Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential
This blog is out of frustration....
Rudeness is something that we accept as normal. I am oh so amazed by the lack of social niceties in individuals. Last week, we had gone to a hotel to eat dinner. There was this one irritating guy who was holding on to the entrance door and speaking to his weird relatives who were inside the hotel. Imagine the scene!!! Till all of these folks finish their so called weird conversation, no one can enter the restaurant. What's up with these folks? Why don't we have one subject in schools which only teaches kids on how they need to behave in social settings. After all, Aristotle was convinced that 'man is a social animal'. We seem to be going out of our way to prove him otherwise by behaving like uncouth beasts. I stood for 3 minutes and then lost my patience. I banged my fingers on his shoulder so that he can at least realise that someone did want to enter. His look gave me the status of a sinner. He was an epitome of 'holier than thou'...For what, mister? Your uncouth nature should ensure that you dine with the pigs. Oh... why put animals through the torture of bearing with him!!! I entered the restaurant in true local style. I pushed the women at the door as well. See! if you can't beat em, you need to join em. That's the rule. You have parents who consider every irritating antic of their children as god's blessing. There was this unruly kid who was banging at the back of my chair with his foot while the movie was on. I ignored this throughout the interval time frame. Then i lost my patience and told the kid to stop doing that. I said that very politely and firmly. The parents take offence to this and the mother instigates the father to pick up a fight with us. Yeah..these are the kind of kids who will make us proud. Being a project manager, I have seen folks who have pathetic table manners, who slurped and burped while they ate, so much so that their host was forced to leave the room because he felt nauseous. Another instance is road rules that are meant to be broken. Have heard stories from my colleagues about guys who try to break rules while driving or while crossing the roads, simply because they get a kick about it, while in a foreign country. While at the airport, I saw this tiny man wriggle out of some entrance when the guard was not watching. He didn't have his passport with him. When the security guard asked him to enter the same room only after another security check, in typical style, the 5 foot man tried to push the burly 6 foot security guard. Yeah..right! What a story to tell your grandchildren! Despite all this confusion outside, his wife was relaxing inside, not realizing that her husband would end up in some cell if he kept up with those antics. I cringed when i saw the guard push the man aside. Another incident was on the Delta flight. I was waiting for my turn, outside the restroom and this obese, heavily ornamented woman walks out from there. I enter the rest room and i had to hold my food within my stomach with a lot of effort. She had just not bothered to flush. I mean..give me a break! Isn't that basics??? When i get back, I hear another man shouting at the steward. We don't mind shouting at people who are doing service.
I don't claim to be the most well behaved citizen. But I do go out of my way to ensure that I maintain the maximum level of etiquette and polite behavior that's required, no matter which country I visit.
Yeah..label me as Ms. Perfect. But i truly believe that your upbringing is reflected when you behave rudely.
The high point of civilization is that you can hate me and I can hate you but we develop an etiquette that allows us to deal with each other because if we acted solely upon our impulse we'd probably go to war.
Stanley Crouch
Rudeness is something that we accept as normal. I am oh so amazed by the lack of social niceties in individuals. Last week, we had gone to a hotel to eat dinner. There was this one irritating guy who was holding on to the entrance door and speaking to his weird relatives who were inside the hotel. Imagine the scene!!! Till all of these folks finish their so called weird conversation, no one can enter the restaurant. What's up with these folks? Why don't we have one subject in schools which only teaches kids on how they need to behave in social settings. After all, Aristotle was convinced that 'man is a social animal'. We seem to be going out of our way to prove him otherwise by behaving like uncouth beasts. I stood for 3 minutes and then lost my patience. I banged my fingers on his shoulder so that he can at least realise that someone did want to enter. His look gave me the status of a sinner. He was an epitome of 'holier than thou'...For what, mister? Your uncouth nature should ensure that you dine with the pigs. Oh... why put animals through the torture of bearing with him!!! I entered the restaurant in true local style. I pushed the women at the door as well. See! if you can't beat em, you need to join em. That's the rule. You have parents who consider every irritating antic of their children as god's blessing. There was this unruly kid who was banging at the back of my chair with his foot while the movie was on. I ignored this throughout the interval time frame. Then i lost my patience and told the kid to stop doing that. I said that very politely and firmly. The parents take offence to this and the mother instigates the father to pick up a fight with us. Yeah..these are the kind of kids who will make us proud. Being a project manager, I have seen folks who have pathetic table manners, who slurped and burped while they ate, so much so that their host was forced to leave the room because he felt nauseous. Another instance is road rules that are meant to be broken. Have heard stories from my colleagues about guys who try to break rules while driving or while crossing the roads, simply because they get a kick about it, while in a foreign country. While at the airport, I saw this tiny man wriggle out of some entrance when the guard was not watching. He didn't have his passport with him. When the security guard asked him to enter the same room only after another security check, in typical style, the 5 foot man tried to push the burly 6 foot security guard. Yeah..right! What a story to tell your grandchildren! Despite all this confusion outside, his wife was relaxing inside, not realizing that her husband would end up in some cell if he kept up with those antics. I cringed when i saw the guard push the man aside. Another incident was on the Delta flight. I was waiting for my turn, outside the restroom and this obese, heavily ornamented woman walks out from there. I enter the rest room and i had to hold my food within my stomach with a lot of effort. She had just not bothered to flush. I mean..give me a break! Isn't that basics??? When i get back, I hear another man shouting at the steward. We don't mind shouting at people who are doing service.
I don't claim to be the most well behaved citizen. But I do go out of my way to ensure that I maintain the maximum level of etiquette and polite behavior that's required, no matter which country I visit.
Yeah..label me as Ms. Perfect. But i truly believe that your upbringing is reflected when you behave rudely.
The high point of civilization is that you can hate me and I can hate you but we develop an etiquette that allows us to deal with each other because if we acted solely upon our impulse we'd probably go to war.
Stanley Crouch
I couldnt agree with everything you say more! Congratulations for having the gumption to come out and say it openly!
ReplyDelete