Where do all these crazy people come from?!?

I just had a very weird encounter. I was coming around the corner of a building, looking for a parking spot when I see this car start pulling through a parking spot. Thinking that she was leaving, (and that once she was gone I would have a nice pull-through parking spot) I stopped and gave the universal little “go ahead” wave. After a few seconds, she pulled ahead and I pulled through into the spot that had been behind her. I parked my car, got out and started walking to the store when I heard this voice behind me.

“EXCUSE ME, I WAS GOING TO PARK THERE.”

I turned around to see the same woman in her car.

“You were going to park … here?” (pointing to my car)

“NO. I WAS GOING TO PARK WHERE I WAS.”

Dumbfounded, all I could think of to say was “Sorry.”

Completely puzzled, I continued on my way to the store thinking, If you were going to stay there, why did you move? After much thought, the only conclusion I can possibly think of is that somehow she took my little “Go ahead” gesture as a “GET OUT OF MY WAY!” gesture. But even still, I’m not a very imposing person, and I was in my car, quite a bit back from her, so I don’t think I could have come across as aggressive in that sense. I just can’t figure out why she thought I would be “forcing” her out of the spot or why she would move. A simple, “turn off the car and get out” would have easily signaled to me that she was parking, and not leaving.

I had no idea I had so much power.

My only comfort is that as I was walking into the store, a man who had seen the whole thing gave me a sympathetic smile, and a shrug of the shoulders, confirming that it wasn’t just me who thought the whole thing was a little odd.

People are strange.