A round of sarcastic applause must go to the revolting specimen of virility wearing an Arriva jacket who bounded out of the car of his female companion in the narrowing down of the road just outside the Capuchin church car park in Floriana last Monday.
This followed a near head-on collision with my approaching car, due to the speed of their oncoming car, while I was leaving the health centre with my one-year-old son who had just had two innoculations.
To add insult to injury, the driver refused to reverse as this would have been easier for her than for me, given the opening behind them and the fact they were the ones speeding anyway.
When I stood my ground and my son’s father got out of the car to calmly explain the situation, as the windows of the oncoming car were tinted, out came Conan the Arriva Barbarian using foul language, insulting our previous generations three centuries down the line and declaiming he would happily take off his (Arriva) jacket to engage in a fist-fight there and then. All this while aggressively spewing out a plethora of escalating threats, not letting anyone else get a word in and telling his companion not to get out of the car.
Such displays of virility might make the females on his side of the jungle weak at the knees but I was simply appalled, upset as my little son was in the back seat witnessing this disgraceful incident and angry that I could not name and shame this foul specimen of humanity to his employers as he was on duty or possibly pre- or post-shift.
What I find most distressing about this and similar shameful incidents that take place all the time is that if this bully had indeed carried out his threats and broken, say, my car window or possibly our facial bone structure, what then?
The damage would have been done, my son would have witnessed his first ‘live’ episode of despicable violence and the culprit would have sped off and continued calmly about his day.
My only option, on the other hand, would have been to file a report with the police and Arriva and lick my wounds.
Had he then been apprehended and charged, I would have risked becoming a target of more threats or possibly a long drawn-out court case which may never lead anywhere. Meanwhile I would have had to bear the cost of immediate damage, both physical and emotional.
I would gladly give Arriva details of appearance, time, etc., but it should really review its criteria when hiring personnel if it accepts thugs like these within its ranks.
Such people should not be gainfully employed while showing absolute disrespect not only to the victims of their abuse but to the company which pays them their wages only for them to tarnish its good name in return.