Why is common courtesy so uncommon?
The examples I will use all involve cell phones. This is not a rant against that most useful device but against those self-absorbed cretins who apparently are incapable of recognizing that anyone else around them might have equally valid rights and responsibilities.
Twice this last weekend I was forced to wait in line at a grocery check-out line while the customer being helped was paying absolutely no attention to the cashier because they were too preoccupied with a phone conversation. They would run their card through the machine then turn and natter away about something inconsequential (at least to me) while the clerk waited for them to complete the transaction.
The problem here isn't the cell phones. They might just have easily been deep in a conversation with someone who accompanied them. The problem is their complete lack of courtesy and respect for the people who were serving them and those in line behind them. The second time I observed this, the clerk tried to get the woman's attention and ask her to complete her transaction and she actually turned her back on him to carry on with the conversation.
The clerk shrugged, placed the bagged groceries on the ground, voided the transaction and went to the next customer in line. When the woman discovered what had happened she was furious and called the manager over. The manager quietly told her they would re-process her transaction when she had the time to attend to her part of the transaction at which point she stormed out of the busy store leaving the groceries behind. Those of us still in line applauded.
This same weekend I had a bit of driving to do. Weekend driving in Los Angeles is trying enough without idiots behind the wheel but on three separate occasions traffic was held up at intersections by drivers who had failed to use the left turn lane and just decided to stop in the regular lane until someone would let them in. Coincidentally, all three drivers were women and all three were on their phones when these incidents occurred. This wasn't the freeway where the next offramp is four miles away, this was right on the border of Beverly Hills where practically every block has a light. If you miss a left a one light, you can turn at the next one.
The only way we're going to have any impact on this attitude is by ceasing to be polite and unassuming. Like the checker who simply voided the transaction, we need to stop deferring to rude and obnoxious people whose sense of self importance is exceeded only by their rudeness.
From this point on, I shall show no mercy to the rude. They will be publicly embarrassed at every opportunity.
Twice this last weekend I was forced to wait in line at a grocery check-out line while the customer being helped was paying absolutely no attention to the cashier because they were too preoccupied with a phone conversation. They would run their card through the machine then turn and natter away about something inconsequential (at least to me) while the clerk waited for them to complete the transaction.
The problem here isn't the cell phones. They might just have easily been deep in a conversation with someone who accompanied them. The problem is their complete lack of courtesy and respect for the people who were serving them and those in line behind them. The second time I observed this, the clerk tried to get the woman's attention and ask her to complete her transaction and she actually turned her back on him to carry on with the conversation.
The clerk shrugged, placed the bagged groceries on the ground, voided the transaction and went to the next customer in line. When the woman discovered what had happened she was furious and called the manager over. The manager quietly told her they would re-process her transaction when she had the time to attend to her part of the transaction at which point she stormed out of the busy store leaving the groceries behind. Those of us still in line applauded.
This same weekend I had a bit of driving to do. Weekend driving in Los Angeles is trying enough without idiots behind the wheel but on three separate occasions traffic was held up at intersections by drivers who had failed to use the left turn lane and just decided to stop in the regular lane until someone would let them in. Coincidentally, all three drivers were women and all three were on their phones when these incidents occurred. This wasn't the freeway where the next offramp is four miles away, this was right on the border of Beverly Hills where practically every block has a light. If you miss a left a one light, you can turn at the next one.
The only way we're going to have any impact on this attitude is by ceasing to be polite and unassuming. Like the checker who simply voided the transaction, we need to stop deferring to rude and obnoxious people whose sense of self importance is exceeded only by their rudeness.
From this point on, I shall show no mercy to the rude. They will be publicly embarrassed at every opportunity.
posted by NoClausewitzHere at 5:14 PM
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