First Impression Of New Friend

by Scott
(Delaware, OH, USA)

I had just started a new job in July of 1998. I was still making new friends and coming into my own at the company the following December. On the day of the company Christmas party, I was offered a ride to the event from a girl that I had just started talking to a couple of weeks before in the breakroom. I did not know her that well, but she seemed like a really nice person, so I accepted her invitation for a ride to the party.

On our drive over to the conference center where the party was being catered, traffic was heavy. It was the holiday season and lunchtime, so traffic in this retail/hotel area was always busy this time of year. We were driving behind an elderly couple in a Jeep.


I noticed that my co-worker was getting really jittery and moving around erratically in her seat. She had begun to mutter under her breath and I could tell she was cussing.

When we came to a stop light, she threw the car into park and got out of the car. She ran up to the window of the elderly couple's car and started screaming at them, cussing at them, and basically just having a tantrum. I was scared to death and felt so badly for the elderly couple who you could tell had no idea what was wrong with this woman screaming at them through their closed car window.

When the light turned green, the elderly couple peeled out of the intersection. My co-worker returned to the car muttering and proceeded to vent on me about how she hated old people and they should all just be in nursing homes and not allowed to drive. I just sat there silently, praying that I would arrive to the party in one piece.

I did not ride back to the office with this person and I did not pursue a relationship with her after this event. She scared me to death and I just did not need that kind of person in my life.




Response from Dr. DeFoore

Good choice, Scott! Thanks for your story. It is especially poignant since your "new friend" (who didn't stay a friend) was abusive to an elderly couple. Reading this will help others to be sensitive in these kinds of situations.

My very best to you,

Dr. DeFoore