Rude

I figured out today that R and I are the rudeness police.  We don't haul any one in or issue citations, but we will notice and discuss it when someone exhibits bad behavior.  Take that!

Last weekend we were in line for the checkout at the hardware store.  It was a busy day since it was Labor Day weekend and lots of home improvements were happening in households all around town.  As often happens, a number of people headed to check out at the same time, and there was just a single lane open.  We took our place at the end of the line with maybe three or four shoppers ahead of us. 

A woman got behind us in line, proclaiming loudly that she couldn't believe there was only one checker on such a busy day.  She said it was not very good planning on the part of the store.  She was being kind of loud and kind of cranky, but we smiled obligingly and nodded without joining in the rant.  I began a conversation with R about nothing, just to escape the crankiness.  She continued on for a bit, still loud and a bit annoying. 

Before long a second checker walked up and opened a second lane.  The checker asked if she could help the next person in line, and the cranky lady dashed over, thereby crowning herself "next."  She continued to talk loudly, although the rant about the line had evaporated.  She may have said something like, "Oh thank goodness!  I have so much to get done today!"  She talked about the weather and other mindless stuff.  My thoughts were she was trying to distract the rest of us in line from the fact that she had basically cut from the end of the line to the front.

The gentleman in front of us was also looking to move to the new lane, and R invited him to step over, pointing out that he was ahead of us and should therefore have the next spot in the new line.  The loud lady continued to talk, her voice drowning out our tisks and annoyed looks as we glanced at one another.  It appeared that as long as she didn't notice that she was annoying other people, it was okay to have been rude and maybe we wouldn't notice either.

We noticed.  We ended up in her line when there was a delay with our checker, and as she carried on it turned out she didn't have her form of payment ready.  She began digging into her billfold for cash and then decided to search deep in a pocket for exact change, all the while yakking on.  It made the rest of us uber-annoyed.  Well, me anyway.  After she finished and left and it was eventually our turn, we left the store and the topic turned immediately to the cranky old broad who had butt in front of everyone and carried on as if it didn't matter.  We couldn't figure out how someone could be so unaware of what she was doing, so we decided she was aware and it was deliberate.

Today, while eating lunch at Chipotle (our weekend fix), R was cut off at the beverage counter by a mother and daughter wearing the shirts of a university rival.  R tolerates the university, I plain don't like them.  I doubt the women's affiliation with the university had anything to do with their rudeness, but you never know.  And for the record, neither of us were wearing any university gear that would cause the rivals to behave badly.  I think it was just their nature.

I live in the midwest and we are a fairly friendly, considerate people for which I am grateful.  Rudeness stands out and is noted.  When we took our trip to Florida last year, we were astonished at the rudeness and the poor service we received, especially for a place that was courting tourists.  We had no idea that our way of life is not the norm (we are not well traveled) but we were more than happy to return home to smiling faces that ask us how they may help us.  Because of that, we can put up with the occasional crank, curmudgeon, or poorly-raised child that we may encounter here.  And since we don't issue citations, we do feel free to throw the occasional stink eye their way.  So there!