Posted in Random Musings
Rude People Suck
I like holding the door for people, women or men. It is a nice thing to do. I have surprised a few fast food workers over the years with my words of “thank yous” and “have a nice day.” I am not perfect but I try to be polite when I am out in public. I think it comes from the fact I know I still have a little bit of rage bottled up inside me.
As a kid it was a big ball of rage but I have managed to shrink it down over the years. I try never to unleash it in public, although I have not always been successful with this. I have noticed that with each passing year polite in public is becoming a rarer creature.
This last week in New York was one of the worst I can remember. Let me stress I am not talking about New Yorkers. Without fail Sheri and I have always been treated very well by the locals. No, I am talking about the tourists. By the end of the week my little ball of rage was starting to have an overwhelming urge to punch a lot of people in the face.
Times Square was packed. We were squished in like sardines. This makes it more important you actually look at where you are going, not less. There is no such thing as automatic right of way. Pay attention and stop running into people. This might mean you have to get off the damn phone. Oh and you big groups of people that stopped in the middle of the block to have a conversation, next time take it to a side street.
When there is a line, find the end. Wherever you happen to end up is not your place in line. If someone is talking to a store worker wait your turn. Also, the store clerk is not your personal punching bag. Treat them with kindness and you might get what you are after.
The day it rained Sheri must have been nailed by a dozen umbrellas because people simply did not care to keep track of their place in space.
Then there was the woman who sat in front of us at The Book of Mormon. She clearly did not like the show. She was pissed from almost the beginning and her agitation just continued to grow. At one point I laughed really hard and she looked over her shoulder and stared at me. I was not aware of a laughing loudness limit. Having said that I know sometimes my laugh can be loud. I tried to muffle it a little on the off chance I was blasting into her ear.
This did not help anything. She kept turning and looking at me everythime I laughed. Then she started bitching to the guy sitting next to her. He basically told her to get stuffed. It was at this point I decided to not worry about my laugh (by the way this was a funny musical the theater was booming with people’s laughter). At the end of the musical the woman stood up and stared at me. I just gave her a polite smile and left. Not sure why she went to see The Book of Mormon if the humor wasn’t up her alley. It wasn’t like they haven’t been advertising it.
I won’t even start on the people who sat behind us on the plane and kept kicking Sheri’s chair. I know it isn’t everyone but it would be nice if people took a few seconds to think about what their actions do to the world around them. I clearly need to get home and pet some kittens.
There are some parts of SF that are the rudest places ive ever been to ever in my whole life, such as my previous neighborhood. living for a year there and taking the rude bus to and from there each day really wore me down. glad you survived!