Monday, May 21, 2007
The Rules Don't Apply to Me
Why is it that we don't like to do what others ask of us? I'm not talking about crazy or unhealthy things like jumping off cliffs or storing dead bodies in the basement. I'm just talking about places that we go in our day-to-day lives....grocery stores, gas stations, airplanes, hotels, subway or bus, and others. "Would you mind forming one line instead of two?" "Would you use that exit today, please?" "Please turn off your cell phone." My buddy at One3Y3 Open had this to say. An admirable post from an admirable guy. But it has caused me to think....all day today I was ultra aware of my requests to others and whether they seemed to hear me or not. Just normal, routine requests that happen to us. The simplest and most polite of requests to adults goes seemingly unnoticed. They don't seem to hear. They don't seem to give a shit. I think it speaks to a much larger issue in our society. I mean, I don't like being told what to do any more than the next guy -- and my "I'll do as I please" bad attitude does sometimes make an unpleasant and shameful appearance. We're not talking about issues of world peace or genocide here. I mean, in ten years is it going to have made any difference when we have to turn off our computers, bring our seat backs forward, or use a different check stand?
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9 comments:
We live in an age where everyone thinks they are above rules. Frigging spoiled rotten baby boomers got this ball rolling (the a-holes in the Bush administration who will descend into any filth so long as they win are prime examples) and their kids and grand kids are like Gremlins (the film ones who keep hatching new generations), increasingly ghoulish. When I started my last road trip I was two minutes into it, and changed lanes on highway 16 to avoid a clog in front of me. At the same time, the big ass Lincoln navigator tailgating behind me changed lanes and when I had the apparent audacity to be in their path they flashed high beams at me, as if they owned the freeway and all humanity was obligated to bow to their every wish and whim. I was not in a mood for such selfishness and LOCKED my ABS breaks to teach them to use a bit of patience and humility. I could see the wife start to nag and rag on the idiot a-hole husband, and they fell back about a quarter mile as his manhood shriveled up and retracted.
I rarely do these sorts of things. Very rarely, as I am the classic confrontation avoider personality type (until it builds up and explodes in a nuclear holocaust – working on that). But I was in a bad mood (back ache) and that was that. One of the reasons I had to leave San Francisco is that it had lost its gentility (it seemed to change after the 1989 quake for the worse) and gone cold. There was the scent of nervousness and panic in the day to day – commuting, shopping, even walking downtown at lunch. It was wearing me down and killing me – so I had to get back to the pacific northwest. We still have the gentile silliness and folksiness in a large part of the general population that is where I come from and feel most comfortable in. So does Portland. Lovely city, lovely people all over Oregon. I love to chat up strangers (hey little muscle boy – want to see my stick of candy?), but in San Francisco it was hard to do so as people were suspicious or looking at you as a sexual come on and rejecting you because you were not their fantasy. The ONE thing I liked about the Mormon church which I joined while I was down there (now that is a very interesting story I will tell someday) was that people were very friendly in that old fashioned way.
Well, as usual I did a Toccata Improv on the topic of your post. Sorry ‘bout that!
Must go to bed now. Later, Me.
Coming from a very lawless society - South Africa, and now living in a society that is not lawless so much as chaotic, I get where you come from, and agree with t-bird in that the younger generation has no respect for another person - thus showing no respect for themselves.
I will in future listen carefully to the flight attendants!
PROMISE!
I don't think it matters now. On my final flight back to Seattle Saturday, I was shocked when somebody made a mobile phone call as the plane was landing, then watched in horror as half the plane hopped out of their seats and were opening overhead bins before the plane had even reached the gate. I was praying that the pilot would have to slam on the brakes so they would all land on their asses, but then the idiots would probably turn around and sue the airline.
I don't even want to think about what it's going to be like in 10 years...
You think it's terrible now. Wait until you're an old man!
some people just don't like to listen. I'd listen to you. But if I have to walk a straight line I don't think these pain pills I'm taking would allow it. No one seems to listen to me either. Or if they do they just don't get it, maybe it's the pain pills.
I think we're all a little guilty at times of not paying attention to the rules. but please, can't some drivers at least use a turn signal before almost crashing into the front of my car as they change lanes without looking?
Only a steward would say, "Seat back." I know what you're saying but my aggrevation comes from the decades of me following the rules and then seeing those that don't follow them. As if they're violating me since I was a nice guy. ;-)
You know, I thought about it and I think that these are some of the same people who would sue at the drop of a dime should something happen to them even if they weren't following the rules.
I guess it does speak to other aspects of society.
I used to travel weekly and was always amazed at how rude and selfish so many people are. I felt the airlines should do more to enforce the rules, but understood that there was only so much they could do.
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