That'll teach you not to ask
I had an extremely annoying work colleague whose husband was such a tight-wad that he kept their car in a garage & made them both use public transport everywhere (maybe I've got him wrong - it was a skoda so maybe he just didn't want to be seen in public in the daylight in it???). Anyway, she lived fairly near me & once I'd passed my driving test, she suddenly became really matey.

But, and this is what annoyed me, instead of asking whether I would mind giving her a lift home (I was heading that way after all), she would hang around, making mindless small talk, telling me she might have missed her bus etc until I had no option but to offer her a lift. I honestly wouldn't have minded ever giving her a lift if she had actually asked me outright, but it was all the emotional-blackmail-pussy-footing about that pissed me off.

At that time I was driving a mark IV cortina (my first car!!!) which had a dodgy gear stick - if you pulled too hard whilst depressing the clutch it would come out in your hand - ooh err. As long as you held the clutch down it was a piece of piss to put back in (even for a a girly).

Anyway, one night I'd had enough of her drivel, changed gear and .... oh dear me, look what's happened .... I'm waving the gear stick wildly under her nose! I thought she was gonna jump out of the car there & then on the dual carriageway.

Oh I did laugh! Oh she didn't! Guess who always had peace and quiet on their drive home ever after that (and it wasn't the bus driver - ha ha)?
(norma stitz, Mon 30 Apr 2007, 16:23, Reply)