Thank You, Stranger: How a road rage incident ended in a shared meal

NINA MOINI: Well, it's time for another episode of our series called Thank You, Stranger. It's about how big and small kindnesses from others change our lives for the better. Today we'll hear from Perry Le'Peri in Minneapolis about a road rage incident turned around.

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PERRY LE'PERI: I usually have a habit of-- I like to go out for brunch. And I'm usually alone. So I go to my favorite place. And I parked my van where I usually do, and I got my cane and get out. And I say, this car comes zooming right around the corner, and he screeches to a halt. And he goes, get your old [BLEEP] ass out of the way!

Really? I gotta deal with this today? [LAUGHS] Why does everything have to be so negative? Why can't we just be on a happier note? I don't know him. He doesn't know me. And how can you hate somebody when you don't know nothing about them? You got to learn from other people in order to understand them.

And I just stared at him and was like, you can come join me. [LAUGHS] He goes, well, get your old ass out of the way, and I'll come join you. I didn't expect him to say, OK, because I thought he was going to say something really off the hook and try and run me over. [LAUGHS]

And he said yes. It's like, OK, we'll see if he actually shows up. And so, I watched him park his car. He came in with me. So I was really amazed that he did. And it's like, OK, well, this ought to be a good day then. A guy that's probably-- I want to say, he's got to be 40s. He works all night. He had just got done working because he worked third shift. You can tell he's a hard worker because his clothes show it, and his hands show it. He works hard. And he's had it for the day. [CHUCKLES]

So he's up all night. And he said the whole entire night is, everything is going wrong. No matter what, it was going wrong. And on the way home, everything else was going wrong, whether it was a traffic jam, or there's a road blocked off. And he said that he was just fit to be tied. He goes, I just had such a [BLEEP] night. He goes, and then you. [LAUGHS] He goes, and here we are, he goes, over coffee, eggs. He goes, I actually kind of like this day now.

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So we sat and we talked for, oh my God, pretty close to an hour. Yeah, I think it's just one of those things. It's like, I didn't want to deal with negativity that day. And it's like, let's just change something here. [LAUGHS] And I was actually shocked it kind of worked. [LAUGHS] We can sit down. We can learn from each other. We don't have to have the animosity. Whatever he's going through was not my problem. Whatever I'm dealing with was not his problem. But we can talk about it together.

And it actually helped. It's better than a therapist, actually. I got so tired of all this crud that's going on today. So much negativity, so much against this person, against that person. How can you be against somebody when you don't know them? Why not getting to know somebody and understand them?

You can't really judge a person by what they're dealing with today, now, compared to who they are. Showing a little bit of positivity adds a whole different realm to a person and their life. So you never know what other people are dealing with. And it never hurts to make a new friend. I'd have no problem having a meal with him again. If anything, I'd say, let's invite a couple other people to come along.

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NINA MOINI: That was Perry Le'Peri in Minneapolis. That episode of Thank You, Stranger was produced by Ellen Finn. If you have a story to share about someone who made your day a little brighter or changed your life, even, for the better, we want to hear it. You can email us at minnesotanow@npr.org.