We'll get to Larry David in a minute.
These are the types of tiny social interactions that I find interesting because they tell you so much about a stranger in such a short period of time. Too often we dwell on the unpleasant varieties of these encounters. Today's different.
It was just another Saturday night run to the pizza shop after giving the kids their baths and shuttling them off to bed. Dino's is in a strip mall like any other. I pull into the parking lot, notice a couple of spots on my left, begin to turn ... and then hit the brake after seeing this big-old sports car, rusty/gold, maybe 15 years old, backing into the same spot I had just targeted. Not a big deal, but it annoyed me slightly even though the driver had clearly begun his odd maneuver before I started my own turn. It's a jungle out there.
I'm quite certain he didn't even notice me.
I parked the minivan not far beyond the sports car.
Getting out I got a better look at the guy: 20ish, wispy beard, scraggly hair, tall and thin. The car was maybe a Dodge Charger or some such; didn't get close enough to tell for sure.
He was headed for the pizza shop, too, and he had a good two- or three-step lead on me now. Given his youth and my bad knees, there was no way I was beating him to the door, which meant I would be waiting while he was served (oh, c'mon, you think the same way, too).
So he gets to the door first ... and, well, darn if doesn't hold it open for me in a way that says unmistakably that he does this kind of thing without thinking; a natural gentleman.
I pass through and say thank-you.
It's a small pizza shop and the counter's only a few steps away, so there's no way I'm going to lose my newly gained lead position to the fellow who had so kindly held the door.
But my Mom raised no boors, either. I catch his eye and say, "Go ahead, you first."
Smiling, he shakes his head, having none of it.
I shrug and thank him once again.
When the woman at the counter goes to get my order, I decide to tell the parking lot guy about the Larry David story. Coincidentally, just days before our real-life encounter, a co-worker had told me of an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm in which Larry David's character, Larry David, held open a door just as my new acquaintance did, only the woman who passed through failed to offer David an opportunity to reclaim his rightful advantage in line, which in this case cost David a 40-minute wait in a doctor's office. This refusal to adhere to what David considered an inviolable social convention infuriated him no end, I am told (not having watched the program myself).
Parking lot guy responds that he has indeed seen that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and we share a laugh over the coincidence of our lives imitating that art.
Out in the parking lot, I see him again.
"Have a good night," I say.
"You, too, dude," he replies.
Smiled all the way home, let me tell you.
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That is hilarious that the
That is hilarious that the same incident happened to you, but a much more pleasing outcome occurred. That episode is one of my favorites. I'm glad you had a better experience then Larry in the show.
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Corey
Bankruptcy lawyer