a dose of Miss Post?
I consider myself a pretty genial person and until recently I’ve thought that most Melbournians are too, but recently I’ve had a few odd experiences that have really made me think twice.
Admittedly traffic is bad these days and people are rushing around busy as hell; the other day at a petrol station the lady behind me finished first, entered to pay and exited as I entered. During that time about 5 other people had lined up, it took the guys at Shell at little while to get through them, it was peak hour (no, not Friday evening during the taxi blockade). On exiting she starts honking at me and gesticulating rudely. Now, I can understand getting a little stressed with the price of petrol but I’m damn sure didn’t do anything wrong here - a bit of patience would be pleasant.
Today at Coles, I was in the expressline - whilst our lovely checkout boy scanned the goods of the man ahead of me I went 1 metre away to pick up a mag; on my return the women behind me had pushed in - checkout dude was still doing the guy’s groceries. I was completely stunned; she even had the audacity to smile at me, and then give me a dirty look when I didn’t smile back!
Behind us, the line had extended a little - a woman decides to give checkout boy a piece of her mind stating that this was an expressline for “christsake”. She’d probably been there for 1 minute. Everyone else was mortified. Poor guy, he’s only doing his job.
What’s happening? What really got me was that these perpetrators of rudeness were at least 45+ women? Have you had any experiences that make you wonder if the wave of grumpy old women are just becoming rude and angry old women?
I think a good dose of Miss Post is sorely needed.
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I’m an overseas student… just arrived here in Melbourne a month ago. I’d say I was almost awed by an average Melbournian’s good manners and friendliness… until one day that is. While trying to figure out my way at Flinder’s station, I had the misfortune of asking a fat Connex man twice (coz I didn’t understand him the first time) about the train I needed to take. The guy mumbled under his breath then audibly cursed me and told me to get out and get a bus. I was so taken aback I didn’t know what to say… just dropped my head and left quietly. But couldn’t shake off the agony for the rest of the day.
Now I know I can’t generalize this behavior on to the entire population (I’ve met some very friendly and helpful locals too thankfully!)… but the moral of the story probably is that there are good and bad people everywhere, you just needs to make sure that you don’t fall in the bad category yourself.
It people like those who think they can get away with treating others like shit. This is because no one stands up to them. They probably do the same thing to their husbands, kids, and every place of business they dont like. Yell at them..you have nothing to lose. People need to be knocked off their pedistal from time to time.
thanks for sharing icecube. It’s true, it all depends on what you project into the world.
Neil, I’m not one that really enjoys yelling at people, even if they may deserve it. I do think that some people do lay out a lot more aggression around than others naturally, I wonder if they realise it?
Haha, perhaps the Post Institute has some bumper stickers I could paste on people’s foreheads….
>>some people do lay out a lot more aggression around than others naturally, I wonder if they realise it?
Actually I’ve thought about that myself… I really do wonder too that if they realise. Maybe I’ve myself been hurting others in some way without knowing it. So how do we know how to behave when we don’t know where we’re erring?
Hmmm…?!! But still I’d say, when it comes to dealing with strangers atleast,,, its better to use a more cautious approach… use the international sign for friendliness…. try to manage a friendly smile!!
As far as the yelling goes… well, you bet I have my response ready for the next time around. Though, I sure do hope with all my heart that I never have to use it!
Cheers guys!