Selfish Behaviour

Another Supermarket Gripe

2008-10-21T18:34:00.003Z

Credit crunch notwithstanding, the queues were long at Marks this morning.

I stood in queue next to a closed checkout thinking, "Perhaps someone would open this checkout soon."

Someone did: Manhar, an older Asian gentleman who is always polite and appears to take great pride in all that he does, whether in taking payment or stacking shelves. I've seen him coming to work (with his document case) and he is always smartly dressed. If there are two queues of about the same number of shoppers, I'll choose Manhar's.

I saw him approaching the empty checkout and headed towards it. Before I got there an older lady asked, "Is this opening?"

I said "yes" and indicated that she went ahead of me as she only had a few items in her hands. A young man was carrying her bag.

But just as she got to the checkout (like two old lady steps away), another woman, older than me (she was wearing bifocals) and younger than my first older lady barged in, virtually pushing her aside.

I heard her mutter, "... waiting for a long time."

The older lady didn't have a choice, but stepped back to let her through.

It wasn't like, "I'm sorry I've waited some time and I need to be somewhere else, could I go ahead of you?" Or simply, "I've been waiting some time, is it OK to go ahead of you?"

No, she just barged in, as if she was entitled to do so. There wasn't even a "thank you". I am sure if she had asked nicely both of us -- any reasonable person -- would say, "Sure, go ahead."

All through the checkout process: she had slippers with a barcode that does not read and so the numbers had to be punched in, and she wanted cashback, etc, etc. (in the end I would have finished earlier had I stuck to my original queue, but that is not the point) this woman had a face as black as thunder, as if she had been offended by someone.

When she walked away, lady in front of me said something to Manhar who replied discreetly, "We are all different, but best not to talk about it here."

Not exactly 'selfish behaviour', but annoyingly rude.

Only one item

2008-02-06T12:14:00.000Z

I learned this from the Dutch.

We used to have to shop for the Youth Hostel and needed one, sometimes two trolleys.

Then when we get to the cashier we find a man, woman or child with a few items in the basket. We would offer to let these persons go first.

Yesterday I had to send something away by registered post.

In front of me was a lady on the phone. When she got to the counter I saw that she was applying for an Oyster Card with a passport. While the postmaster was checking her details, three more large envelopes came out of her rucksack.

Eventually she pulled out a long (and I mean long) form out of somewhere. At which point I asked, "Are you going to be very long?"

She turned around with a very gruff, "Yes."

I turned around and left. I was due somewhere else.

Knowing this postmaster, it wouldn't take two minutes to complete my transaction, but this lady in front of me didn't think to let me go ahead. She had that look on her face that said, "It is my right to go first. It does not matter how long I take. You might only need a stamp, but I will take 20 minutes or longer here if I need. Buzz off."

The thing is whenever I give way to another shopper at a supermarket because they have only one or two items with cash on the ready, it makes everyone smile in the queue.

There was no smiling at the sub-post office yesterday when I was there.

Bah!

Supermarket rage

2007-10-11T11:50:00.000Z

I saw a bottle of milk left out on the shelf.

Clearly someone had decided they didn't want the milk. But why they cannot walk a few metres back to the milk counter to replace the milk is beyond me. So this bottle of milk goes to waste. The customers pay for the wastage in higher prices eventually.

How stupid some selfish people can be!!

Fat, lazy or just plain inconsiderate?

2007-10-01T21:04:00.000Z

When we take our son to his golf lessons we always find cars parked along the road from the main carpark to the overflow carpark, thus making what is a two-way road just wide enough to take one-way traffic.

It does not take too long to get from the overflow carpark to the clubhouse, for crying out loud!

Why come to a place like this presumably to do some exercise to get fit, and not be bothered to park at the proper place instead of blocking half the road?

It's the same if I took my son to the leisure centre.

People are supposed to come here to swim, play racquet sport, sweat it out on the treadmill, etc, to get fit.

And you get the same people parked along the exit road because they cannot be bothered to find a parking space in an enormous, enormous car park.

Sometimes when we see behaviour like that, we do despair at humanity.

Reversing into a minor road ... to park!!

2007-02-06T09:18:00.000Z

As if parking on a yellow line at a street corner is not bad enough, last Sunday we saw a driver trying to reverse from a major road into a minor road to park at the corner of that junction.

The driver's friend had got out of the car to hold back traffic so that she could reverse into that space.

I need a place to park. There is a space there, and I must park there.

It does not matter that fifteen cars are queued up behind me while I try to reverse the car into place.

Parking on a yellow line

2007-01-28T20:38:00.000Z

Turning into the road where we live, an MPV was parked on the yellow line at the junction.

Drivers do not seem to realize that yellow lines are drawn for specific reasons like, in this case, parking at a corner would obstruct the vision of motorists and pedestrians, making it dangerous for everyone.

Do such motorists care?

They are obviously too selfish, or stupid, or both to care or realize.

More Selfish Behaviour

2007-01-27T18:46:00.000Z

(Originally from Organic-Ally Blog)

I was at Marks for some fresh bread rolls. Woman beside me decided to forgo the tongs provided to pick up the bread and other goodies. She decided to use her fingers instead.

That I didn't mind as she only picked out the buns she wanted. But instead of replacing the tongs -- putting them back in the holder provided -- she let them drop on its 'leash' so that they touched the floor. She wasn't even remotely apologetic.

Immediately I alerted the staff working behind the counter about the situation. He cleaned the tongs immediately. Top marks to him. He even thanked me for bringing this to his notice.

I think I spoke loudly enough for woman to realize that I did not approve of her behaviour.

Back home and emptying my kitchen waste into the Council Brown Bin, dog-walker walked past and the dog decided to stop. There right in front of my house, just inside the boundary of our drive, the dog did a wee.

I said to the dog-walker, "Thank you very much!"

She had the audacity to reply, "It's only pee."

"Yes," I said, "And when my guests arrive they would have to step into it," as indeed we were expecting guests.

No word of apology. She just walked away.

To those people who believe in evolution: What is the human race going to evolve into next? I dread to think.

A failing mother? A story of selfishness

2007-01-27T14:14:00.000Z

(Originally posted in Organic-Ally blog)

OK, I am not a perfect mother.

But what would you do if you were at a nice restaurant/cafe and your 18-month-old is screaming for attention because she's been left in the pushchair too long while you have been reading your Sunday papers?

Would you:
(a) stop reading and give your daughter a cuddle?
(b) give her a new toy to entertain herself?
(c) say, "Wait! You have to wait another five minutes."

While waiting for my son to finish his golf lessons, I sit in the cafe area of this restaurant and I cannot remember the number of times my quiet, supposedly relaxing afternoons have been ruined by this toddler who screams at the top of her shrill, sharp voice as toddlers are able to do.
Mum does not care. Dad, if he's there, does not care. Every one else in the restaurant/cafe -- and we pay for food and drinks -- have to endure her screaming.

Today Mum was heard to say several times, "No, you're not getting out (of the pushchair) yet," and "No, you have to wait a few more minutes ...."

Poor mite! She does not know what "few more minutes" mean.

What sort of mother is it who thinks that reading her newspaper is more important than picking up a distressed/bored/hungry baby?

Even after she was released from her pushchair prison and playing with her brother, she was running around screaming at the top of her voice.

Why is it that some parents can bring up children without them screaming in public places and others cannot?

If this mother cannot manage a screaming baby when she's (about) 18 months old, how is she going to cope when the baby is three years, or five, 13 and 17?

Is it too much to expect parents to vacate an otherwise nice quiet restaurant (or cinema, theatre, etc) if their babies fuss too much and/or emit piercing screams so that other patrons can have a peaceful time?

Well, as far as this particular mother is concerned, a screaming toddler is not her problem. Her newspaper reading time is too precious and little one can wait. Should I complain to the management, the mother, or both?