While grocery shopping recently I observed that our society is not very nice. I was in a big box food store when a man walked away from a clerk swearing loudly about how the store needed to learn how to run a business. Apparently he was wronged and decided going postal in the water aisle was going to turn his luck around.
Later that same day, I was registering for a class at my fitness center when the gal behind the desk inadvertently hit the wrong key on the computer, thus slowing my transaction down considerably. She immediately tensed up and began apologizing profusely for her error. I could tell she was trying to beat me to the punch-figuratively speaking anyway.
These incidents caused me to ponder about how nice we are as a society. My conclusion was - not so nice. My favorite thing to say when something goes haywire is, "No worries." Seriously, nothing in my life was so important that getting mad at the clerk behind the desk was going to change. The fact of the matter was that if I got her more flustered, she probably would have hit another wrong button and karma would have sat back and laughed as I waited even longer to get out of there.
Do you all know what you look like when you get all whacked out in public? Do you think it's pretty? Does it make you sincerely feel good? Do you consider yourself one to follow the Golden rule? If so, how's that working for you at that moment?
Unfortunately, our retail world caters to the squeakiest of wheels. We teach our society to be loud and obnoxious. The more unruly the customer, usually the faster he/she gets shut-up with a discount or free merchandise. Can you believe people are actually seriously injured during major sales events so the craziest of buyers gets the goods?
While this may be true, I am going to live with integrity. I believe as a parent and as an adult it's my job to show the next generation that being nice does have its benefits. Not only will I be able to comfortably live with myself, but I'll never have to worry about my face freezing in one of those really ugly poses that come about with rage. Plus, I will never have to explain to my children why Mommy made the lady behind the counter cry.
Dana Johnson, a native cheese-head, whose passions include mt. biking, whitewater kayaking, cross-country skiing, reading and writing, Dana has performed some stand-up comedy and storytelling in the Milwaukee area and hopes to one day find the time to write a book.
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