Why Can't We All Just Be Nice?

What happened to decency, manners and common sense? Everyday the world seems a bit less friendly, a bit less cultured and a more hostile place.

Take for example, my experience at Walmart. (I have a bit of a Walmart, Target and Meijer addiction...I go there way too often, just ask my ever-patient husband.) I do my grocery shopping there, with a toddler in tow. The last stop we make is the deli counter. Being a frequent shopper (they really should put up my picture as shopper of the month), I recognize the ladies and gentlemen who work behind the deli counter and I am pretty sure they recognize me as well.

So today things were pretty busy at the deli. I had to wait in line to buy some macaroni and cheese for my recently sick, refusing almost all foods, finicky toddler. There is no number system to identify who was there first, so I just waited patiently (because I really am pretty patient). There was a rather obnoxious family in front of me who not only kept changing their mind for their large order, but complained and cursed loudly when they had to repeat themselves or couldn't get what they wanted. I waited patiently for about 10 minutes while the two ladies behind the counter waited on this family. As I was waiting, people were beginning to crowd the counter, some pushing in front of me and my cart. I thought (naively as it turns out) that they were simply looking at their options. Surely the man who shoved his way in front of me and my patient little girl was not going to go ahead of me...oh wait, he did. But certainly, the ladies behind the counter, who not only wait on me all the time but know that I am always a patient and polite customer, would not wait on the other man who has worked his way to the front of the counter...yep, they did.

So by now, I've been standing in line for about 15 minutes, had two people shove their way in front of me, watched the macaroni and cheese dwindle to precarious levels (one serving left) and my patience is running thin. It is therefore the last straw that the 50-something woman who has sauntered up to the counter, who HAD to have seen me waiting, gets the deli worker's attention and starts to be served.

Now, I am a very soft-spoken person. My brother-in-law calls me a "low-talker" (from a Seinfeld episode) and I am not easily heard, but I decided to speak up, rather than risk standing in line forever and losing the macaroni and cheese that is rightfully mine. I said, "Excuse me ma'am, but I have been standing in line here for quite some time and you have already waited on two other people who pushed their way to the front of the line. I was here next. Would you please take my order so I can go home." I did not yell, I was polite, I did nothing uncourteous, I simply stood up for myself. What did I get in response? A dirty look from the deli-counter lady and the lady who had cut in front of me. My order was filled (yes, I got the very last of the macaroni and cheese), I thanked the deli-counter lady, and started to leave, only to hear the deli-counter lady say (in a snide voice) to the other customer, "I'm sorry about that, I'm so sorry that your order had to be interrupted, what can I get for you?"

Okay, I know, most of you are thinking to yourselves, "That's it? That's the whole story?" Yep, that's it, but it bugs me. Why can't people have manners? I was polite, I was patient, I was tired of getting stepped on by less polite, less patient people. I nicely did something about it and was then treated like the scourge of the earth by someone who should not be making comments about any customers, particularly not with a snide tone of voice, and got dirty looks from the lady who tried to cut in front of me in the first place.

Sometimes I get tired of being the nice lady. There are days when I want to just let rude people know exactly what I think of their immature, selfish and frankly offensive behavior. I would dearly love to give some of the people a verbal tongue-lashing the likes of which they have never before experienced. Of course, I won't, because I'm polite. I also won't waste my time because this kind of person likely wouldn't care or understand most of what I had to say. Still, on days like today, I just wish people would use a little more common sense and a lot more common courtesy.