So, I am walking home from the pub with a female friend, crossing a traffic light (green for pedestrians, of coure). A cabbie is creeping into the passenger lane ever so slowly and is maybe 10 cm away from my legs as I pass him. Gently, in the same way you'd politely knock on a door, I knock on his hood three times and say something like "step on the brake, you are creeping forward" (well knowing that he's doing it on purpose to get an early start when the light turns green for him). I walk on without even waiting for his reaction, assuming there'd be none.
Boy, was I mistaken. He rolls down the passenger side window and yells at me: "WHY DID YOU TOUCH MY CAR". I reply: "Because you were creeping right at me across a red light."
He stops his car in the middle of the intersection, gets out and stands in front of me. Arab or Turk, late 30s/early 40s, 10cm smaller than me. "WHY DID YOU TOUCH MY CAR".
"Because you were running a red light, creeping right at me." "IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WAY I DRIVE GET MY LICENSE PLATE AND REPORT ME. DON'T TOUCH MY CAR!" - "Well, now that you say it, I got your taxi concession number, as well...." - "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? I CAN BEAT YOU TO THE GROUND RIGHT HERE? WHAT IS THIS ABOUT" - "What's the problem, why are you yelling at me? Why do you want to escalate this?" "WHY ARE YOU THREATENING ME? YOU HIT MY CAR!!!!" - "I did not hit your car. I knocked on it." (I walk two steps to a garbage can.) "Look" (three knocks on the can). "That's hitting" (BANG! I hit the can) "WELL, MAYBE THAT'S HOW YOU SEE IT! MEANWHILE YOU SCRATCHED MY PAINT! YOU HAVE TO PAY!"
At this point, my female friend tried to join the debate. The cabbie said "I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU, SHUT UP". I also cut her off as I thought she wanted to defuse the situation. She later told me she wanted to provoke him and I spoiled all the fun by cutting her off. Anyways, after she was not allowed to join the fight, she told me she's bored by it and pulled me away. As we already were 10 meters away, the cabbie yells:
"YOU FUCKING HOMO"
So I turn around, very calmly, but loud: "I am not a homo. Ask your mom, she knows!" (EDIT: Yep, as Lev pointed out, that was escalation from my side)
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! DO YOU WANT ME TO BEAT YOU UP? COME BACK, I'LL KILL YOU!" (and so on and so on...)
"And I still got your plate!"
I often get too agitated during useless wars of words. But this time I managed to just play it cool and pull the other parties' leash. Maybe I should even really report this guy, a person with such a temper probably should nor chauffeur people. But then again, a perfectly honest verbal brawl between folks, where's the problem...
In any case, what an Idiot. With a car.