why don't youngsters listen?

[poppa smurf]

grabbing a bit of fuel this morning when a "doof doof" buzzbox pulled up at the next bowser.

I noticed as it was stopping that the drivers side brake light was out.

as i was filling up I glanced at the vehicle and noticed the rear tyres were also bald and the exhaust was dropping off at the rear......none of my business, right..yep! my thoughts.

a young girl got out of the vehicle and she said "hello".......I responded and a bit of conversation evolved as we were both filling, anyway I mentioned the rear light and tyres as well as exhaust.

she went a bit cold and said.....in a smart *** tone,.... "yeah! I'll get it fixed straightaway!".....went and paid for her fuel and on the way back laughed, got into her car and took off in cloud of oil smoke and music, I just shrugged and went back to my fuelling.

no skin off my nose.

paid up, drove out, turned left at the roundabout and down a bit, Hmmm! flashing lights, check speed, no I'm right.

oh! oh! it's "doof doof" girl.......mr policeman is writing furiously.......I give a nod as I continue on.

please if any one sees my tail light out or something amiss......TELL ME!!!

[Kable72]

Some people are just *** holes, mate.

[ratter]

at least you tried

[pajoda]

Poppa, we are just too old to be relevant anymore.

[T4ME]

Its not just young people.

[DJR-351]

The eternal question for which there is no answer.....

[Kable72]

Originally Posted by T4ME

Its not just young people.

I'm with you here, I get more people in their 30s and 40s fob me off when I let em know something is wrong with their car than I do people my own age.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Not just youngsters! All ages, all walks of life. It takes all types to make the world go round...

Adults still smoke, kids still jig school, businesses still cook the books, drivers still speed, back packers still travel without insurance, guys running late still run red lights, girls still drink to excess and make mistakes, people still marry or go out with the wrong people, most drivers still drive while talking / texting
etc etc etc...

All the above would have been told and shown how wrong it is. It is just human nature to think we know best and that any issues / consequences that we know may happen certainly won't happen to us.. Been there, done that myself.. several times!

And when it does... what is the response...

"I TOLD ya so".

Like you said, no skin off your nose. Perhaps they will learn for next time, perhaps they won't.

Last time I told someone they were driving on a flat I got an earful of the most filthy, un ladylike abuse because I should have 'minded my own business'....

So, when the (very butch looking) girl at the air pump in front of me did all 4 tyres of her Korean Barina at 55psi I didn't say a word... 'No skin off my nose'....

[DBourne]

Pretty funny that there was a copper right there and then! Great timing

[hawkgirl]

that there is Karma at its best. Made my morning

[Iggle Piggle]

Its no good Poppa - years of experience and education will never see any one know as much as a teenager does.

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

...girls still drink to excess and make mistakes...

I spent a lot of my early 20's being that mistake - good times!

[MDS69]

Originally Posted by SgtBourne

Pretty funny that there was a copper right there and then! Great timing

a little story relating to good timing

My wife use to drive the M2 in Sydney every morning and afternoon to and from work. One morning she was cut off by a tool who was lane changing several times every hundred metres in the peak hour crawl. When she was cut off she sounded the horn because it was that close and lo and behold the next car who got cut off was an unmarked car of NSW's finest who promptly pulled him over.

[ford71V8]

Ha, great story.
Perfect time for a cop to be close by.

You must be unaware though....
There are a number of 17 year old doctors, lawyers, engineers, financial advisers, managers, and directors. Some people are not content to simply focus on just one specialization.
I take my hat off to all those who have worked hard to squeeze in this vast amount of education while still managing to accumulate a wealth of knowledge through life experience, and all within the short time they have been around. Makes me wonder how any of them find themselves in a bind.

[Ducati888]

The hardest thing in the world to give away is good advice.

When I was I kid I knew it all too. Couldn't be told a damned thing. Always knew more than, and was way cooler than, my parents. I never woke up until I was in my 20's (half a lifetime ago - sigh!). Were any of you any different?

[Kable72]

Originally Posted by ford71V8

Ha, great story.
Perfect time for a cop to be close by.

You must be unaware though....
There are a number of 17 year old doctors, lawyers, engineers, financial advisers, managers, and directors. Some people are not content to simply focus on just one specialization.
I take my hat off to all those who have worked hard to squeeze in this vast amount of education while still managing to accumulate a wealth of knowledge through life experience, and all within the short time they have been around. Makes me wonder how any of them find themselves in a bind.

I'm flat out trying to keep myself in the right frame of mind let alone getting an education lol.

[peteypete]

A bit off topic, but I'm a youngster on my P's, I drive an XR6 and all my lights work, all my tyres have at least 90% tread, and I'm happy listening to my stock premium sound stereo on about 9-10
Just to clarify that not all youngsters are reckless menaces on the road...

[poppa smurf]

I seem to live in the land of the young folks, my family is pretty young now, getting to the age where I'm the "old fart" but get on with most, I thought this young lady and I were getting along amicably and that was the only reason i opened my mouth.

I offered to replace the brake light for her, the service station had spare bulbs, five minute job, but she declined which is her right to do, after all I'm just a dopey old stranger/weirdo.

I have enormous respect for youngsters nowadays and will go out of my way to help, it is far harder growing up now than it was in my day.

theres been coppers everywhere lately, bit of a blitz going on I think, I still reckon if I could have replaced the globe for her she would have been okay.

but there is a niggling "feeling" in the back of my mind that if so many things wrong with the vehicle, should it be on the road at all? and just maybe that copper may have just saved her, or someone else's life.

but anyway, thats just conjecture but that's what happened to me this morning......if you see a mercury silver 05 fairmont driving around with a blown globe, come and tell me.....theres a beer in it for you!

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by peteypete

A bit off topic, but I'm a youngster on my P's, I drive an XR6 and all my lights work, all my tyres have at least 90% tread, and I'm happy listening to my stock premium sound stereo on about 9-10
Just to clarify that not all youngsters are reckless menaces on the road...

mate I know this, we raised two kids into fine adults ourselves and now have grandkids.

99% of youngsters are fantastic people to be around....I enjoy their company immensely and have helped many over the years personally and through the business with sporting associations, donations and time.

every now and then you come across one that makes you go HMmmmm!

[peteypete]

I agree poppa, there are definitely some youths who seem to have stopped maturing at the age 15. It's a scary thing when they start to get into real world things like driving a car.

[BENT_8]

Had a similar thing happen many moons ago.
Being in a small country town (Maitland SA for those playing at home) everyone basically knew each other and would look out for one another.
One evening, whilst sitting on the bench out the front of our take away shop I noticed a young lad had a blown headlight as he pulled into the car park out front.
I wasn't going to say anything, as, like most of the young folk, they rarely listened, but upon his exit from the shop I mentioned the globe being out.
His reply wasn't rude, he just smiled and said it had been blown for a few days.
Not quite the response I had envisaged...

So off he goes, on his way.

About 5 minutes later my lad rang and asked to be picked up to come get his dinner from the shop, so I jumped in the car and headed in his direction.
At the far end of the main Street I could see the local with the young fella in tow giving his VR the once over.
Being a local I knew the cop a bit so I pulled up and said g'day.
he was in the process of writing him up for the light and anything else which caught his eye.
I had a quick word, explained that I had just told him about the blown light and had offered to change it with one I had at the house if he gave me 5 minutes.
In them days you couldn't buy anything but takeaway after 12pm Saturday arvo so he had no options.
So the good man put his pen away and after a few more minutes of general banter we were all on our way.
I led the young fella down to our place and as promised, gave him a globe from my set of spare headlights and sent him on his way.

A month or so later I ran into him in the front bar, was a cheap night for me from what I remember...

[XRGhia]

I know what you mean poppa smurf, and I own an E-series :P


Being serious for a moment, I know quite a few people around my local who have easily defectable cars (blue/red parkers or blown headlights/bald tires/exhaust too loud), yet they whinge when they get defected for having a defect-able car. 80% of them are P-Platers too...


It's a pity, because it's the minority that ruins it for the majority.

[Trump]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Had a similar thing happen many moons ago.
Being in a small country town (Maitland SA for those playing at home) everyone basically knew each other and would look out for one another.
One evening, whilst sitting on the bench out the front of our take away shop I noticed a young lad had a blown headlight as he pulled into the car park out front.
I wasn't going to say anything, as, like most of the young folk, they rarely listened, but upon his exit from the shop I mentioned the globe being out.
His reply wasn't rude, he just smiled and said it had been blown for a few days.
Not quite the response I had envisaged...

So off he goes, on his way.

About 5 minutes later my lad rang and asked to be picked up to come get his dinner from the shop, so I jumped in the car and headed in his direction.
At the far end of the main Street I could see the local with the young fella in tow giving his VR the once over.
Being a local I knew the cop a bit so I pulled up and said g'day.
he was in the process of writing him up for the light and anything else which caught his eye.
I had a quick word, explained that I had just told him about the blown light and had offered to change it with one I had at the house if he gave me 5 minutes.
In them days you couldn't buy anything but takeaway after 12pm Saturday arvo so he had no options.
So the good man put his pen away and after a few more minutes of general banter we were all on our way.
I led the young fella down to our place and as promised, gave him a globe from my set of spare headlights and sent him on his way.

A month or so later I ran into him in the front bar, was a cheap night for me from what I remember...

This is why I have been considering moving to a small country town away from the big smoke.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Nice story, good result IMO.

Had a somewhat similar experience recently, was driving my daily driver right on the speed limit in a 100 zone, being tail gated by a P plater (not picking on P platers just stating a fact), first chance he gets he does a risky overtaking manouver, all I hear is a screaming 4 banger with a big fart cannon hanging out the back, nearly having a head on wih a semi who blasts his horn at him, as he pulls back in front of me, he over corrects and runs his passenger side tires onto the gravel on the side ofthe road spraying up rocks causing me to slow down to avoid damage to my car.

Then to show off, he takes off like a bat out of hell, insert further farting sounds coming from the milo tin attached to the exhaust

About 2 minutes later I come around a bend and see him pulled over by a highway patrol car, as I cruise past still sitting on the speed limit.

Love it when things workout.

[Lotte]

I copped a "what the **** would you know" from a guy old enough to be my dad once, when I informed him his brake lights were out (all of them mind you, not just one, I don't even know how that happens).
Admittedly, I can get pretty snarky and sarcastic, so a snide "it's not like I've been driving behind you, or work on cars. But if they do work, you're admitting to not braking to slow down, which means you're failing to signal to other drivers what you're doing. But please, carry on being right", came out my mouth.

As I was walking out of the servo he asked me if I knew what globes he'd need. I thought he'd implied they were ok

That being said, the younger gen gives me looks of utter disgust when I tell them similar things in regards to their cars.

[Geez Louise]

Yes this is an issue as old as time. I have stopped saying "I'll look that up on google" instead in our household I say "I'll just check with Jake"

"Jake" for those playing along at home is my 17 going on 43yr old son who apparently knows more than anyone or anything on the planet.

[Kable72]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

Nice story, good result IMO.

Had a somewhat similar experience recently, was driving my daily driver right on the speed limit in a 100 zone, being tail gated by a P plater (not picking on P platers just stating a fact), first chance he gets he does a risky overtaking manouver, all I hear is a screaming 4 banger with a big fart cannon hanging out the back, nearly having a head on wih a semi who blasts his horn at him, as he pulls back in front of me, he over corrects and runs his passenger side tires onto the gravel on the side ofthe road spraying up rocks causing me to slow down to avoid damage to my car.

Then to show off, he takes off like a bat out of hell, insert further farting sounds coming from the milo tin attached to the exhaust

About 2 minutes later I come around a bend and see him pulled over by a highway patrol car, as I cruise past still sitting on the speed limit.

Love it when things workout.

Gotta love them milo tin exhausts on 4 bangers

[Iggle Piggle]

Originally Posted by XRGhia

I know what you mean poppa smurf, and I own an E-series :P


Being serious for a moment, I know quite a few people around my local who have easily defectable cars (blue/red parkers or blown headlights/bald tires/exhaust too loud), yet they whinge when they get defected for having a defect-able car. 80% of them are P-Platers too...


It's a pity, because it's the minority that ruins it for the majority.

Don't get me started on how some (not all) young 'uns claim to be picked on and victimised.

19 year old nephew says cops only booked him because he was a P-plater. Yeah, the cops would have let me go if it was me towing 2 mates on a couch behind a ute down a back-street in Edwardstown because I have a full licence.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by Geez Louise

Yes this is an issue as old as time. I have stopped saying "I'll look that up on google" instead in our household I say "I'll just check with Jake"

"Jake" for those playing along at home is my 17 going on 43yr old son who apparently knows more than anyone or anything on the planet.

Hah! Hah! we did the exact same thing with our son.......trouble was the bugger did have and still has all the right answers.

[Kable72]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

Hah! Hah! we did the exact same thing with our son.......trouble was the bugger did have and still has all the right answers.

Yeah we can have the right answers when it will **** you guys off the most

[Raysie]

It's not a youngster thing, it's an **** hole thing.

How many times I see idiots on the road and only wish the Police catch them in the act. It's stories like this that restore my faith in karma.