What ever happened to common courtesy? People seem to not care about anyone but themselves. As much as I try to not take things personal, sometimes I'm known to get vocal when I feel I've been wronged. I'm quick to make comments like "Oh thank you so much for holding the door" or "Oh excuse me, I didn't realize I was in your way."
Clearly some people either do not have the proper home training to function in a society of decent people or they simply do not care. Whatever it is I'm not ashamed of making my disapproval known. If you've never done it you should try it sometime. I hope people will get the hint.
So I've come up with a list of some of the things I can't stand but have to deal with all of the time. I'm sure I'm not the only one either.
I can't stand when...
- People don't hold the door or elevator - Really you heard me walking right behind you, you could have held the door.
- You hold the door for someone and they either just walk through without touching it, they don't say thank you, or both. It really doesn't take that much time to say those two little words "Thank You."
- I go to the bathroom at work, and someone didn't flush the toilet. It's not like they flushed it and everything didn't go down (sorry to be graphic), it's that they didn't bother to even attempt to flush it. Do you do that at your house? If so, that's nasty!
- People touch food. If you touch it you take it, especially when you know you didn't wash your hands.
- Going into a shop or grocery store and the workers don't speak. I've worked in retail for many years, and the first thing you're taught is customer service, which includes greeting customers. If you can get that right maybe you need to work some place else that doesn't require verbal skills. Maybe become a mime.
- I speak to someone and they either smirk, give a head nod, or don't reply at all. If I say Hi you need to mouth some type of words back to me.
- Someone bumps me or steps on my foot and acts like they did nothing wrong. You'd think it really hurts some people's souls to just say "I'm sorry". If someone has an object in their hand and accidentally bumps you that's one thing, but when someone knowingly bumps/touches you if they had an decency they'd simply apologize or at least acknowledge what happened.
- People who chew with their mouths open. Didn't your Mother teach you when you were like four years old to chew with your mouth closed? What about chewing and smacking on food is deemed appropriate? No one wants to hear you munching on chips or popping gum, that's just disgusting.
- People who stand too close. There's no reason I should be able to feel someone's breath on the back of my neck (unless I know them). If I turn 90 degrees and I can touch you that means clearly you are too close. Back Up!
I'm a stickler about table etiquette, so smacking, licking lips, refusal to use a napkin, and chewing with your mouth open annoys me. I grew up in Virginia, so I'm usually very polite about holding doors. But I've been in NYC too long now, because I will definitely violently stab at the "close door" button on the elevator if i have somewhere to go, regardless of who is running to get on. Guilty as charged.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said here.
ReplyDeleteIt is ironic because I had an experience just earlier today. I was talking with one of the administrators (she was Black) and and older White gentleman came out of a conference room.
She and I were talking and he walks up and asks "how do I dial for an outside line?"
I answered his question but thought to myself if I had waited two or three seconds, the impact of what he had done would have registered and I would have said "I'm sorry but when you see two adults talking and you have a question, you should say 'excuse me'".
There is a Korean woman that works in my section here. Every time I see her in the hall I greet her, by name, and she just gives me a smirk but will not say anything back.
I refuse to buy anything if I go in to a store and no one speaks to me. It's not like I purposely hunt them down for a comment but if I'm standing next to you and you see me as a customer, I would like some recognition.
i agree with a lot of these especially the ones about people not holding door or people who don't say thank you when you hold the door for them.
ReplyDelete