(not political this time) Rant Re: Rude People
It just involves one of my pet peeves which rose (or sank) to that level partly because such behavior indicates plenty of other attitude problems:
People who don't flush the toilet after themselves, in public and/or private.
It happened to flash on my radar this morning because after several other people beat me to the restroom at this tiny town's food market ('super' doesn't enter into the picture), the last one was a UPS driver who couldn't be bothered to flush. Which I found out because by that time I was leaning against the outside wall, ready to trip Mother Theresa herself if she tried to jump line. You can't hear too much at that spot but you can damn sure tell when/if the toilet flushes.
So the door flies open and this UPS driver dashes out; hoping maybe she'd just gone in there to primp, I stuck my head inside the door and discovered it was far, far worse. So I whirled around and started after her, fearing she'd be on the road before I could nab her. Luckily she'd stopped to sign papers at the office and looked up in surprise at me when I announced her 'mistake' rather bluntly. She just shrugged and made no apology whatever. If someone said that to me, I'd have been mortified at my forgetfulness and would've hastened to correct the matter. Not her. All I got was more of a 'kiss my foot' type reaction.
After a brief but sharp description of her piggishness, I marched out of the store in something of a heat. Normally I latch on and make a person go back and correct their laxness - for some reason I've always succeeded against much larger adversaries even with my miniscule stature - but my driver was waiting for me and the time required would've adversely affected her day's schedule. The only people I let off scott free are the very elderly or handicapped.
Perhaps incredibly, I don't consider myself an old meany. But I was an Army brat, product of various Catholic schools and a too-long marriage to a career Army officer, and when on my own even turned to driving a semi in between dot com crashes. So my entire life experience has encouraged, if not required a certain degree of assertiveness. I even used to visit a cool roadhouse in AZ when they had particularly good blues musicians on, and the place was often filled with HA's.
Point being that I might lack a strong self preservation gene. Normally I don't care what other people do and I don't generally go around messing with them either. But that one particular philistine behavior just raises my temperature. If anyone shows the least regret, I switch to a genuine plea to try to remember next time. But that woman today was just so dismissive that she needed her ears pinned back. Well, at least I'm not at risk for uclers because I don't suppress my feelings too much.
Anyone who's read this far, thanks and feel free to reply with your own pet peeve, even if it's people like me. Or even me in particular. You read my rants, I'll read yours.
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