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I’m not proud of it, but goddamn it, I’m fed up with assholes in company trucks getting all up in my tailpipe when I’m already 10 over in a $375 minimum ticket construction zone and driving like dicks.

It happened again two days ago, Wednesday, 2007-May-02. I took pictures, since I almost always have a digital camera with me.

“Yesterday as I was heading North on IL-394 at about 5:30 pm, a truck got very, very close to the rear of my car at the traffic signal at Sauk Trail Road and was doing something to make the truck creep forward and bounce. After the light turned green, the truck began weaving in and out of the left-hand lane and going at least 75 mph (in a 55 zone).

Since I drive a small fuel-efficient car, I certainly do not appreciate larger vehicles following too closely or pulling up within feet of my rear bumper at lights, so I took a few pictures of the truck, apparently number 55, IL license plate 95 006 H. The truck continued at a high rate of speed north, until it began to slow down and get behind me, now in a construction zone.

The passenger began taking pictures of my car with his cell phone and clearly gave me the finger multiple times. The driver proceeded to tailgate me again until it exited to I-294/I-80.

Just to dispel any notion that I’m some choleric octogenarian that complains about everything, I’m an engineer in my late 20s. I enjoy driving fast and having fun, but the company truck in a 45 mph construction zone and three feet off my bumper is not the place to do so.

All I can say is that I believe this reflects very poorly on Permaseal, that employees would willfully disregard the safety of other drivers by driving recklessly and then giving sophomoric hand gestures. Shouldn’t the employees driving your trucks be professionals?

A quick note about the pictures attached:
truckback.jpg was taken just as I was passed the first time. You can clearly read the truck number and license plate.
rearwindow.jpg is the view while being tailgated in the construction zone.
rearwindowclose.jpg is a crop of the original picture, showing the cab occupants and the passenger taking pictures of me with his cell phone.
truckdriverside.jpg is a picture as the truck exited to I-294/80.
truckdrivercrop.jpg is a crop of the original picture, showing the passenger giving me the finger and continuing to take pictures of me with his cell phone.

The driver was quite good at blocking his face in all pictures.

Ironically, I have a leaky basement that recently got worse. My wife and I are weighing our options as to whom we should call to have it inspected and get repair estimates. I think it’s safe to say that Permaseal isn’t on the list anymore. If your employees can’t even show common courtesy, much less obey the rules of the road, how could I expect them to perform any sort of repair?

Sincerely,”

And the evidence, in order:

I got an email back today from Permaseal.

“Dear Mr. F,

Thank you for bringing this unfortunate incident to our attention and I apologize for what happened. The employees involved used poor judgment and do not have a place in our organization. I immediately suspended the staff involved and will start termination proceedings. I can assure you that we have zero tolerance for this type of behavior and take this matter very seriously. Perma-Seal has been in business for over 29 years and we have a solid reputation, unfortunately we have incidences such as this that cause us great dismay. We would like to assure you that proactive steps are being taken to communicate this through our business and avoid future incidences or errors.

I would like to discuss this further with you over the phone if possible. Please call me at your convenience.

Best Regards,

T-
Production Director”

So. Am I an asshole? A vigilante? A crotchety octogenarian trapped in this late-20s body?
I don’t know.

All I know is I’m sick and fucking tired of people being assholes on the road. I used to drive a LOT faster than I do now and move in and out of lanes a lot. On my normal drive home, I pretty much set cruise at 65 mph and chug along in the rightmost lane. I merge over when traffic enters or exits, but I don’t cause trouble – I don’t bother nobody. Last tank I got was 47 mpg and I broke 50 mpg last month. I’m a lot calmer, too, even if it takes me a whole 3 minutes longer to get home or to work.

But yes, I am going to call T- and see what he has to say and explain how I feel about things.

Yes, it’s fun to drive fast, I even had my Golf well into triple digits the other day. Yes, I understand that people get in a hurry. I even find myself unconsciously driving fast at times, like when I got nailed by an Evergreen Park cop doing 45 in a 35. If you’re careful, you can get away with it most of the time. But come on, doing it in the company truck that has a unique number on the side and your company’s name? That’s just reckless and outright dumb. Dumb as hell.

I’m sorry y’all might lose your jobs because of this.

I’m not sorry people might actually drive a little more civilly now.