OPINION

Gimme, Gimme Never Gets
By: Amanda L., Westgate Collegiate, Thunder Bay, ON

Have our manners disappeared? I mean when was the last time you actually said “Thank you” with sincerity in your voice.

If your answer was five minutes ago, congratulations. If you can’t remember, shame on you. What gives you the right to be so ungrateful and rude?

It is very clear society is crumbling when a person can’t even say two simple phrases “please” and “thank you”, on a regular basis. This doesn’t apply to everyone, of course; but it does to some. I thought we were past the Stone Age.

It seems that some people go out of their way to be rude to people in the workplace and people in general. No doubt you have witnessed this at one time or another. I get to see it, pretty much, every day at work. Just one question for those people who think that the world revolves around them and no one else matters. What gives you the right to treat people that way? Who died and made you God?

For instance, one time I was at work and a man came to the drive-thru. I took his order and read it back to him like I am suppose to do. After I finished reading his order back to him he snapped at me. He asked me why I was repeating what he had just said. He appeared to be really offended by it.

I apologized as I felt there was nothing else I could say without sounding rude. He then pulled around to the window and continued to heckle me about reading his order back to him. I don’t understand what this man’s problem was as I wasn’t rude to him at all. At the end of this interaction I was grinding my teeth so I would not say something that would cost me my job.

Now there are extenuating circumstances, I know. When a person is outright rude to you first, it gives you some leeway to give them back the treatment even though you probably shouldn’t (unless you’re having a really bad day, of course). I’m sure I’ve even lost my cool, unintentionally, at one time or another when a rude customer was really getting to me.

We’re not all perfect. People often have bad days where they just don’t care whom they offend. We are all guilty of that sometimes. But then there are some people that are continuously rude and obnoxious when interacting with the public. These repeat offenders against civility should wake up and realize what a pain they are.

So the next time you go out into the world remember this, rude people: You are the reason why our world has a light and a dark side. Think about it.