Dear Good Manners Devotees',
I just have to vent, ever so decorously, about our Good Manners Family visit to Staples this evening.
Clutching our class supplies lists, we quickly filled our baskets with the must-haves for a successful school year.
(This year we have a bit of a challenge because a child is coming to the school who is allergic to latex -- you wouldn't believe how many things have latex in them. In fact, in a blast from my long-distant school days, they can only bring Ticonderoga pencils. I date myself, but does anyone else out there remember those yellow #2 pencils that we had to use to fill-in the blanks on the Iowa tests of basic skill?)
There was quite a long line of families checking out with their school supplies. We had already waited 10 minutes when an older woman came up behind us. She had several reams of paper and notebooks and could hardly hold it all. We were next for the register and Good Manners Dad turned to her and very clearly said for her to go ahead and put her stuff on the counter.
I'm sure you can guess what happened next: she thanked him and put her stuff on the counter. Then, a split second later, as the customer in front moved away, she pushed all of her stuff up and moved right in front of the clerk to buy her loot.
Good Manners Dad and I exchanged glances while the younger Good Manners Daughter blurted out "Hey, how'd that lady get in front of us?"
Needless to say, we didn't shush her!
Although we probably would have let the woman check out in front of us if she had just waited a moment, that's not the point. It was her rude assumption that was so annoying!
Good Manners Fans, it's encounters such as this one that makes one want to be a little more thrifty with our courtesies! (I should add, in case you believe I should be more charitable, that she wasn't elderly, just older than us!)
But ... tomorrow is another day. Hopefully we'll still feel the urge to be thoughtful and help others if the case arises, regardless of whether or not the thoughtfulness is met in kind.
Next post -- we'll talk about airplane manners. (So much to talk about -- where can I start?) Until then,
Leslie
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
We had a similar thing happen while waiting to check in at camp for our 10 year old.
ReplyDeleteA woman got in the pack of people and pushed her way to #2.. and someone said "I believe these people were here way before us" she didn't budge.
I was ticked beyond belief but there was no hurry.
The best part was our good mannered daughter said the girl was the same at camp and most people avoided her. All that lovely apple that doesn't fall far from the tree.