OK, I admit it. I was wrong.
I would like to preface the following true story below with the fact, that, I have been pondering, whether I should blog it, or not. I've been mulling it over.I really hadn't decided one way, or the other, until now.
I honestly will not blame anyone at all for giving me a bunch of grief over it.
Indeed, I feel somewhat guilty about it.
Maybe that's why I finally decided to tell you - to get it off my chest, I guess.
Not only was I admittedly wrong for doing this , but what I did was debate-ably illegal.
I also truly would not want anyone to try this at home,
as it might not have turned out, the way it did.
I was coming back from playing tennis with my friend Renato.
We usually play weekly and we are VERY evenly matched.
At the end of each match, we both are just about totally physically spent.
If there is a better form of exercise, I haven't found it.
After I thanked Renato for the tennis, said goodbye and left the courts, I started driving home to take a shower, as I was dripping with sweat.
I got to a long line of traffic on a two lane road.
There's probably 45 cars in a single file, waiting for the light to change at the intersection of route 1.
It's a very long light.
I have been there many times. This day, I'm about car number 35.
The light changes and approximately 15 cars make it through the light,
before it changes back to red again.
The car right in front of me is a 80's white Toyota, with a gray front left 1/4 panel.
As this car is moving up, as is every other car, the passenger tosses first a fast food bag out the window
and then 15 feet later, a large paper cup complete with plastic cover & plastic straw.
Inside my car, I say out loud "that S.O.B. !" and I proceed to write down their license plate number.
Now, I don't know how you feel about this activity, but as a naturalist, it REALLY pisses me off,
when people litter. I hate it !
I mean, is it really too much to ask to keep the friggin' trash in the car and throw it out, when you get home, or near a garbage can !!
As I'm sitting in the car, I am fuming.
Now, I'm thinking of how I'm going to have to waste hours in court. Not only that, but they will probably delay the court date twice, so I will probably have to go to court three times
and waste more hours.
(continued in first comment below)
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All this is going through my mind and finally, I put my car in park and briskly walk up to their car and tap on the driver's window with my knuckles. I see a fairly attractive dark haired, perhaps 35ish Spanish woman, is the driver and probably her teenage son of about 15 years, is the passenger. The woman jumps, as I knock on the window. I guess she did not see me get out of my car and walk up to her car from behind.
So, she proceeds to bring her window down just a couple of inches and says, "What you want, meester ?"
My retort, "license and registration ma'am".
She looks me up and down. Remember I am in tennis wear and my mirrored aviator style sunglasses.
So, I say, "I'm off duty ma'am. License and registration please."
She says, "What, I didn't do anything wrong officer !"
I say, "well, actually you have a cracked windshield. So, failure to make repairs is a cause for a summons, as is the fact that both you and your passenger do not have your seat belts on.
However, the real reason I stopped you, is because of the littering."
"I did not leeeter !"
"No, ma'am, but your passenger did and as the driver, you are responsible for the illegal activities of your passengers."
At this point, she yelled something to the boy in what, I'm pretty sure was Spanish.
"So, ma'am, so far we are up to three summons and failure to present vehicle documentation is another summons".
"I sorry officer ! I just tell him he was wrong to leetter."
"He should know that already ma'am. However, I'm going to give you one chance and one chance only.
You have that boy run back and pick up his litter and I'll forget the summons. However, I am going to inform my superior of your plate number and if this happens again, you are getting four tickets instead of one."
"I sorry. I sorry." Again she turns to the boy and says something in Spanish and he opens the door and runs back to get the paper cup & lid & cover.
He comes back to the car.
I say, "What about the bag too".
She instructs him to get the bag (I guess) as he then runs back and gets the bag and again comes back to the car.
I say, "you both put your seat belts on and have a good day."
As I'm jogging back to my car, because the light has now turned green, I look up and the guy behind my car in a red pick-up
gives me one of these;
I never said I was a police officer.
That was HER assumption.
I said I was off duty, but I didn't specify which profession.