Nice Ash

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever been upset with someone in front of you on the freeway flicking their ashes out the window?

This is a true story...it happened on my drive to work a couple weeks ago...

I was driving on the 405 to work and noticed the woman in front of me was flicking her ashes out the window. This has always bothered me. First of all it is illegal. From numerous visits to traffic school (which is another topic) I know that there are only 2 things that are legal to throw out of a moving car, one is water and the other is chicken feathers (but only if there are live chickens with you.) If you insist on smoking then you should use your own damn ashtray. Don't litter on top of giving yourself cancer, and especially don't litter at my expense. Do you really think that I want to smell your smoke? Roll up your windows and enjoy your smoke to the fullest. Don't share it with everyone else.

Anyway, I wasn't really trying to, but I think scared the crap out of this woman. I was just really upset to see her continually flicking ashes in front of me. My response was to honk whenever she flicked. I am not sure if she put the two together, or if she was just thinking I was some sort of maniac. She eventually changed lanes, but as my exit was also approaching I changed lanes right behind her. I ended up getting off the same exit with her about a mile later and then actually felt slightly bad about scaring her, because she seemed concerned that I was still behind her.

I thought about following her to apologize for scaring her, but figured that would probably be even worse. Bottom Line: Use your own ashtray! And honking at strangers gives you something to talk about, but may not always end up going well.