Here’s today’s Clover – a guy in a truck moseying along at 20 MPH below the posted limit. What makes this guy a Clover is not that he is moseying along at 20 MPH below the speed limit. Some people are slow drivers, for reasons of timidity – or because their vehicle is slow. Or because it’s loaded up. That isn’t the skunky essence of Cloverism. What is the skunky essence, then?
It’s the obnoxious, inconsiderate, purposefully narcissistic refusal to move the eff over and let the people stacking up behind get by.
This guy was Clovering along on a lightly travelled road and could have easily pulled off onto the shoulder or a driveway and waved the people behind him by. It’s what considerate, non-Clover people do.
But not Clovers. They don’t care about your time. What’s your hurry?
. . .
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Worse than the guy standing still in the middle of the sidewalk are the folks doing the “cell phone shuffle,” meandering with little sense of purpose across sidewalks and pathways while walking at an uneven pace, staring at their phones the entire time. At least the sidewalk blocker is predictable. He doesn’t jump or get upset because you somehow startled him, which can actually be pretty funny when you’ve watched someone obliviously slug across a sidewalk just begging to get mugged.
Seems like you have more of them when you have fast or powerful cars to test ……..
Hi Rich,
It happens in every car I test… and my personal vehicles, including my ancient (and very slow) truck, which I manage to drive at least 5-10 above the speed limit and when I can’t and there are people behind me, I wave them past. They always wave back, too.
It’s such a small, simple thing. But all too many Americans are bullying, inconsiderate, obnoxious people.
Somewhere along the way this culture became designed by assholes for assholes. And that includes driving. It was quite the experience where one morning my frustration with people from clovers to the aggressive boiled over to the point where I decided I’ll just drive the way these assholes do. Guess what happened? People got out of my way. Nobody tried to impede me. Nobody tailgated me. Nobody cut me off.
Why? I figure it’s because at every turn people are told defer to assholes. That same deference turns into a resentment acted out on impeding anyone who dare simply not follow the herd but is otherwise polite. The passive aggressive clover isn’t about to impede an actual asshole that might hurt him, but the polite considerate guy who wants to go a little faster than him? Sure thing.
It supported my theory that the problems I have while on the road are because I am considerate and treat others the way I want to be treated. The result is being a magnet for the aggressive and passive aggressive. But once the switch flipped to entitlement, well…. suddenly the world opened up. At least for a few minutes and I learned something.
yeah, and the dumbass in between in the green SUV/truck (whatever) went off on the shoulder several times too. These assholes can’t drive for shit around here.