Prevent a dent in a Parking Lot

Often I receive emails asking my advice on various topics involvingaltercations with people.

I’ll share one of their stories here.

Her name is Sally and she had just pulled into a parking space at alocal mall.

Sally sat in her car for a moment collecting her thoughts beforegoing into the store. Her two children were in the back seat.

Suddenly there was a bump, bump on the driver side of her vehicle.
When Sally looked out her side window she saw a woman standingthere with the car door open all the way, still resting against theside of Sally’s car.

Sally got mad, as the woman said, “Do you have a problem?”
“Yeah, your door is scratching my car. Please move it back from mycar.” Replied Sally.

The other woman said, “Can’t you wait, I’m trying to get out of mycar,” as she continued get out, taking her sweet time. Perhaps ittook the other woman longer because of her big butt, Sally pondered.

Finally Sally started her car, prompting the other woman to moveher door and her big butt out of the way.

Sally then backed into another space about 4 spaces down and acrossfrom the big butt, door scratching woman.

Sally dialed her husband on her cell phone as she continuedwatching the other lady.

Her husband gave her the dispatch phone number to the local policedepartment, which Sally called.

Then after one and a half hours the police finally showed up,however the other lady had left just a couple of minutes after shesaw Sally calling on the cell phone, so there was nothing they could
do.

During and after the encounter Sally felt both fear and anger. Shewished she had handled it differently, however she never thoughtabout being in that type of a situation before and didn’t know whatto do.

Perhaps you have experienced a similar encounter.

Well, here’s a few insider tips to help you be better prepared forthe next time, possibly even preventing the door ding fromhappening, at least while you’re in your car.

Prevention:

Whenever I’m in my vehicle and I see a car pulling in next to me orsomeone about to get into the car next to me to leave, I alert theother person so that they know someone is in my vehicle.

I do one or more of the following to prevent damage from other cardoors:

1. Turn off and on my headlights (not shining on the person (s) though).

2. Activate my car alarm which flashes the lights and makes a beep.

3. Roll down my windows and talk loud and/or make eye contact withthe other person briefly.

4. Open my car door, acting as though I’m about to get out, butthen I let them pass by first, politely insisting on being the gentleman.

The reason I do this is because most people seem to be more carefulwhen they know someone is watching, even the belligerent ones.

They just get embarrassed and turn the tables by getting angry atyou to take the spotlight off of themselves, hoping that you won’tsay anything.

I hope I’ve made you a little more prepared.

Stay safe!

Al Abidin P.S. Stop by our website, if you haven't lately. Al Abidin Director of Training, Cutting Edge Combat Self Defense for the real world! Since 1998.P.O. Box 404 Lakewood, CA. 90714 USA (866) 276-3350 http://www.hikuta.com/
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