My run-in with a teabagger. Awkward situation...What would you do?

[Crystal Clarity]

Scene: My local grocery store with the only 'Redbox' (movie rental vending machine) in town. I was sitting on a bench right next to it, politely averting my eyes while waiting for the woman ahead of me to make her selection. I hate it when people watch while I'm trying to decide so I always extend the courtesy to others, by keeping a fair distance instead of standing there right next to them watching. However, I think it was still pretty clear that I was waiting for my turn. Alot of people sit on that bench for that reason.

The woman ahead of me took far longer then I expected she would (like 20 minutes). I would have given up after 10 w/apology's to my SO who really wanted a particular movie for this past weekend. However, it was one of those situations where I'm thinking; 'she's taken this long, she should be done ANY minute now'. Furthermore, and despite an appointment I needed to get to after, I figured I still had enough time to spare since it wouldn't take me long once I got to the machine.

What happened next: Finally the woman ahead of me finishes. I get up and begin to move behind her literally seconds AFTER someone who had just walked into the store is attempting to do the same. Now, the woman who had just entered the store, I'm sure, did not realize that I had been waiting... She saw the other woman finishing up and probably thought 'good timing' as I probably would have thought myself had I been her. Being the embarrassment and confrontation averse person I am, I probably would have just let woman #2 go ahead, had it not been for that appointment and the long wait I had just been through. So... I made a split second decision to cut ahead of woman #2 who, at that point, STILL might not have realized she had competition. Once I 'nabbed' the machine (gosh, this sounds bad, I know), but once I got to the machine, I turned to woman #2 and said, "I'm sorry, but I've been waiting" and pointed to the bench where I had been sitting.

I figured that would end the matter. Wrong! Woman #2 said, "No you weren't, you b**ch" ... :wow: Up until this point, I identified with her... in fact, had I been her, I might still have been annoyed even after the explanation, not knowing the full backstory. But, it wouldn't have occurred to me to call someone a b**ch and a liar! Especially over something as dumb as a movie vending machine. Anyway, despite feeling embarrassed and intimidated (to say the least) I figured that the best course of action was to ignore her, get the damn movie, and be on my way asap. Luckily, it didn't take me long but the whole time I was doing it, woman #2 literally stood inches from me, at the machine and kept tapping on it with her nails.

The whole incident was insane and had me so rattled that I had to sit in my car for a few, even though I knew it'd make me late for my appointment. Outright confrontational hostility (like that) is something I've never experienced before... people around here are generally very polite. A few minutes later as I was maneuvering my car out of the parking space, out comes that same woman who sees me and gives me the finger, then gets into her fancy expensive SUV with a bumper sticker that said: "I'll keep my guns, money and freedom, you keep the change". It had a picture of Obama smoking a cigarette X'ed out on it. :eyes:

So a couple of questions... 1)despite woman #2's over-reaction, was I still in the wrong for cutting in front of her? 2)If you conclude that my cutting in front of her was ok, should I have handled the situation differently? Like perhaps explaining more about the long wait, ect? 3)I don't agree, but my SO thinks I was too nice and that I at least should've given the finger back to her... like I said, I disagree w/that but do you? And finally, 4)Am I being "wimpy" for having been rattled by that incident? Has anything like that or worse happened to you with/anyone...not necessarily a teabagger-type?

Sorry about the long post. BTW, I've since signed up for a subscription to Netflix... ;-)