This. But the silver lining here is that I've actually stepped outside and met my neighbors b/c of Ike for the first time since I moved into my house over 3 years ago. I am the type who does the "courtesy nod and wave" to my neighbors - but never speaks to them. Now I was forced to talk to them and get to know them... and you know what? They're pretty good folks. Waiting in line for gas for 2+ hours, I just parked my car on Westheimer and sat on the sidewalk... others followed suit and I met a dozen new friendly people that I would never have the opportunity to talk to in my lifetime - people from all walks of life. Aside from the inability to understand a nonfunctioning signal and one guy who cut in front of a car at the aforementioned gas line (after which the 50+ year old guy he cut in front of did a 100m dash faster than Ussain Bolt to the cops at the station to rat the line-cutter out) people have been fairly pleasant in my experience.
I think it was Charlie Manson who said "you're never more alive than when you're afraid". Fight or flight and the survival mode amps up your adrenaline and your endorphin production. The result is more manic behavior. You can be more visceral, where the more primitive parts of the brain take control and you run on instinct, the brainless Neanderthals out there and, you can have more compassion for those you identify with as part of your survival unit, family friends or fellow citizens; the good Samaritan that will sacrifice for others. Human beings are not that evolved from the other animals. We've got maybe 200,000 years of frontal lobe development stacked up against 200 million years of reptilian instinct. It doesn't take much stress to make us devolve into fighting over a carcass.
Agreed that it's (also) bringing out the best in people. Have to be proud of how orderly, calm, and safe the city's been in the aftermath. Haven't seen people going ape at stores, or anywhere really. Also agree that people are going to be irritable and short so long as they're without power, access to hot showers, etc. Drivers in this city were already anxious and impatient. I bike commute and am well aware that suburban moms yaking on a cell while driving their Lexus SUV are going to swing right turns w/o looking or even tapping their brakes 19 times out of 20. That at certain busy intersections cars will tear unprotected lefts as soon as they see a small break in the oncoming traffic, paying no heed to anyone crossing the intersection (and usually acting as if they had right of way). Now, I've got to cross 4-way stops where cars try to test their 0-60 time before crossing traffic has cleared the intersection, or everyone gets confused and tries to go at the same time. Patience....patience.....we're all going to get where we're going....
The funny part about a lot of the people being a holes and acting crazy is how fast they do a 180 when the cops show up. Then all of a sudden they are good little boys and girls. Saw it happen at the first day of service at the home depot by where I live. Before the cops came mofos were giving hard looks, women were about to start pulling each others hair and it was a big mess. Cop just pulls in the parking lot and doesn't even get out of his car and the place became silent. What people realize right now is the police are tied up doing so many things that they feel they might be able to get away with doing something violent to get thier way. Those are the ones you have to watch out for.
I wish the thread starter would list what exactly he is talking about. I have seen pretty much the opposite. Everyone in my neighborhood is being nice to each other, helping each other out, exchanging numbers, etc. People who never venture out of their homes are actually stepping out to talk. Outside of the neighborhood, I have seen people being nice. Now, I haven't been to a POD line or a hardware store either, but at the stores I have been to, people have been nice. Now let this power outage thing go on another week and all that will change. I probably will have a full house next week due to taking people in who don't have any power.
My mom told me that she was in a line to wait for gas at HEB. She had been there for over an hour. Then this ghetto car pulls up and attempts to cut everyone off. Inside there were four hispanic gangsters all tatted up. Everyone is getting pissed and honking but no one has the guts to approach the car. As it turns out, the car stops its attempt to cut in line and pulls off to the side. All four of the occupants get out of the car, and believe it or not, the driver and a passenger in the back seat begin beating the hell out of each other. At this point they are right next to my mom's car and she is freaked out so she leaves the line after waiting for over an hour, telling me that she was scared they were going to pull out a gun and start shooting. Anyway, she had to go three more days without gas for passing up that opportunity.
My parents and all the houses on their side of the street got power on Sunday morning, but the other side was dark. By the end of the day, every powered house had extension cords going down the driveway, across the street and into the house across the way. People aren't so bad. As for drivers, they're always bad.
A fairly normal 4-way stop is fine. A 4-way stop that's generated by some sort of disaster or misfortune is WAY more tougher than your textbook 4-way stop sign. I've struggled some with them during the storm just because the lines get blurred when people haven't had power for days and are grumpy as hell, the same 4-way stop rules don't apply in these situations. It's more like a free for all because no one cares about following the rules at this point.
I haven't encountered any bad situations lately...the 4 stops at intersections aren't so bad but they are when it's rush hour! ugh! We met our neighbors after the storm and on the street, they quickly cleaned up the debris and helped each other out. Hopefully, we'll go back to normal soon.
My only problem has been the 4 way stops. Yesterday I almost collided with a guy because he went out of turn. It's like he thought it was 2 way (him and the cars going opposite him) because after the cars opposite him went, he sped into the intersection while others next to him waited. This just drives me insane, it's definitely a pet peeve of mine. Most people probably won't abide by the.....go in a counter clockwise motion, but at least wait your turn. /End rant. Pugs
At a four way stop at a broken intersection - up until Ike - I used to follow the letter of the law religiously... That is to say that when I arrived at the light I would wait take a mental pic of all cars that were there before me and wait for all of them to cross before I made my move... but now i've noticed a new trend - and i've started following it b/c not doing so has nearly gotten me killed... it seems that the earliest car to arrive at the intersection from a particular side leads all the cars from that side across the intersection... so if i arrive to a broken stoplight - but the cars in the other lanes around me were already there and are about to cross - i'll cross too - without waiting for my approrpriate turn... on Sun and Mon - I wasn't doing that and it seemed to confuse other drivers - because they thought I was going out of turn... That was a tough one to explain - hope it made some semblance of sense.
I've been to a few place in the world, and the people and Houston are generally the friendliest. If this happened anywhere else, you would have looting and total anarchy.
I do this as well. It seems to me to be more efficient for all concerned. What does Miss Manners say about this practice?
Yeah better if you move in unison with group of cars in the lane your in. The tough one is the left turn lanes, sometimes the major lanes try to skip you.
Hell, that is the least people can do given the situation IMO. It's not like the neighbor with power is on Gilligan's Island having to ride a stationary bike to generate the electricity to provide the neighbor. lol. I guess worst case...neighbor with power might ask for some sort of reimbursement from neighbor without power.
I understood it, and I am doing this as well. Sometimes I won't even stop as the cars are starting to move right when I arrive so I just move with them. Every time I waited my turn at this one particular intersection I almost got side swiped by over anxious idiots.
I've noticed if you don't use the "caravan" method, the cross street traffic will "forget" that you were there first and you will have to wait until the next caravan to move.
Agree entirely. Horrible driving knows no political allegiance. I live in the 2nd most liberal city in the US, and the driving during power outages is absolutely criminal on all levels. Some greenie in a prius nearly killed me in a crosswalk just yesterday. So, it's not a Houston thing. If anything, i think the average Houstonian is a bit nicer and more giving than the average person in another random city. I always feel that way when I get to visit home.
