Back to the lady holding up the line...on the phone, too many items in the fast line. Already on my rude list. I could tell the cashier was not too pleased either. If you've ever worked in customer service, you know that people on the phone while you're checking them out are not at all polite. If it's an emergency or a very important call, we forgive you. But if you're talking to your girlfriends or talking about anything that is not incredibly important..hang up the blessed phone. It is RUDE. Anyways...the very kind cashier rings up her purchases, deals with her coupons, and reads her total. Guess what? Girlfriend on the phone starts yelling about the price. She starts pulling things out of bags asking how much each item is...oh never mind she says, I don't want this. Nope, take that back. Ohhhh my law. Enter eye roll from the guy I let pass me.
Like I said, I'm a patient person. My daughter is not. Enter displeased screeching from Campbell. I know this is a descriptive picture but I find it necessary. I'm sure this has happened to everyone at least once. Needless to say, by the time I got to checkout, the cashier looked crestfallen and I was annoyed. Not at her, just at life in general.
Here's my point...what did that woman get for all her rudeness? Not crap. Instead she caused unnecessary trouble for a few unsuspecting victims. Now I don't know what that woman was going through. She could be having a bad day too because someone was rude to her. I don't know. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. The buggy full of groceries in the speedy lane, I can forgive. I can probably even forgive her the cell phone episode. But why did she have to do all those things and still be rude to a cashier who could have thrown her out of that line and put her in her place?
She probably didn't realize the effect she had on the people around her. She didn't seem to notice that there was a line of people behind her and a mother trying to soothe a screaming toddler. She never apologized and she never hung up the phone. In the grand scheme of things, was it really that big a deal? No, I suppose not. But it's the principle, isn't it? I went home with a sour attitude because of someone else's lack of care. It bugged me. This is just one example. We deal with other people's rudeness on a daily basis.
My thought on the subject is this....be considerate. You might not be like this woman. I find that most people are incredibly nice and considerate most of the time. But I think we can all admit that there has been at least a few instances where we were unnecessarily rude to someone. I think it's important to step back sometimes when we're having a bad day or when our patience is low and think about how our attitude's affect the people around us.
It's not always easy to do this. Patience and understanding are not always second nature. It takes work and some serious prayer to be empathetic, especially to people we don't feel deserve it. But do it anyway. Just as not everyone knows the things we are going through and the challenges we face, we also don't know what demons the people around us are dealing with. You never know what the last straw for someone might be.
So even when it's hard...be considerate. Try to always be kind. It may not always be rewarding but you will be a better person for it. And somewhere, someone down the line will thank you for it.