About Those Manners

Hi Tir Na,

Our local office is, to say the least, way back when, so
we drive to the next town. They don't have ropes or chains
or anything, so it's a mad free-for-all during busy days. You
have to enter the post office through one door, then enter
the office area by way of yet another door, then all cram into
a tiny room. Ugh!

No hope for the three feet of personal space, and quite a
smell in the heat of summer when you get all sorts of people
in such a tiny room.

Andi, I'm so laughing at the ATM thing. I've seen that person
you described. What is worse is when they give you that "Hey,
stupid, there's an empty machine" look.

We all get the last laugh.

I am partially disabled and can not walk long distances such as required when grocery shopping so I must use the electric carts. Many times my cart has run out of power in the middle of my shopping because the clerks do not plug them in after a customer uses the cart to go to their car. Stores never seem to have enough carts such as Home Depot a giant among retailers and they will have only two carts for the entire store and both are in deplorable condition unless it is a brand new store. Some people use the carts because they are lazy and really don't need them while those of us that do have to sit and wait for one sometimes as long as an hour or more.
In a related case are the people that use the disabled parking space and use their parents decal because they are to inconsiderate of others. I see this most every time I shop. Doctors are far to liberal when they allow a person the privelege of a decal....

Tplant, I could not agree with you more. Two of my own family members
have, and use, handicapped cards in the car when they feel like using them.
It is sad, the doctors will give cards to many who are in fact capable of walking
just fine. I even had to ask my mother later on what was with the stickers, as
I didn't see anything wrong with either family member. Seasonal aches do not
call for handicapped parking permits, or we'd all have one.

I've seen the grocery cart riders, too. While a lazy person loafs around the
store, a little old lady is slowly hobbling up and down the aisles. What takes
her thirty minutes of slowly walking could have been completed in less than half
the time had a loafer not taken the cart. Yet when they are finished, they hop
off and walk to the car just fine.

:-(

Charlenesplants: that is certainly one way to be motivated to stop smoking! but I wouldn't recommend it! LOL
tir-na-nog, why did I think you live in Florida? and here you are telling us you live in Texas!

Well, I have to go to the post office today to mail a large business envelope because I don't know how much postage to put on it but we do have marked off lines at our P.O. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long.

Hope everyone gets their handicapped carts and their proper place in line because I have to go shop for Thanksgiving groceries as well as go to the P.O.!! Oh my!

This is certainly not to chastise those irritated by grocery cart riders, as I've seen them too ~ but I did have occasion to use them a couple of times. I got a few rude glances when I would get out of the cart to get an item and then sit back down. I was 36, the picture of health and vigor, quite slim (then!) but just had a hysterectomy. There was no way I could walk it, plus push a cart too. Gack!

So instead of wasting my energy on being annoyed by people, I sweetly remind myself that "maybe there's a reason...."

Doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other idiots to mentally spew my venom at! >:)

Then there's the opposite effect. The bathroom, often in an airport or crowded mall, where you arrive at the Ladies' to find a long line. As someone exits a stall someone in the line enters. Then, from the latter part of the line, I look down at the floor and notice that half of the stalls are actually empty and the line has formed just because someone in front assumed that all of them were occupied.

LOL Thanks for bring that up ~ I've done that many times, wondering what the hold up was.

Hi Moby, major surgery can indeed be a handicap. Anyone
who just endured such is welcome to ease the pain in my book.

:-)

And sometimes the only reason they are able to hop back up and walk to their cars is they needed to conserve their energy by using the cart. There are plenty of people out there with debilitating nerve and joint pain who must "choose their battles" on a daily basis, and sometimes using a motorized cart is what lets them do other things with less pain. You never know until you're in their shoes.

My pet peeve is people who use their cellphones while completing a transaction. I work at a coffee shop and one of our big pet peeves is customers who will carry on a conversation while they sit at the drive-thru. One person was actually rude enough to abruptly bark "I am ON MY PHONE" into the speaker. The girl working the drive-thru that evening was so taken aback she had her co-worker take the woman's money and hand out her drink. What are people thinking when they act that way?

And conversely, it's really rude for people to talk on their cellphones while they are on their jobs working with the public. Go into a back room or the restroom if you have to make a call and for Pete's sake don't take a call while you have customers in front of you.

Now there's a good reason for spewing mental venom! A couple weeks ago, I went up to a Dr's receptionist and had to wait through while she finished her cell phone call. The conversation sounded like a chat with a friend. Let's see.... you're there to greet people and answer phones, right?

Believe it or not but I enjoy grocery shopping? What upsets me are the spoiled screeching children that yell so loud that there is not a point in the mall or supermarket where they can not be heard and the parent just ignores them. I use the electric cart and one day a woman was blocking the isle with one of those children racing car carts that seem to be impossible to manuever? Well her one year old was out of the cart and trying to climb back into the cart while she just stood there and watched. The aisle was completely blocked by this child and mother. After waiting for quite sometime I reached over my cart and helped the child climb back into the wagon. The mother rudely and very annoyed said to me "Let him figure it out for himself." Shocked by her remark I replied " If I do my milk will spoil." You should have seen her face? Why are people so inconsiderate of other people?

Oh, boy, have I got a story to share on that note!

A few days ago, hubby was buying doughnuts for the work crew.
As he stood in front of the display, a young boy ran up, snuck
in front of him as he opened the plastic / glass doors, and began
sticking his fingers in all the doughnuts, licking the icing,
returning those nasty fingers to the icing to get more, etc.

Hub stood there dumbfounded. The mother finally wandered
up with her other half dozen children. Another of her brood
repeated the process. Hubby kindly informed her that this
was not right, that he had licked numerous doughnuts and that
she should at least tell someone to remove the doughnuts.

The woman laughed. Hub insisted the importance, the health
issue of such a nasty thing, and the woman again laughed.

Note to all. Never buy doughnuts from a public display. Ugh!

Wuvie...now THERE'S an example of when a COP could have easily resolved the situation ! (Just saying that because here, cops are always well represented at donut stands! )

Oy! Glad I don't eat donuts! I've always been wary of those serve yourself cabinets.

My eldest brother used to do that at when we were kids - he would lick most of the black olives and put them on his plate so nobody else would eat them! Of course, that was before my parents came to the table. Mom finally caught on to why we didn't want them put back.

I was the one who used to take bites out of the See's Candies to find the ones I liked , and then put them back if I didn't like them. I got cured of this very quickly one time...my mom made me sit at the dinner table and eat all the ones I hated that I had left in the box. I was buzzed on sugar for a week.

Lordy, I bet you never did that again.

Tplant ~ loved your well deserved (!) come-back. :)

lol @ my milk will spoil! AWESOME retort!!!!

Isn't sad in a day when manners are almost non-exsistent that seriously, stores must have signs up in the RR's that read, "Please dispose of TP in the toilet. Do not throw on the floor." That's just downright disgusting. As is leaving your dirty diaper (as mentioned above) or ANY trash in the cart when you are done.

JasperDale, that is so funny! Did you also have a tummy-ache?

ditto to the "my milk will spoil" retort!! I'll have to remember that one! LOL

Mike, we had rules about the See's candy - you bit it, you ate it. Unless, of course, it was one of Mom's favorites, then she'd trade you for another one, as long as it was just a little bite. :-) I think at one point we started cutting into the "mystery" pieces and sticking them back together. lol

My brother lives in Fountain Valley, CA and he sends me a box of See's candy every year at Christmas. Yummm!! Now that is good manners! LOL

Yes, he was raised right!

See's opens temporary stores in malls around Xmas in areas where they don't have retail stores. I know they have them in Virginia.

Mmmm...Sees!! Believe it or not, I am not a big chocolate or candy fan...years of not being allowed it and then going hog wild in the military on my own paycheck! LOL!! I do have the occasional craving though and will buy a box to keep next to the bed and munch while reading. DH knows to ask if he can have a piece, I am that bad when I crave! Of course I share but I do tell him which ones he can't touch!

The kids and I (2 and 4 year olds) just got back from Fry's and let me tell you how rude people were! Even the employees were pushy! My kids are well behaved for the most part but I was snapping at the smallest things they did by the time we were done! Poor kids! One of the employees cut my cart off with a loaded one he was pushing...I should have said excuse you but was too busy making sure my daughter didn't get hit!

TPlant- I can't believe the mom of the one year old was even letting the child climb around in the cart! Can you imagine if the kid slipped??? One is a bit too young, if you ask me, to allow them to figure out how to climb around high places on their own...especially in a cart in the middle of the isle! My 2 year old knows to keep his butt planted or it gets a swat!! No cracked skulls for this mommy!! And no, I don't let my kids run my life and am not a 'oh my god you do what with your kids??' type of person...actually just the opposite but safety is a major point for me!!!

Coming from someone who used to work at a company that
manufactured shopping carts, trust me, there are plenty of people
who have actually sued the company because they weren't parents
with any sense.

Little Johnny fell out of the cart and broke his leg. And this would be
the fault of the manufacturer because......?

LOL, sue-happy, another peeve!!!! :)

The cart that I was referring to is designed for little children. It is about six feet long and the cart is in the shape of a racing car with the front of the cart being a cab with a fake steering wheel and a safety belt. It is at floor level so the children can get in and out on their own.The top of the cart is a normal shopping cart but these things are huge and really take up a lot of space and difficult for a parent to manuever in a crowded store especially today, a day before Thanksgiving.

Those carts just came into use here a couple years ago and I am SO glad I didn't have to push them when my kids were little!

Tplant, I've seen those carts. I've also seen other models. I've even seen the car one that has a (no joke) TV playing inside. Those have a coin slot for 4 quarters. Thankfully all these fancy carts are in short supply so I imagine little ones aren't making to much a fuss for them.

I've never allowed mine in the kid carts simply because they fight. I know what you mean about steering though! There was a woman at Wal-Mart who had a girl older than mine and was trying to give us the cart...I mean really trying! I turned her down and the poor woman couldn't say no to her daughter and ended up shoving the dratted thing around the store..I saw her trying to make turns and struggling. I felt kinda bad but she was bigger than me and I know if she was having trouble I would have been screwed!

Thx for the warning!

I always thought See's Candy should put some sort of a legend on the inside of the box that showed what each candy had on the inside...or at least a description.

Here's another one: People who have overflowing grocery carts and then hand the checker a huge wad of coupons...half of which are expired...then they stand there and demand that they accept them...all to save 85 cents on a bill that is already over $250.00

Weighing in on the shopping issue:
1. Kids should be strapped into the cart if the strap is intact. If strap is non-existent, please WATCH the child or leave them at home.
2. No Cart? Kids should be held onto or taught to hold onto Mom/Dad while in public.
3. Carts: stay to the right, just like driving! What a novel concept...
4. Carts left in the middle of the aisle: I have the right to move a cart that is impeding the right of way for the OTHER shoppers. Exemptions granted for those who space out momentarily, and apologize.
5. Costco: did I miss something? I thought this was a place to shop; not a destination for a shopping "experience". Does this happen in your area in this type store? Groups of 10 - 20 moving as 1 large mass up & down the aisles, until they decide to stop in the middle of the main aisle to chat & ponder the merits/price/selection of whatever while totally oblivious to other folks wanting to move past/around/through...
6. Public Cell phone usage: I don't mind but please - brevity, discretion (content) & low volume are always appreciated.

TPlant - again, excellent retort. Will consider using in the future.
Re: inconsiderate people - Aren't these typically the ones who feel they are singularly more important than the collective rest of us? Generally known for their lack of logic & common sense. What a grand idea that she wanted her child to solve the situation: Fine, do it at home where it's SAFE. Not in public where the environment cannot be controlled. Why why why would you want to put your child at risk? Do these people ever do the analysis? ARRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Thank you all for letting me vent. Feeling better...

Well, today I was the mom with the screaming (actually just crying loudly) 2 year old. David is usually so good but today he decided he wanted to hold the soft ball that we bought for backyard baseball. The minute he started crying I explained to him that we had to pay for it first (most of the time he understands and hands it to me so I can put it on the check out belt) and he just lost it!!! I was embarrassed but knew if I backed down he would find the crying gets him what he wants! I just let him cry and talked softly now and then. One of the employees walked up and tried to give him a balloon (which he loves!) but I managed to shoo them away with a thank you but please no before he saw the balloon. I felt bad for the people around us but when it comes to spoiling and giving in just to stop a scene I just can't do it knowing it will be an even bigger scene next time if I do. I know everyone was looking at me thinking I was a horrible parent with bad kids. Rose, bless her heart, just stood by quietly (she is 4) and was an angel which kept me sane enough to get out of there! My kids are rather well behaved for their ages so times like this make me want to find a place and hide!! Sorry to all of you who have to see and hear the tantrums of little ones but try and understand that some parents are trying to go about it the right way so later the child doesn't throw themselves down in the middle of the isle screaming and kicking and getting what they want in the end.

Newhobby I give you credit for sticking to your guns. Most parents I see give in or ignore them. The worst one I have seen moved away. I could of jumped for joy. We had people leaving the store with those kids. They also were making comments. Makes you wonder how many people would call the cops if you gave your kid a swat on the behind! I know they are out there. But I wonder?

The other day I had a customer with the phone glued to her ear the whole time.We have small counters and she just piled everything up there. Then when I am bagging I run out of room. How do you tell someone with a phone in their ear I need room to put their merchandise. I so badly want to rip the phone away from them or make a comment. But what usually happens is the next person in line will usually make a comment about how rude they are when they leave.Usually more then a comment! If that person only knew what was bing said about them!

ditto to your comments, ves522!

The other day, I was checking out at a store and DH called, I told him I would call back in a few minutes. I totally agree with not being on the phone while dealing with others!!!

I used to man the main gate at the AF base and was sooo irritated when people came driving in on their phone. They are required to show the military issued ID upon entrance. After a while I would just stand there and not take the id hanging out the window until they looked up and asked what my problem was. I had the authority to tell them they needed to be off the phone when pulling up in case everyone had to briefed when arriving about something. I even told a few officers that. One of them complained and I got called in but after restating exactly what I told the officer my supervisor laughed and let me go.

Oh, and after pulling someone over for a traffic violation and walking up to their car to find them on the phone with registration, insurance, DL, and military ID hanging out the window....oh, they always received a ticket from me!!! Come on, you get pulled over and have the gall to think you can get out of a ticket after being rude and talking on your phone upon initial contact? Don't think so!

"driving in on their phone" ---that's a new-type vehicle for me--never seen one of those! LOLOL

LOL!

That'll be the next thing they have in Calif: Cell phones you can drive!
People here are obsessed with their cell phones.