Beg Your Pardon?

Yesterday's Heads or Tails got me thinking a little more about things that get on my nerves, and I have realized that there is one big one that is plaguing the ENTIRE nation (or so it seems)--

Rudeness.

Rudeness is one of my biggest pet peeves. In most cases, there is no reason at all to be rude.

It baffles me when I watch people be rude to waiters/waitresses at restaurants. Why yell at them if you food hasn't come out yet? It really isn't their fault--they can only bring food when the cooks have it ready. And, as a rule of thumb, it is never smart to be rude to anyone who may be handling your food...

Why do people have to push up right behind you while you are waiting in line at the grocery? Last week I was waiting in line and the cashier was ringing up my stuff. As I stood waiting, the lady behind me was standing so close I could feel her breath. There really is no reason to do that to anyone. I can't move until the cashier is finished and I can pay. When that happens, I can get out of the way--until then, I don't see any reason for anyone to be waiting so close I could give them a piggyback ride!

While I am on the subject of stores, why is it that the majority of the cashiers are super rude? I understand that a lot of them are kids and they don't really want to work, but they don't have to take it out of their customers! I know when I worked my part time jobs as a teenager, I never really loved what I did, but I made the best of it. I can say that I was never rude to anyone--even those people who would come in five minutes before closing time on Christmas Eve. A little pleasantness goes a long way, and I feel that some of our store workers need to learn that.

Also, yelling at a store clerk because something you wanted to buy is out of stock won't solve any problems--all you are going to do is upset the store clerk...you will more likely get help if you are polite about the situation. I know I don't really want to go out of my way for people who are mean to me.

As a teacher, I see the whole gamut of rudeness at work. It amazes me how students talk to teachers today. I was calling for a student the other day in class and his response was "WHAT?" I told him that was in now way an appropriate tone and he rolled his eyes at me. First of all, if someone calls out your name, responding in a polite, inside voice manner would be nice. Secondly, eye rolling is one of the most rude, disrespectful things anyone can do. Some of these kids yell at teachers, talk back to their parents, are rude to our custodians and secretaries....

And some of their parents are worse. I had a parent once call me a moron, tell me my opinions were asinine and that I was a horrible teacher. I had another cuss me out on the phone over a homecoming candidate. I've had emails that stated I wasn't doing my job the right way. I've had parents threaten to sue me over discipline. And I think--my parents would have never confronted a teacher like that. Ever. Why? Because my parents figured that if I was in trouble, it was for good reason. Many of the parents I have dealt with in the past deal more in rudeness and personal attacks and less in logic and cooperation.

I think part of the problem is television and movies. Rudeness is funny there. Rudeness makes you cool there, so some may think (logically, of course) that rudeness is okay in the "real" world. Other people are just so unhappy with their own lives that they see it necessary to make other people miserable.

I think my blogging friend Andrew has it right...I think that if we all took a little more time to be more pleasant to one another, it would be amazing how much better we all would feel. Do something randomly nice today. Try to help stomp out a little bit of rudeness.