Do the holidays bring out the worst in people?

Dec 23, 2008 3 Comments

Maybe it’s just the holidays, or maybe it’s just me noticing it more, but people are a assholes. Today while we were out doing some last minute shopping, I was acutely aware of how rude people can be. For example, if you are walking around a shopping center, you normally stay to the right, much like the flow of vehicle traffic. Several times there were people walking up-stream and they are the ones that won’t move an inch to avoid running in to you. Annoying!

Even still, I typically go out of my way to be courteous to others. As we are entering a store I almost always hold the door for people coming in right behind us. When walking past somebody in an aisle while, we always say “pardon me” as we slip by them as they browse. These aren’t Mother Theresa level acts, but I’m amazed at how it seems we are the only ones in the mall who think to do them.

Tonight while at Ross, we were walking down an aisle that was fairly narrow. A lady with a cart edges her way in front of me and then I have to pull Chris to the side to let the lady pass as I’m certain she’s about to be run down by this lady with the cart. I was so pissed! I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m RARELY the one to start a confrontation. In a situation like this I’ll typically say nothing and just steam about it. But this lady really ticked me off. I made a comment, louder enough for her to hear, I hope, about how Chris was lucky not to have been run over. Chris says the lady said she was sorry as she zipped past, but I certainly didn’t hear it.

After that bit of fun we stopped at the grocery store to pick up the fixings for Christmas dinner. We have a bit of a group coming over, so our basket was fairly full. I headed to the checkout line as Chris went to pick up a final item. As I arrived up front, I stood behind somebody in line just before another lady with a half-full cart pulled up. I then looked up and noticed I was in the 15 items or less line. So I moved over to look for the other lane. Turns out, there were no other lanes open. The lady who walked up behind me zips her cart in front of me in the line. She saw exactly what happened. I was less than 5 feet away. She jumped in front of me on purpose. This time I held my tongue because I knew that if I said anything, it was going to get nasty quick. I couldn’t believe how rude this lady was. Honestly though, I’m not sure why I was surprised.

Listen, if you are going to go out in public, bring along some manners with you, OK? I’m not asking for much. Remember when you were a kid and your mom told you to treat others the way you’d want to be treated? Let’s try that next time you go to the mall, shall we?

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  5. More proof that people suck

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3 Responses to “Do the holidays bring out the worst in people?”

  1. 4th Place Dec 24, 2008 at 6:13 am

    I hate to break this to ya but your not exactly in a city that breeds manners and respect. Try living in the south, the people over here actually care that you are another human being it's quite an amazing thing to witness. People will let you get on to the freeway here instead of my everyday experience in Vegas of “gunning it” to get ahead of as many people so that I can have a fighting chance of getting on the freeway with my life intact. I'm not saying it's perfect out here but the differences are HUGE. Here's a challenge for you, next time you out somewhere public count how many people you see that are smiling. The one thing that stands out most to me is that I don't have the feeling here that everyone is trying bully themselves ahead of as many people as they can just for the sole reason that they think they deserve to get done faster or get served quicker than everyone else.

  2. SamHennessy Dec 24, 2008 at 12:52 pm

    I have to tottaly agree on this. Having move from Vegas to Denver with my wife who grew up in Vegas and I who after moving from the UK had only Vegas as my only point of reference. The major thing we noticed was just how nice everyone here is.

    To support this I have a story of a time I was in a Wal-Mart recently where it was so busy that people were almost falling over one another, but the air was full of sorries and thank yous

  3. Lori Dec 24, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    So I did a lot of stuff today, Christmas Eve day and would have to say overall it was pretty good. I survived Wal-Marts grocery section with people generally moving their carts out of the way and saying excuse during their near collisions and such. Line was super short and the teller was quite nice.

    From there I went to my favorite breakfast spot. I found the service to be about par and I had a good meal. There was a pair of ladies in there complaining about the consistently horrible service and bad attitudes. IMO, the attitude and negativity came from them, not the servers.

    Lastly, I've made the switch on all my utilities for the house move. Everyone was super nice and prompt. Had them all done in 30 minutes