Crazy Lady

I yelled at a total stranger today.  This is the first time in my fifty-one years that I have done this.

I had my yearly gyno appointment today. School just ended last Thursday and I'm still not unwound, the stress of selling/not selling the house is weighing heavily on my mood, and I am on the brink of a period that has waited 10 weeks to show up. Yes, on the brink of a period, on the way to the gyno.  Now, while I have no experience having my monthly during my yearly, I'm guessing it's a no-go.  So that is on my mind.

I go through the toll booth to get on the turnpike and no ticket comes out of the slot.  A sign says to push the button if that happens, so I push the button.  No response.  I push the button again.  Again, no response.  I push the button maybe twenty times.  The guy in back of me starts to beep.  I pull away.  Let me preface this by saying that the same thing happened to me on the way home from the gyno the last time I went, so I knew what was to come.

I get off at Exit Two.  I come to the toll booth where a  pleasant man with a neatly trimmed gray beard wearing a blue shirt is standing.  I tell him I do not have a ticket, and tell him my experience at the turnpike entrance.  "No ticket!"  he exclaims.  "That's not good.  I have to charge eight dollars and ??? cents, the full price if you don't have a ticket."  I knew that part was coming, but the part that came next took me completely by surprise.

I explode.  I tell him how ridicules it was; what was I supposed to do?  He tells me I should have pulled over, gotten out of my car and looked for a guy in a blue shirt.  Really???  I reiterate about the button with no answer.  He tells me that because of Chris Christie's budget cuts they are short-handed.  I think I blacked out at that point.  I had an out-of-body experience where I saw a crazy woman unleashing her wrath upon a pleasant looking toll taker, something about being a teacher.  He never should have mentioned that man's name.

In the end, I threw my change at my purse, apologized, and drove away crying. 

I survived my gyno exam and am still waiting for my period.  Since arriving home I have chosen to immerse myself in the HLN coverage of the Casey Anthony trial in an effort to distract myself.