One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

[TBarCYa]

Saturday, I pulled up at my usual ramp and there was a pontoon parked in the area where a vehicle needs to go to line up for the ramp. Very nice gentleman offers to pull up so I can launch since he's not ready but I need a couple minutes to get the straps off so I decline. I finish prep and he offers again to pull up and does, then I launch, tie up to the dock and wait for the person parking my truck to get to the boat.

While waiting, I hear a bunch of commotion and go near the ramp to see what's going on and there's a guy backing a 21' powerboat down the ramp while dropping 'f-bombs' repeatedly for no apparent reason. He gets the boat in and asks his friends if they saw him put the f'ing plug in the f'ing boat and when they say no, he proceeds to use the same term another 20 or so times. When I walk back towards the dock with the woman who was parking the truck, he apologizes for his language (apparently noticing a woman nearby) and continues with another 5 or 6 f-bombs directed to his friends while we walk to the boat. Fortunately, the kids were already on the boat and didn't hear any of this. One thing I don't know is if he jumped ahead of the pontoon or if the pontoon was still getting ready.

Anyhow, we had a great day on the water and when we returned the pontoon was having difficulty getting on the trailer. My kids and our friend stood and watched while I helped shove the toon off the trailer then the owner winched it on but not quite straight. I stopped him and told him it wasn't straight and he insisted on pulling out to get out of my way. I told him I wasn't in a hurry but he insisted. Once he was on level ground, I gave the toon a hearty shove and it settled perfectly on the trailer. He thanked me and shook my hand and I retrieved without incident.

Nothing terribly interesting about the story, I know, but it's funny how when I recall the many wonderful events of that day I still remember the guy cursing and being an imbecile on the ramp for no reason. I don't know how he made out that day, but fortunately we didn't see him on the water. Ironically, the guy having the most difficulty was the nicest guy around and the guy causing his own problems was the loudest and most obnoxious.

 

[Thad]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

Ironically, the guy having the most difficulty was the nicest guy around and the guy causing his own problems was the loudest and most obnoxious.

Poetic justice

I bet nobody offered to help the obnoxious guy

 

[fishrdan]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

Loud, obnoxious, foul mouthed guy forgetting the plug?

Sounds like Karma to me...

 

[burp]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

I think I would have handed my spare plug to the loud/obnoxious guy, and say "Here I think you need this", just to see him go completely off.

 

[Les Robb]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

I guess this is just a good example of the times we are in now. Call it ramp rage or road rage or whatever, the good ole days of respect and courtesy seem to have evaporated from a good portion of our country. When I was growing up my father always offered to help anyone in need, and I guess I just followed suit. My son will continue the tradition, and if more parents tried to instill the old values in their children we might turn the trend back to the good ole days when everyone at least offered to help. It still makes me sick to have one of my precious few days off ruined by some idiot that has no respect for anyone else.

Here's hoping ya'll

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

I think I would have handed my spare plug to the loud/obnoxious guy, and say "Here I think you need this", just to see him go completely off.

I would like to have seen someone deliver the plug to him when he was bending over for something !!!

 

[Thad]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

I would like to have seen someone deliver the plug to him when he was bending over for something !!!

I love it!

 

[TBarCYa]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

My kids used to ask why I helped people when boating/launching/etc and I guess they finally got the idea when they heard the same answer every time. I told them that at some point, we are going to need someone's help and when we do, hopefully someone will be nice enough to provide it. Fortunately, other than a lesson in manners, the guy with the foul language didn't really need any help.

I remember one time I was towing my Jeep home on a pretty bad piece of road sitting in traffic when a guy 2-up on a motorcycle cruises past on the shoulder at about 75% of the speed limit while everyone else was doing about 20%. I explained to my son that those motorcycles are allowed to do that because the engine is cooled by the air moving around it so they have to keep moving so they don't overheat. He was ok with that until about 10 minutes later we see the bike parked on the shoulder with a flat rear tire. I happen to keep a plug kit and compressor in the truck so while I plugged his tire and aired it up my son kept his wife occupied by telling her about all of the fun he had offroading in the Jeep that day. When we got back in the truck I asked him why he helped those people and he was confused for a minute not realizing that keeping her calm was extremely helpful, but then said "because someday I may need help".

 

[jonesg]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

Saturday, I pulled up at my usual ramp and there was a pontoon parked in the area where a vehicle needs to go to line up for the ramp. Very nice gentleman offers to pull up so I can launch since he's not ready but I need a couple minutes to get the straps off so I decline. I finish prep and he offers again to pull up and does, then I launch, tie up to the dock and wait for the person parking my truck to get to the boat.

While waiting, I hear a bunch of commotion and go near the ramp to see what's going on and there's a guy backing a 21' powerboat down the ramp while dropping 'f-bombs' repeatedly for no apparent reason. He gets the boat in and asks his friends if they saw him put the f'ing plug in the f'ing boat and when they say no, he proceeds to use the same term another 20 or so times. When I walk back towards the dock with the woman who was parking the truck, he apologizes for his language (apparently noticing a woman nearby) and continues with another 5 or 6 f-bombs directed to his friends while we walk to the boat. Fortunately, the kids were already on the boat and didn't hear any of this. One thing I don't know is if he jumped ahead of the pontoon or if the pontoon was still getting ready.

Anyhow, we had a great day on the water and when we returned the pontoon was having difficulty getting on the trailer. My kids and our friend stood and watched while I helped shove the toon off the trailer then the owner winched it on but not quite straight. I stopped him and told him it wasn't straight and he insisted on pulling out to get out of my way. I told him I wasn't in a hurry but he insisted. Once he was on level ground, I gave the toon a hearty shove and it settled perfectly on the trailer. He thanked me and shook my hand and I retrieved without incident.

Nothing terribly interesting about the story, I know, but it's funny how when I recall the many wonderful events of that day I still remember the guy cursing and being an imbecile on the ramp for no reason. I don't know how he made out that day, but fortunately we didn't see him on the water. Ironically, the guy having the most difficulty was the nicest guy around and the guy causing his own problems was the loudest and most obnoxious.

an observation, most responses smack of revenge.

As you say, the story itself isn't interesting per se...

.. but something else is.

it bothered you
and it has stayed with you over time.
its still taking up room in your head rent free.

The reason why it stayed with you is because it made you angry.
There are some types of anger which we cannot process away.
The Good Book says something to the effect of "do not sleep in your anger"
(because if you do it will take root and fester).

When fresh, anger is like mortar, its easy to stir but overnight it turns into a rock in the mind.

there is a very simple way to be rid of it.
But i guess it all depends where you place your ultimate reliance in life.

 

[Boss Hawg]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

Saturday, I pulled up at my usual ramp and there was a pontoon parked in the area where a vehicle needs to go to line up for the ramp. Very nice gentleman offers to pull up so I can launch since he's not ready but I need a couple minutes to get the straps off so I decline. I finish prep and he offers again to pull up and does, then I launch, tie up to the dock and wait for the person parking my truck to get to the boat.

While waiting, I hear a bunch of commotion and go near the ramp to see what's going on and there's a guy backing a 21' powerboat down the ramp while dropping 'f-bombs' repeatedly for no apparent reason. He gets the boat in and asks his friends if they saw him put the f'ing plug in the f'ing boat and when they say no, he proceeds to use the same term another 20 or so times. When I walk back towards the dock with the woman who was parking the truck, he apologizes for his language (apparently noticing a woman nearby) and continues with another 5 or 6 f-bombs directed to his friends while we walk to the boat. Fortunately, the kids were already on the boat and didn't hear any of this. One thing I don't know is if he jumped ahead of the pontoon or if the pontoon was still getting ready.

Anyhow, we had a great day on the water and when we returned the pontoon was having difficulty getting on the trailer. My kids and our friend stood and watched while I helped shove the toon off the trailer then the owner winched it on but not quite straight. I stopped him and told him it wasn't straight and he insisted on pulling out to get out of my way. I told him I wasn't in a hurry but he insisted. Once he was on level ground, I gave the toon a hearty shove and it settled perfectly on the trailer. He thanked me and shook my hand and I retrieved without incident.

Nothing terribly interesting about the story, I know, but it's funny how when I recall the many wonderful events of that day I still remember the guy cursing and being an imbecile on the ramp for no reason. I don't know how he made out that day, but fortunately we didn't see him on the water. Ironically, the guy having the most difficulty was the nicest guy around and the guy causing his own problems was the loudest and most obnoxious.

You did good
Funny how doing the right thing pays off for all concerned
Doing the wrong thing pays off too
Glad you had a good day

 

[TBarCYa]

Re: One ignoramous nearly tarnished a perfect day

The reason why it stayed with you is because it made you angry.
There are some types of anger which we cannot process away.
The Good Book says something to the effect of "do not sleep in your anger"
(because if you do it will take root and fester).

I really wouldn't say that it made me angry as much as confused. I've had many bad days, some of which were on the water, and yet when it comes time to go boating there's very little that can spoil the day. I guess I just assume that everyone has that same relationship with their boat. Don't get me wrong, I've been towed 12 miles by Sea Tow after an engine coupler failed and still managed to enjoy the calm and relatively quiet trip back to the ramp.

If he had been cursing like that in front of my kids (ages 11 and 13) then it probably would have made me angry but they weren't close enough to hear it so it was memorable, but I wouldn't say angering.