I was driving down into Dallas today to work with a client. Fortunately, I left around noon, so traffic wasn't that bad. I was able to go the "normal" 70-75mph that my foot and my truck both seem to gravitate towards. At least for most of the trip. Up until the guy in the pickup truck that had been behind me for a while decided, suddenly, that he must be in front of me in the fast lane. So he went around me, on the right (for those of you who drive on the left side of the road, this is a bad thing), barely cleared my front bumper, and then proceeded to slow down to 60mph, keeping pace with the large furniture truck that I was about to pass. I remaind trapped in this position for about 5 minutes, until he decided, again very suddenly, that he needed to exit, so he lurched forward, weaving wildly across the three lanes of traffic separating him from the off ramp, and disappeared from sight.

But not before I had his company name and telephone number written down. You see, he worked for a company that had it's name and phone number in large vinyl lettering across the back of the vehicle so I could plainly see it. I plan on calling the number and explaining very clearly why I will never do business with them in the future, not that I would have anyway, given that I usually dont' need the type of services they provide. But boy, am I going to let everyone I know in the area that they shouldn't use the services of this particular vendor.

Then I remembered I have my company name and phone number emblazned on the back of my vehicle. Had I driven like a jackass on the freeway, giving someone reason to put my company on their blacklist?

Suddenly, I'm a lot more aware of how my driving may be percieved by others...