What did I do wrong?

As I was riding my scooter home from work the other night, I stopped behind a car at a busy intersection. I didn't have to worry about the traffic yet because the car in front of me would have to pull onto the road first. As we waited, the guy (who was alone in his car) gave me the finger! Now, if it had been a fleeting gesture, I might have thought I had imagined it. But no - he gave it to me long and clear. What had I done to antagonize this guy?

Was I too close? Had I steered my scooter back forth and shined my headlight in a threatening manner? I couldn't imagine what I had done. He was pretty far ahead of me and I know I had not cut in front of him unless it had happened earlier in the trip. Was he at the last intersection with the red light? Had I crowded him there? Did I remind him of someone he had an argument with or did we have an argument in the past? I didn't recognize his car. I couldn't see him clearly in the rear view mirror but from what I could see, I didn't recognize him.

Should I ride up beside him and ask him what the problem was? Should I be mad or apologetic? Should I say anything at all? He might have a gun or know powerful people or open his door fast and hit me with it.

All of this flashed through my mind in a few seconds and then I noticed something (as he continued to give me the finger) - his sun roof was moving. He was just adjusting his sunroof with the control on on the roof and he was using his finger to push the buttons. Of course!

So, to answer the question in the subject of this post - What I had done wrong was to jump to conclusions. And this was a good reminder to me to think before I act. I may have made him laugh if I had confronted him. Or I could have started something terrible.



The picture here is not from that day but it might help you imagine what I saw and what I thought I saw. Think about what this would look like from behind and not being able to see it clearly from about 15 feet away.