Saturday, July 16, 2011

What Kind of World Do We Live In?

Friday I drove to my friend's house in Jersey after work. On the way there I had to make a left hand turn, and it was a one-lane street. I slow down, turn on my signal, and get as close to the center line as I can without crossing it, so someone could pass on the shoulder. But to my knowledge it doesn't look like there's enough room for someone to pass me using the shoulder(it was a narrow street). There is another car coming the opposite way, so I decide to wait rather than book it across. Some hotshot prick who as been behind me for while, continues to speed, and is too impatient to wait and tries to drive on the shoulder to pass me. The guy realizes he can't fit in, so he shoves his fist on the horn. At this point the other car just passed so I begin to make my turn. But this asshole next to me made me lose it. He said something through his window and I screamed at him and then he sped the hell away. The whole event, from when I slowed to make my turn and from when I actually did turn must have taken 7-10 seconds. Some people are just impatient.

From there I made it to my friend's house without incident. We hung out for a while, watched Goodfellas at his house, went to his friend's sister's birthday party, hung out with them, watched Insidious there, and it was 1:15am by time we rolled out of there.
From his friends house, we(my friend, his brother and our other friend) went to a nearby diner for a meal. We drove up, parked, they place was pretty much empty, save for a group of 4 in another booth, which left a few minutes after we arrived. The waitress came up and we ordered our drinks. When she came back with our drinks and placed them in front of us we said "Thank you" and thought nothing of it. She turned to go away, then she turned back and said, "You boys are very polite, thank you".

Here's where I see a problem. She thanked us for being polite. For being nice. For having common courtesy. She shouldn't have to thank us for something like that. She can be thankful that we said thanks, but she should not actually have to thank us for being polite. My friend and I discussed, that she must have to serve the most shit kind of people if we have that kind of impact on her. We're no saints, but we're not douchebags either. What kind of world do we live in where common courtesy is a rare sight? Are most people so focused on themselves that they can't spare a thought for another person? Are we in such a hurry we can't wait 5 seconds for someone to make their turn? I can ramble on and on but I don't want to get carried away. I'll leave you with this: What kind of world do we live in?

1 comment:

  1. I wonder the same thing.
    Even working at the dog place, we get our share of people without common courtesy... people who come in hours late without calling, people who don't say thank you, people who refuse to pay an extra $5 for a grooming job that was tougher than expected.
    People are so self-centered, self-absorbed, and have this selfish sense of entitlement. It's sad what our world is coming to...
    I, however, refuse to become one of those people.

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