puzzles, some reading, I got a bit of work done -- thank goodness for VPN's.
As I was puzzling with A, I was remembering an odd discussion I had yesterday. At work our Maintenance guy and my receptionist were in my office at the same time. They got to talking about how I ride my bike in all the time and how pretty much offends them. The conversation started out jovial enough, "ha, ha, I can't believe you ride everyday with all those bad drivers around." this is fine I deal with this on a regular basis. I would usually say some thing to the effect that "it's not that bad, drivers are generally courteous to cyclists, blah, blah, blah". But then the conversation started down the path of "when I see a cyclist on the road I ...(insert some way of maiming here)". This is the part I became uncomfortable with. At work I am above them on the "food" chain, and yet as soon as I am "labeled" a cyclist I somehow drop down to something akin to road kill -- which is where the conversation was going.
So I guess it comes back to the respect notion that I have been discussing. Cyclists don't get any
respect. I finally had to interject and say, "Actually I do own the road. I do have a right to space on the road and just because I am going slower than you doesn't mean I should get less respect." It is funny I do like to maintain a friendly attitude with our staff, but when it gets to the point of racism it is difficult. I guess I really should have said "get the h*** out of my office!" But I didn't.
So I'm puzzled -- how does a person get like this -- are they jealous that I am fitter and happier than them? Are they upset because I save umpteen thousand dollars a year on commuting expenses? Or are they just stupid?
But the puzzlement continues -- how many more think like them? How can we change these "bigots" attitudes towards cyclists?
It's a puzzle.
Peace
posted by pedalmaniac at
8:53 PM
1 Comments:
Personally, I don't think it's jealousy. Most people like this don't realize how much benefit, and how much fun, cycling really is.
These people, in my experience, are just people with the "roads are for cars" attitude who resent your presence on "their" road. Fortunatley, I don't encounter people this bad very often, but i have once or twice.
If you hear about those two saying anything like that again in the workplace, I'd haul them into HR.
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Unknown, at 3:28 AM
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