It never got as far as being shouted at, but one morning I was riding into work and noticed that the fuel 'cap' on a bus was flung open (it was like a ruddy big door at the back). I didn't want to push it shut, knowing that only the final bit of the act would be noticed and someone would immediately think I was tampering, so I rode up to the window when he stopped for some passengers and knocked. He turned round with a look of thunder and superiority on his face that he really didn't know what to do with when I told him what was wrong.
It's one of the benefits of being on a bike that you can be a little more human. Filtering past one queue of traffic a stone kicked off from under my tyre and hit a car door. In a car this happens all the time with other traffic, but again, knowing that coming from a cyclist it would elicit a different response, I stopped, checked for damage, asked the (now worried looking) girl to wind down her window and explained that it had just been a stone and there wasn't a mark on the door. A little further on she gave me looooooooaaaads of room in passing me.
I don't give the finger, I think that's just dropping to the same level. Moral high ground is easier to enjoy if it has been honestly earned. And I always feel better and less stressed arriving at my destination having not resorted to shouting...
