Mr. House Of Pain Maru wrote... >Wishes may never become fishes, and unfortunate as it may be, >people most often are not polite unless there is some >overriding reason to be polite.
Rob's wisdom is a great segue into my Annual Christmas Rant. For the first time in my work career, I had to work the Friday after Thanksgiving. That in itself wasn't a big deal as I had volunteered to work it so some of my co-workers could go out of town for Thanksgiving. Driving to work, at 5:00 am that morning was a REAL eye-opener. I was astounded at the number of people at the Super Wal-Mart. I made the mistake of stopping there to pick up donuts on the way to work, and I was left speechless at just how rude and inconsiderate people were. I'm not just talking about one or two people, I'm talking about a majority of people. People were impatient and rude in the parking lot. Quick to cut someone off just to save a few steps and get 3 or 4 parking spaces closer. They were quick to honk their horns over and over if you didn't move the microsecond the light turned green, and of course they were quick to scream out the window or give the "one finger salute" - most had kids in the car. In the store, grown adults, were shoving and being rude in the toy department and especially electronics, because they just had to get that certain, popular toy. Others, amazingly, brought kids with them to shop and were screaming at them, to "shut up" and "no you can't have any toys". What are these people thinking when they bring young children to shop for others and then are mean and nasty to the kids because they naturally want toys that they see? The REALLY popular item around here this year is the Nintendo DS Nintendogs Best Friends edition. It was made it VERY limited quantities and advertised like your would not believe, and I saw two grown adults, arguing and screaming at the unfortunate teenage Wal-Mart employee, about who saw the very last one, first. Naturally, my daughter wants one of the special edition Nintendo DS games, but there was NO WAY that I was going to join the feeding frenzy and act like an idiot. My son's mom (my daughter and son have different moms) , who makes sure her kids always have the latest and greatest, paid almost twice the price by buying the game and cartridge separately. She paid over $100 for the game cartridge on eBay. The game itself was a limited edition color and the cartridge was only available in the "Special Limited Edition" bundle, and was being sold on eBay by people who bought the game, but didn't want the cartridge. Saying that I am astounded would be an understatement. What's the point, if everyone is going to be rude and nasty? Perhaps I had a sheltered life, but growing up in the 70's, I NEVER remember anyone being rude, like I have seen in the last few years. Even now, when I go to a store now, I see the same things, maybe not as intense as the day after Thanksgiving, but still nasty and rude. So what is the cause? Why the change? Is it because people don't have patience any more? Is it because manufactures create an artificial shortage of popular products to sell other products when the "Limited Editions" sell out? It seems to be getting worse every year. >climbing off my soapbox< Gary PS - Quite by accident, one night a few days ago, I ran across one of the rare and coveted Nintendo DS Nintendog Best Friends edition bundle at Meijers The very last one, on sale no less, and I didn't have to act like a rude inconsiderate idiot to get it. :-) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
