I was in the supermarket a couple of weeks ago. I went to the checkout & a young mother arrived just behind me. She was apologising to her young & not very happy, son. It seems mummy forgot to get this. They needed it & mummy could not go home without it. It was a single item. I only had a few items, but I offered her to go in front of me. It cost me a minute at most.
The woman at the checkout thought I had been really nice. Everyone is in such a rush now, she said. But personally, I thought I simply being a normal, reasonable person. Reasonable behaviour should not get praise. It should be the norm.
When I read and listen to the news, it all reads like everyone on the planet is a jerk. However, when I go out into the community, no matter where it is, reality shows me that most people are considerate, offering kindness, even in the middle of their hectic day.
Long ago, I was with my grandmother in shop, when she became victim of some pretty harsh rudeness. She didn’t say anything, and just continued with her business. When it was all over, I exclaimed “That man wasn’t very nice!”
She paused for a second and said, “ The good news is that you don’t have to worry whether or not he’s nice, you just have to worry, whether or not you are. If you are nice, it’s like having your head full of candy.
Made sense to me.
Of course, I didn’t realize it at the time, but she was showing me the human kindness side of the broken window effect.
From what I see, most people are inclined to fix windows - and making a pretty stellar effort at trying not to break them
It does happen occasionally but most people at checkouts are more considerate, I am never in a rush personally so don’t care if someone rushes to get there before me but it rarely happens.
I think rude people are the exception rather than the rule. Mind you I tend to use the self service checkouts at Bunnings they are rarely full.
When I first moved to Miami I was taken back by how rude most here are because Miami and by you are different . Barely same country .
It took me some time but I realized they are not nasty , not mean people but inconsiderate due to ignorance . I am not going to say sometimes I do not say something but I grew to understand them which means I lost my soul , lol
I did luck out as my community are simply terrific people but even then it took about 2 years to break bread but that was my fault as said things I should not have said or should have worded things differently .
Bingo. I’m surprised more people aren’t aware of the “Covid Crazy” change. Many people saw it as a way to feel powerful & tell others what to do.
I recall several incidents of rudeness during that fiasco:
I was in line outside at a market. A guy took his shopping cart with him while he waited in line. Another guy (idiot) told him, “Sir, you are not supposed to have your cart with you in line; you’re supposed to get your cart when you are let into the store.”
The other guy replied, “What’s it to you; mind your own business.”
The idiot said, “You are putting others at risk.”
The other guy said, “Mister, I suggest you shop somewhere else before you get hurt.”
The idiot got back in line, took off his gloves, sprayed his hands with disinfectant, & put on new gloves.
A much-worse incident on video involved an older woman making copies in an office-supply store. She was recently released from the hospital after a liver transplant & walked with a cane. You would think she wouldn’t be stupid enough to start a fight with someone. She saw a young woman whose mask was below her nose. She started with verbal & racial insults that resulted in the younger woman confronting her, then she poked the woman with the bottom of her cane - the filthiest part of it. The other woman grabbed the cane & yanked it causing the woman to fall to the floor, fracturing her leg.
Update - the young woman only received probation; no jail time. Likely after the D.A. reviewed audio of the incident.
I read and hear of cases of rudeness between people, so know it goes on but I haven’t come across much of it when coming into contact with strangers of all age groups. Quite the opposite sometimes. There are also examples of niceness and politeness to be found.
I must admit that during covid there were some unfortunate incidents.
Our government were the worst…
“Look what he’s done, driving all that way in lockdown”
“How come you’re having a party during lockdown”
Na Na Na Na Na!..
People tend to police the trivial things and just say, “Live and let live” for the serious ones that will affect your kids and grand kids…
I have never understood why people are rude and impatient in the supermarket checkout - if they are that much of a hurry they can always choose to use the self-service ones!
I was in the supermarket the other day when an elderly man and I both arrived at the checkout at the same time - as he only had a few items I motioned for him to go first. He told me he was just getting used to having to do the shopping, his wife had died a few months before and he had also just come out of hospital. He was very flustered when using his card to pay and continually apologised - I told him to take his time. As he left he smiled, thanked me and said ours was his first conversation in 3 days. So please be kind to people, you don’t know what their situation is
Florida think it was 3 weeks or so but Miami was 3 months however you could simply drive out of Miami as curfew was 11 pm and go any where you wanted but it destroyed plenty of businesses here .
UK shut down in fact much of Europe was sick and Johnson being a " Conservative " I expected more from him.
My daughters are in California and their shut down was also disgusting .
In the end I did subscribe to wearing a mask but that was it and yes I received all 3 COVID shots but was dead set against any mandate .
Being the anal retentive unpleasant person I am I always have exactly 18 items in the express which here is 20 items or less , granted things like a bag of apples counts as one item .
If person immediately behind me has a handful of items I tell them to go ahead and they act like they have seen a ghost as that is completely unheard of here .
BOTH women were in the wrong and the woman who started it all is what in a HOA is called a " Karen " though the " Karen" in my community is a punk azz man who is a weasel coward .
HOWEVER regardless of what she said the other woman had no right to grab her .
When I go to the VA after doing what I have to do I hit the " lounge " where lots playing cards I introduce myself as the White Devil or White Trash and one guy I " know " often says something like welcome and join us ( racist term for Blacks ) .
We all laugh though the young PC uppity lady manager has asked us to be bit more civil but we ignore her as we should .
I have used a few times the racist term for Hispanics but you are correct as far as unbecoming and stupid .
