Our world moves at the speed of light, science surrounds us everywhere. We have computerized cars that paralell park themselves. Coffee makers that wake us up, and start brewing on their own (not that anybody makes coffee at home anymore, grrrr). We have toothbrushes that tell us when we have sufficiently cleaned our teeth. We have even found a way to teach ourselves to be fit and healthy, while we play video games!! What have we forgotten to teach--common decency.
I am a nice person, just ask my mother. Most definitely without prejudice. But I find myself hating almost everybody I come across anymore. Sound harsh? Maybe, but it isn't without reason, let me assure you.
Yesterday, I went to the gas station. Wait for it, it gets offensive. I filled my van with the amount of fuel I wished, let my six year old daughter out of the van, and holding her hand, we started around our vehicle to go and pay. Not however, before we were almost run over by a pick-up truck that went screaming between the building and the pumps! You may think, "Wow, good thing you stopped in time," and indeed I was thinking that--in small part. What I was thinking more, was, "Why the @#$$! was that driver going so fast, in such a confined area, where there is a certainty, not just a probability, of pedestrians?"
Perhaps he had heard on the news that Woodstock was having that wierd occurance of random gas pump movement. Yes, you think they are in the place that they are municipally zoned for, serenely attached to their underground storage tanks, when BAM! Before you know it, they jump up, and move across the street, with ridiculous speed. The only way to combat it, apparently is to approach gas pumps at full throttle, regardless of whomever may be around.
Perhaps he was just an ass.
My vote goes for the second option. As after he had to hit his brakes for the millisecond it took for him to realize that I had stopped, and dragged my young daughter back to safety, he continued at speed and had the audacity to mouth phrases about my parentage and sensibility. It took all my self-control and will-power not to go over and pull him out of his truck and soundly thrash the living daylights out of him. I had my daughter, I had to maintain a modicum of decorum, and so I restrained myself to a muttered expression of distaste under my breath, completely devoid of profanity. It did little to assuage my anger.
So, you older gentleman, driving a taupe Mazda pick-up in Woodstock, yesterday shortly after 10am, on Norwich Avenue, at the Sunoco station by Burger King, you are an ass. I wish nothing good for you or your lineage. Unless, of course, you pull your head out of your own, gaping maw of a prodigious ass, and start to act like a decent human being.
Later yesterday, I went with my father-in-law to the grocery store, where he was going to purchase a large ticket item, which required the cargo capabilities of our van to bring it home. I now work as a service provider for the grocery business, so I am fully aware that the Saturday of the Easter Weekend is the single biggest sales day of the year. We were very polite, and, aware of the busy-ness of the day, inquired at the customer service/lottery counter, rather than disturb the associates on the floor, to get our item. Well, it was all for naught, as the lady promptly paged for someone from in the store proper, and left us to stand and awkwardly wait for someone to help us.
Enough time passed for us to read a chapter of a fairly wordy book, before another associate strolled in, and kind of looked at us, without any greeting of any type. The first lady said, "Yeah, they want a ____." Without any further instruction, this second associate turned on her heel, and walked into the store area displaying the object of our visit. We pointed out which one we wanted, she said, "That's the one you want?" we agreed, and then we were off again, to follow her without any instruction. I inquired to her back if they had any that had already been assembled, to which she said no, that "was an extra charge." She didn't actually bother to see if we were willing to inccur such a charge, she just kept on walking.
I guess after we followed her for a while, seemingly on an aimless journey around the store, she must have tired of her two full grown "puppies", she informed us that she was just "going to the back to get it, you don't need to follow me all over." Perhaps good customer service would have dictated she just inform us what she was going to do, and give us the option to wait wherever we were most comfortable.
Perhaps she was just an ass.
Having dealt with the employees at this store for some time now, and experiencing the feeling that they were indeed doing me a favour by letting me spend my money there, providing them with further employment, I vote again for the second option.
Many of my fellow townspeople will know of which store I am speaking, and want to come to its defence. So I will stipulate this, not all of its associates are dreadful. In fact, the store owner still understands the tenents of customer service, but he doesn't force the entire staff to exercise them, and in fact, his most apparently "valuable" staff members are amongst the worst offenders.
Where does this lack of decency and respect stem from. I will go out on a limb here, and say it all started with the disdain for corporal punishment. Parents saying, "Oh, I don't believe in spanking, it doesn't show a respect for my child," has resulted in the rest of the world saying, "Oh, those young people don't show respect for others."
With new-age parents showing a desrespect for time-honoured traditions like spankings, and in schools, the "Strap", our society has bred a new type of young person, who have a sense of entitlement that astounds me.
For example, as I was driving up the street towards my home recently, I saw a teenager standing at the curb, in the middle of the block, so far from the corner in fact, he was standing on grass. I saw him look at me, and guage that I was indeed too close for him to cross safely, I even had eye contact with him at this point. Yet, without fear, he stepped out and began to cross the street, DIAGONALLY, EVEN, which took him directly across the path of my oncoming car. Maintaining eye contact the whole time, knowing he was making me alter the pace and course of my vehicle, I watched him walk at a leisurely pace right in front of me. Unable to contain myself anymore, I honked my horn at him as he cleared the right corner of my hood, close enough to touch it. To which he responded with a universal salute you all would understand. I came home and threatened my own son with my foot broken off in his exhaust port if I ever caught him behaving so poorly.
Yet, all is not lost. Let me tell you of a really wonderful experience of decency that my family experienced. Last fall, after dropping our daughter off at a birthday party in Woodstock, my wife and I were at odds of how to waste two and a half hours of free time. Not for long, as my wife's friend said, "Hey, come wait at my mom's with me."
Feeling somewhat intrusive, we went and found this lady still her pajamas, playing with the grandkids that had just had a sleepover. Without batting an eye at two extra visitors appearing sans formal invitation, we were welcomed and soon engrossed in stimulating and fun conversation. In fact, our impromptu visit soon became an invitation for dinner, despite the fact we had to leave and come back. I received valuable career advice, a most delicious meal, and by the end of the night, I was guaranteed a place in the will. (Okay, maybe that's just my interpretation.)
My point isn't as much that in order to be a decent person you have to feed me, (but that does help) you just have to be open and friendly, and ready to smile. There is an old adage that finds its root in the bible, that says, "Treat others, the way you would have them treat you in return." If children were all taught this without fail, our world would be a better place.
Would I rather praise my kid than punish my kid? Yes, but if they are acting poorly they deserve some poor treatment in response. Would I rather students not get the "Strap" at school? Yes, but if they are behaving in a very bad fashion, it needs to be there as a deterrant. Respect for others should be inate, but often it isn't. Sometimes we need to push it along a little.
And finally, would I rather make someone wait in a parking lot sometimes rather than make them dinner? To be honest, probably yes. But, I think I may start to cook that dinner, in hopes to see it paid forward somewhere, somehow.
