Now, I'm not an overly aggressive driver, but I'm not above giving a person the stink-eye if he didn't use his blinker, or takes up every lane because she suddenly needs in the turn lane.(Likewise, I often feel I deserve the stinkeye for my own driving mistakes. It's all fair.) Or, like today, to the lady who cut me off in the Harris Teeter parking lot by zooming into the parking space I was clearly headed towards, and was closer to. This wasn't a huge deal - there was a spot open just one over, but I did lock eye contact just as I narrowed my eyes, to communicate I noticed the injustice.

She gave me a good look down as well. So much, in fact, I was a little afraid to get out of my car. I didn't regret the stinkeye, but it wasn't worth having a confrontation over. And yet, there it was, waiting for me to get out of my car to speak to me!

I avoided eye contact as much as possible, but she tracked me down.

"Hey, what's your name?"

I briefly wondered if I should tell a lie. But I didn't.

"Oh," she said. "Man, you look just like a girl I used to know, but her name was Cathy. Sorry, that's why I was staring at you."

Whew.

But maybe the sad part of this story is that my stinkeye is completely ineffective. Did she not notice at all?