Would you flip a police officer the bird?
First of all, I’m sure it wouldn’t be a good idea, hehe, but a coworker and I were discussing it and we didn’t really know the answer.
If you were to just drive by or walk by an officer of the law and just make some sort of derogatory motion or gesture could they legally do anything about it?
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They probably couldn’t legally do anything about just that, except watch you like a hawk and then wait for you to go a few miles over the speed limit, roll through a stop sign, or leave the bar late at night, and wait….
Would you flip a police officer the bird?
No. I respect them as people that are working to protect us.
could they legally do anything about it?
I’d rather not take the chance in finding out.
I wouldn’t flip off any random person, regardless of occupation. You never know who’s going to go batshit insane and pull out a gun or something.
Though when you’re in a car…
I will admit that I flipped off someone in a car once. But I don’t think they even saw. The worst was the time my friend flipped someone off from her car and yelled at the guy.
@DominicX Yea I try to be a courteous driver and I actually quite angry at my passengers if they do such things. I’m even reluctant to honk the horn sometimes, haha.
Hmmm… it is kinda like jabbing a large potentially mean dog with a stick. I will pass thanks.
I respect the cops actually using their time to protect us, strangers that they have never met and probably never will.
If I were desperately in need of having to pay a fine for insulting an official, yes.
Legally, they could put me in jail for up to a year for insulting an official (or anybody for that matter).
While not a usual occurence, repeat offenders have been known to have been put into jail for 3 months.
If he/she gave me good reason to, why the hell shouldn’t I?
Ooh, ooh, have I got a story!
Fourth grade. My school was 4 miles away from my house, so I rode the school bus. In our small town, the school was one block from the police station, at an intersection with a stop light. The bus would pass directly next to the police station so that from the inside of the bus, you could see through the window into the police station and some times you could see an officer at his desk. I was a kid, I did not know any police officers, and I was just kind of a cut up. So, one day, the bus was stopped at the light, directly across from my window was a window into the police station, where an officer was sitting at his desk, he was looking out the window right in my direction. So, I said to my friends, “dare me to flip him off.” Of course they did. So, I did. You know what the officer did? He reciprocated. We laughed our asses off.
I haven’t flipped one off, but I did call one a bitch at McDonald’s one day for nearly running my car over. I was sitting in line for the drive-through and I guess he couldn’t wait like the rest of us and cut (pretty quickly I add) right in front of me, coming within inches of slamming into the front of the car. Since both of our windows were down, he heard it loud and clear.
Just because he’s a police officer, doesn’t give him the right to be a dick and nearly hit someone when he isn’t in pursuit.
@ragingloli – I lived in a hick town in northern Minnesota…just hick enough that a police officer would flip off a fourth grader, but not quite hick enough to actually shoot at one. Close though.
If he does something illegal while driving, you bet your ass I would. Just because they’re driving around with lights on top does not mean that they can pick and choose what laws to abide by when they feel like it. Just let them try and do something to me… and then they can tell the judge, their supervisor, the mayor (personal friend) why they decided that pulling out in front of people in non-emergent situations going to Dairy Queen is an OK thing to do. Small town, went to school with several of the police officers and deputies, a few firefighters and a couple of 911 dispatchers, just to name a few. Odds are that I know them and they know me… and better than to take me on since I am very capable of figuring out a way of finding a way to place the blame where its due and getting things done. And if they don’t know, it won’t take them long to find out. ;D
Why consider it?...the average police officer is risking their life to protect ours as a society. I would never do such a thing and would think very low of somebody who did give the finger to such people.
Sure, give them a reason to bust your nuts.
@dalepetrie I lurve, lurve, lurve your story!
I would not fly the bird at an officer of the law. Kind of like @DominicX, I am not in the habit of flipping people off at random, even when they do something to piss me off. I come from The Land of Freeway Shootings, so I learned early on in my driving career to let other drivers be jerks and not respond. Cops are no exception to this rule. As a child I was actually taught to wave every single time I saw a police office driving by. Seriously, I was told that I was supposed to wave every time I passed a cop on foot, in a police car, on a horse, dressed in riot gear, whatever.
I might however flip off a rental cop if one did something to annoy me. With apologies to any security guards on Fluther, a lot of those guys seem so arrogant and attitudinal that I tend to want to take them down a peg.
I’ll flip anyone the bird if they’re being a big enough dick. However, I don’t think mostly that police officers are being dicks, even if they seem a little disgruntled at the time.
I occasionally get pissed off enough at someone to flip them off, but I generally frown on that sort of behavior in others because it’s so unnecessary, so it doesn’t happen that much. I’m somewhat suspicious of police (the ones here are a bit useless, but it isn’t really a high crime area), but I’m thankful the police put their lives on the line daily to maintain an orderly society. So, no, I wouldn’t, out of respect and like what @Dog said, why poke the bear?
As a teenager, I am driving in Oakland (my hometown), and I am stopped at a light, behind a policeman. The light turns green, but the policeman’s attention is elsewhere (looking at his radio, or paperwork or something), and he doesn’t move.
My friend “friend” reaches over and honks the horn.
The cop took a long look at us before pulling forward. I am guessing he saw me yelling at my passenger.
I’d probably do it if I was angry enough. But that would take quite a bit of crap to get to that point.
I don’t think I’d necessarily do it to their face, but once they left, I’d certainly have many choice colorful words about them.
sure if they were an asshole.
YES. I would.
..if they weren’t looking.
Never, watching or not, warranted or not. As a child of the sixties I still have to recite to myself with some determination: “The policeman is your friend. The policeman is your friend.” I am not about to do something that would attract an officer’s negative and possibly hostile attention unless it is absolutely necessary, and it would certainly not be for a self-indulgent act of childish defiance. The cop may see me as a harmless old woman, but I still see myself with flowers in my hair.
No, I wouldn’t. I don’t care if it is legal or not. I don’t flip anyone the bird. I prefer a combination of words and revenge with civilians, and out of sight, out of mind with irritating cops.
I never flip ANYONE the bird, let alone a police officer!
I wouldn’t just because they have a lot of power. I can’t stand cops though. Although my husband once was going pee behind a bar, he was dunk and the cop came up and shined his light on him, he turned around and flipped him off. Now he is registered as a sex offender for indecent exposure.
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ANIKI NO KEN!
Random acts of rudeness or random acts of kindness-what kind of person are you?
@dalepetrie We use to do a fistpull when driving past semis to see if we could get them to blow their airhorns, Do you see any difference?
@dalepetrie omg that is funny. I wish I could have gotten that kind of an experience lol
@galileogirl – does make me think how arbitrary all these things are…if you have a certain finger extended it’s the height of rudeness.
@justme1 – It was definitely one of those stories that became almost legendary after a while.
No, never. No matter how angry I was at that moment.
I just told one of my classes the story of the English version of ‘the bird’ and told them that if tey felt compelled to flip anybody off, Brit style might be safer.
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