There were two guys taking some selfies in front of a "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign at the airport. They took seven or eight photos. It was a popular spot for photos because people were lined up to take a photo. When these guys were done, did they move? No. They didn't. They continued to stand there and look at the seven or eight photos they'd already taken. Stupid or rude? You decide. I wanted to say "Dude. You've taken at least half a dozen pictures. One of them must be good and if not, suck it up and go back to the end of the line."
When we landed in Dallas we went to the baggage carousel to pick up our checked bag. Everyone just sort of stands around waiting for things to start moving. Sometimes your bag isn't in the ideal position to just pluck it off the conveyor belt in a single smooth motion. Sometimes that movement can be a bit jerky (it can be bunched up with other bags or the wheels catch on the edge.) So why would a man allow his children to stand ever so close to the conveyor belt - close enough to get them slammed with a bag or stepped on by someone struggling to control their bag? Stupid or rude? We were fortunate that Mark could swing the bag away from those three kids, even though the motion was awkward and a wee bit painful.
The last time I was in Home Depot I wanted to look at paint colors. But there was a man there with a cart and two or three kids who also wanted to look at paint colors. Between him, his cart and his kids, no one else could get close to the paint chips. Stupid or rude? Again, you decide. I gave up looking at paint colors. I can always go back when kids are in school or I can go to to Sherwin Williams to buy my paint. You rarely see kids in there.
And then when we were in Florida we went to the beach. We paid our money for a cabana and chairs just because we're not big fans of sunburn and the cabana provides more cover than a beach umbrella. The cabanas are adjustable but not movable. Right after we got settled in, a large group (a dozen or more) of French Canadians turned up and where did they set up their base? Right smack in front of us - at least ten big beach umbrellas. Plenty of other space on the beach, but they chose to block our view. We packed up our gear and moved further down the beach. But wait, there's more.
We were good for an hour or so and then along comes another group. Not Canadian but at least four families - with sulky teenage girls, whiny toddlers, and a few in-between boys. The moms were yelling at all the kids. They had their own cabana (not a rented one), a cart for their coolers, soccer balls, and the piece de resistance - a volleyball net! Before they set it all up, the dads had a good look around. I'm pretty sure they saw us so I have to assume they deliberately set all their stuff up directly in front of us. Alrighty then, I can just twist my neck a bit to look in a different direction. That strategy worked until the volleyball net went up. Mind you, this volleyball net, was smaller than regulation size. But once that was set up, how long do you think it took before they knocked the volleyball into our cabana?
Before I answer that let me note that apparently it wasn't enough that I had to listen to the moms yelling and the kids whining, now they've got the teenage girls playing volleyball, which they are incapable of doing without shrieking. I had been enjoying the gentle sound of the waves lapping the beach until this gang showed up. And just so you know, they didn't knock the volleyball into our cabana. They hit the top of the cabana and knocked it forward so that instead of our faces being in the shade, our feet were in the shade. They managed to wreak this much havoc in less than 15 minutes. We decided it was time to go. It was just more rude and stupid than we can stand and one of the reasons we typically vacation when kids are in school.
But rude and stupid doesn't necessarily involve children. We encountered rude/stupid at the cancer center. The cancer center basically consists of a room full of recliners and side chairs. Many of the people receiving treatments sleep through them. There are signs asking you to silence your cell phones and even if there weren't signs, you would think that common courtesy would prevail. But there was one patient who was not sleeping. Her phone rang several times - we know this because it wasn't on silent. And not only did she talk for most of the half day we were there, she had it on speaker so that everyone around her could hear both sides of the conversation. And to add to the misery, the man who was sitting with her (I don't presume to know their relationship) kept sounding like he was going to cough up a lung. I thought they might be giving the treatment to the wrong person but I couldn't bring myself to turn around and look because I thought my chances of NOT breathing contaminated air were better if I kept my back turned to him. His primary crime was that he was trying to cough up a lung in a cancer center where people have compromised immune systems. I think he should have dropped her off and come back for her later. She wouldn't have missed him, she was too busy on the phone. But they both qualify for rude or stupid.
No comments:
Post a Comment