How Rude!

Since when did the blatant lack of common courtesy become the social norm? I've never understood how some people manage to go about their daily lives completely unaware of their sheer rudeness. I base this post on the happenings today while running errands.

It all starts as I arrived at the car garage for my 11 am oil change appointment. As I approached the entrance, I hesitated to open the door as I saw on the other side of the glass an 18-month old named Ethan (I know these facts because while I was waiting for my car I began eavesdropping on the conversations with Ethan's mother and other customers who seemed to genuinely give a shit about his recent walking then running developments). Ethan was barely holding a retractable dog leash to which was attached some breed of dog that resembled a bigger Yorkshire Terrier (Julia, help me out with this one). I didn't open the door because I was afraid that Ethan, the dog, or both would go bolting out into to traffic, and the blood would be on my hands. So instead, I waited, expecting, for his mother to come scoop him up. Waited...waited...nothing, just Ethan and the dog staring. So I entered the store, and tried to hold back the toddler and dog.

As I'm talking to the man behind the counter, the dog somehow escaped the clutches of an 18-month old and began jumping on and licking my left leg. Completely annoyed by this point, instead of reaching down and acknowledging the animal, I just shook my leg until it went away. Suddenly, and man behind me in khaki short-shorts and penny loafers (you know the type), who actually turned out to be the dog's owner, not Ethan, said "Woah, look out Buddy, looks like we don't have a 'dog person' here." To which I turned around and explained to the man that I do, in fact, like dogs, just not strangers dogs jumping on me in public places. Loafers and I didn't exchange anymore smalltalk after that.
(Side note: why do people bring their lap dogs to the car garage?)

After speaking with the attendant, I turned around to the crowded waiting room to find no available seats. No, there weren't THAT many people in the room, one seat was taken up by a woman's over sized handbag, another by Loafer's dog, and yet another by Ethan. Less than impressed, I stood in the corner next to a stack of Michelin tires and sipped my coffee and read my book in disgust. (finally, the toddler moved and scrambled to steal his seat.)

Fast-forward twenty minutes, and Ethan's mom is ready to go, but apparently not Ethan as he ran across the waiting room jumped into he chair directly next to mine and began screaming as he pulled relentlessly on my arm. I thought I gave of a sufficiently annoyed vibe, but I guess not because mom just smiled and said "Oh, do you want to stay and play with him?". No he doesn't, go home. Ok, thanks.

About five minutes after they leave, a woman starts bitching to no one in particular about how she's been there since 8 am. Bitchworthy indeed, but I'm not going to get your struts replaced. In response to the complaint Loafers says, and I quote, "Squeaky wheel gets the oil, darling, tell one of those guys." Darling? Darling to a complete stranger? With that I got up and walked out to have a smoke. I couldn't take it anymore.

I then stopped at Panera for a quick lunch. As I'm waiting for my Bacon Turkey Bravo, I find myself next to yet another toddler holding a large sized fountain drink. When I look down at him, he promptly and what seemed deliberately dropped the full drink, which then exploded on the floor. Instead of mom bringing that to the attention of one of the workers, she instead scooped up Junior and headed for the door. What? Really? I witnessed a similar situation once and the Dairy Queen when a teenager and her father were eating their Blizzards and the daughter dropped hers on the floor. Again, instead of Dad alerting someone of the mess, he said "Hurry up and let's get out of here". What the hell? Who are these idiots raising children? I stand firm in my controversial opinion that people should pass a test before being allowed to procreate.

Rudeness abounds in the area it seems, and it grates on me a little more each day. I'm not sure if it's the pseudo-swanky suburban housewives with their gas guzzlers and bug-eyed designer shades or the general disinterest in others is just part of a new culture, but it's annoying the piss out of me.

I refer to the first stop of my day to illustrate the other extreme of rudeness: the drive through at Starbucks. I usually avoid going there in the morning because the people are overly nice and considerate, annoyingly so, and to the point where you question it's genuineness. When the lady at the window told me that I looked "very handsome today" (note: at this point I had not yet showered, was wearing my glasses, a ripped Nike T-shirt and a hat with grass stains on it) and to "enjoy my delicious latte on this gorgeous day" (second note: it was thunder storming at the time) I just about lost my shit. Isn't there a happy medium we can all get to, not blatant disregard and letting Fido jump on strangers, but not overcompensating your own depression by dripping strangers in 2-cent and made-up compliments? Really people, get it together.