I’m (M43) wondering if I committed some kind of generational faux pas. Three teenage kids are riding their bikes across an intersection at night, one of them has lights on his bike. My car window is rolled down and I call out, "good job having lights on your bike."
The kids yells back "I f***ing DO have lights, b***h-a** ni**a" (he’s a black kid, I’m white, so he’s not shouting anything racist to me).
I responded, "I know, that’s what I’m saying. Good job"
And he and the other kids yell "shut the f*** up" and similar.
I’ve driven off at this point, but I’m genuinely confused and wondering if "good job" is only said sarcastically in gen-z language.
I’m an older millennial, and I’m trying to figure out what I should’ve said, but also wondering if ITA.
this is hilarious lol. you are NTA, he is prolly jus not used to getting hit with drive-by praise
YTA. It was blisteringly uncool to give them kudos for safety equipment. Also teens don’t owe strange adults politeness, especially not at night. Don’t chat kids up at night, or in general.
Good job including your age and gender in your post! 👍🏼
So, why exactly did you interact with them? It seems condescending to randomly point it out, especially since they do have them, so it’s not like you were telling them they should. You don’t know these kids, you don’t know if they’ve always had them or not. YTA.
ESH
They suck for swearing and yelling at you.
But you suck for yelling anything at them to begin with. Your comment sounded sarcastic to begin with. But moreover, why tf are you yelling anything at random kids?
As a cyclist the chances someone who is yelling at me is doing it to compliment me in a non creepy way is so unbelievably low that I would get my hackles up the moment you raised your voice and I clocked you were yelling at me.
Also, I don’t know why you would intentionally attempt to distract a rider. Seems dangerously ignorant at best and malicious at worst.
YTA
Info: why did you feel the need to do this?
YTA. Try riding a bike for a while and you’ll see how many people yell awful things at cyclists. They may have misheard or misunderstood what you were saying.
But also you were condescending. Why would random strangers need your approval? Why would you be trying to figure out what you should have said? The answer is nothing. Nobody needs you to give them a gold star. Just follow the traffic laws, there’s no need to patronize cyclists.