No, THAT'S Rude!

Okay, I'm here to post.
But not about my own life-- nope. About Oprah! And, believe you me, suckers, it's gonna be a gooder! lol

No, seriously, I *AM* posting about Oprah. Kinda. Her show on TV yesterday was about Rude Americans. Anyone see it?

Well, before I begin and get an onslaught of mad Americans posting hate-comments, let's clarify. *I* did not make this stuff up. I'm simply reiterating what I saw on her show. Secondly, I am WELL AWARE that in the past week alone, 82 Americans checked this site and I have NO intention of offending ANYONE. Thirdly, anyone who disagrees with my following statement is simply a moron! ;)

My statement (echoing Oprah, paraphrased, of course) is that we are a RUDE SOCIETY!


I HATE rudeness.
I hate sitting in a restaurant, and observing people treating the servers like doormats and pieces of wood. No manners. no respect.
I hate walking around Walmart, and listening to people talk to others as if they're cows-- no pleases or thankyous, no apologies. Walk by on the wrong side of the aisles, and not ONCE will you get an 'excuse me,' or, "oops, sorry". nope. Just rude looks and sighs of exasperation.

So, Oprah's episode was based loosely on this book:

In the episode, she had people in her audience answer questions of things they've EVER done. Some of the things she asked were:

• Ever stolen someone's parking spot? (no)
  
• Ever went through the express lane with more than the limit of groceries (ie: 15 items in the 10 item only line?) (yes, but not when it's busy and not when there's people behind me)
  
• Ever talked on the phone while sending an email? (haha, ALL THE TIME-- but depends on whom I'm talking with-- or the conversation)
  
• Ever interrupted a face-to-face conversation with someone to answer a phone call? (yes- I run a dayhome and if a parent is calling, I will answer it after checking the call-display. But usually only that)
  
• have you ever gossiped? (BAHAHAH!!! Have you spent more than a few hours with me?! I, rudely, have an opinion on EVERYBODY. I'm horrible that way- but peeps like Dany and I get along because of it! LOL)
• Are you chronically late? (I don't think so, No)

There were other things, but I can't remember them.
So, personal story time.

When I headed to Utah for B@@bapalooza, I was a bit surprised to find such drastic differences in a few things. One, the driving. (AHHHHHH!!!) Two, the cleanliness of the city-- I hate to be biased, but Salt Lake City was NOT a pretty city, compared to the cities in Canada I've been to. And three, the manners of the people around us.

Sitting in Dennys with Kare. We watched SO MANY PATRONS act INCREDIBLY rudely towards the servers. "uh, I don't have a fork!!!" (not, "excuse me, but when you get a second, would you mind bringing me a fork please?"). Or, "I want Eggs." (not, "I'd like to order the eggs, please"). "Where's my drink?" (YAH!! I actually heard this one, and Kare and I just about fell off our chairs!!) No pleases. Not ONE!! Our jaws hit the floor! And, let me also state that it wasn't just at Dennys, or just in Utah. It was EVERYWHERE.

We did notice that we got lots of great service when we were friendly to people- which, if you know Kare, is all the time. You could SEE that people were pleasantly surprised not to get ORDERED around rudely. Is it really like that all over America, or were we just snotty and thought that we were that much more polite, when in reality, we're not? Oprah says it really IS like that in America. And is America worse than Canada? Or is another country even worse than that?

I know some cultures are considered more rude than others-- but that's cultural and not really about manners. So, I'm not taking that into consideration. I'm talking mainly about Western Culture's civility.

I am NOT saying I'm the most polite person. HA! Did you not see my answers above? Apparently, I'm pretty rude. But I will NOT be rude to service workers!! I think it's incredibly abhorrish (is that the proper way to use that word?) !! I'm embarrassed even when someone else is and I'm in their presence. Bank tellers, waitresses, grocery clerks... gas attendants--- anything! Being polite doesn't equate to being a doormat. It equates to having a bit of self-respect that you know how to treat others politely and expect others to EXPECT to be treated respectfully. If your meal is undercooked, by all means- send it back. But do it kindly. If you didn't get what you wanted at a store, don't walk away and absorb your loss--- stand up for yourself, but you can always do it nicely.

My mini-list.

Rude: driving slowly in the fast lane. LOOK IN THE MIRROR once in a while-- and move.
Rude: Giving another mother a dirty look for the way her children are behaving. (you don't know if, perhaps, her children have behaviour or learning disabilities.)
Rude: when someone is telling you a story/venting and someone else pipes in with their own one-up story
Rude: showing up late at church and walking in during a song/a talk/a prayer, etc. Just wait for that thing to finish and walk in the silent moment.
Rude: texting while in the company of someone else-- I HATE THAT!!
Rude: phone calls at the dinner table. Kannie and Uncle will attest to the fact that I can't STAND when their cell phones went off at dinnertime-- inevitably, it happened EVERY MEAL!!! Just turn it on to vibrate. And don't text at the dinner table!!!! (or in the car, obviously) Unless you're a Doctor, your phone call can likely wait!
Rude: lying.


What would you like to add to the list?