According to a recent study, Americans are getting more rude. This is something that I have personally noticed over the past 5-10 years. With the world becoming more and more hectic and the need for everyone to know everything about everyone at anytime, manners seem to have gone out the window. Rude kids, rude parents, even rude grandparents seem to be the norm these days, especially here in South Florida.
I had a particularly rude person show up at Barnes and Noble the other night. I decided to run over there for about an hour to relax and see if anything struck me as interesting. Right in the middle of the store was a young kid (maybe 18 years old) on his cell phone. For some reason, he and his buddy decided that talking into their cell phones wasn't good enough, they needed to yell into them. After hanging up, they proceeded to yell a conversation that I could hear at least halfway across the store. I just can't understand why people can't go outside if they want to have a loud conversation on a cell phone. Not necessarily in the grocery store at a bar, but in a book store I would consider it common courtesy. Maybe I am getting too old and crotchety, but shit like that really bothers me. Am I way off base on this or not? I'm interested to see everyone's opinion. Please let me know in the comments section if you can. Below is the link to the story in case you want to read the article. Thanks.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/14/poll.rude.ap/index.html
2 comments:
All it takes is one person to ruin any type of experience in a public setting.
You're at the bookstore and the jackass wouldn't quit making a spectacle of himself. That ruins the experience for everybody in the store including employees.
Most people are actually polite, and sometimes, I think, too polite. In this instance no one wanted to really go out of their way and tell jackass to zip it up and respect the unwritten "Library" code of conduct that should be observed in a bookstore. In a bookstore you should be able to take a nap if you want and not be disturbed. The indirect issue is people don't really like to inform others that they've broached etiquette.
Too bad. I'm not different. I wouldn't have said anything either, although I might have glared at him. I glare a lot because people ARE fuckers.
Sometimes I regret I (too) am not any different. Sometimes I think to myself, stand up and tell the guy to shut his trap, because there's people in there enjoying what Barnes and Noble has to offer - a bookish atmoshpere, that is silence and study.
Then there's those people in the subway (or any form of public transport) who insist on taking up more space than should be allowed. I'm ofcourse talking about the guys who spread their legs about a meter and a half when sitting down. 'we don't want to look at your crotch'
What I do find amusing about the study is their reference to flip flops in the White House. I couldn't believe it myself when I heard that myself.
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