Encounter with a loser

I'm standing in line on Tuesday at Laney College, waiting to get my parking hang tag for the semester. A guy is behind me. I've noticed him before, downstairs while a bunch of us were waiting for the elevator. He is listening to an iPod so loudly that even though the earbuds are firmly in his ears, I can hear everything perfectly well. The line is long, so the music proceeds through several thumpety-thump songs. Finally, it gets to one so obnoxious that it's just driving me nuts. I've turned around and looked at him a few times but he can't possibly get the hint.

So I turn around and say, "Can you turn it down, please?" He immediately pauses it--but says, "What?" Of course, he couldn't hear me. I repeat my request and he mumbles something about it not being mine, it's his. "Yes, of course, but I can hear it, and it's driving me nuts. Can you just turn it down, please?"

Then I get the stare. Yep, straight out of the kindergarten playyard. "Are you?" I ask again, knowing the result. Yep, more stare, music blasting. Ass.

I finally get through the line, get my decal quickly and easily, glare at him one more time, and go to my car. On the way, I'm composing all sorts of nasty Things I Should Have Said. And I get mad, because in the situation, I felt like I had no power. Irritating. Yuck.

Then, finally, I realize that this sort of situation happens to me maybe once every 2 years. And I have a great family, house, pets, job, friends, hockey... I am lucky. I win. You know?

He is an ass and his disrespect of others will just eventually bite him in the ass. Hard. I wish I could be there for that, but I have to have faith that it will happen.

And in the end... I win. Totally.