9.04.2013

The rants go marching one by one... WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS?!?!

I’m feeling ranty today.

Yes, that is so too a word. Ranty. It means “one who has sudden outbursts of rage directed towards anything irritating. Or rude. Or irritating and rude.” By the way, that definition is in the Dictionary of Janey.

While we’re on the subject of new words… ranty is a kissing cousin of stabbity. This little gem is defined as “inclined to stab or appearing inclined to stab, at persons or things through aggravation or other stabworthy moods.” Stabbity often festers up in the morning, before you caffeine addicts get your bean juice fix.

Note that I say you caffeine addicts because I’m one of those rare delightful creatures who doesn’t require coffee or tea or whatever in the morning to get going. I’m just naturally bright and sunny when I wake up.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Even I can’t pretend to buy that bit of crapola. I just happen to prefer my caffeine cold and am one who can wake up and function sans the magic stuff (just don't look at my hair right away...) Gimme an iced tea, lemon on the side… and don’t be stingy, baby.

Anyhow.

I’m ranty today. In an “I need a Snickers” kind of way. Mmmmm. Snickers.

But I digress. Again.

Here’s the thing: when did people become so damn selfish and self-involved when out in public? I know this is not a new phenomenon, but it’s really sticking in my craw lately. OK -- more than usual. I'm from the South. We do like our manners down here -- even partial facsimiles of manners are better than nothing. And a big part of manners involves being aware of and sensitive to others around you.

Example: There is a new car line system at Will’s school. It was needed, to be honest, because after school pick up used to be survival of the fittest, with vehicles parking any damn place that pleased the drivers (like in the middle of the street) and speed limits disregarded. It was like a real-life game of Frogger. With cars. Now there’s a much-more regimented system in place. An organized drop-off/pick up system. Administrators with BULL HORNS! And a one-way-in/one-way-out set up for cars. Allegedly. There’s a very orderly car line set up, complete with traffic cones that cordon off things into one lane rolling in front of the school. However (you know there’s always a “however” with these things…) things don’t become one lane until about 10 yards before the school, leaving a two-lane system.

Can you tell that this car line thing has been the big issue of this school year so far? Most of us polite, civilized parent/guardian-type people arrive at the school and line up in the appropriate lane, on the right hand side of the thoroughfare, waiting our turn to get our kiddos. But then there are those people who come racing through on the left hand side, pull up to where the traffic cones are and then proceded to try to CUT IN LINE and merge in. Same cars every day. Trust me. I notice these things.

Makes me stabbity. STABBITY!



I realize that I could be making a mountain out of a molehill -- in the overall scheme of things, this is a very little issue that's not really that important (no matter how irritating it may be.) But I do think it's indicative of something I see more and more -- a desensitizing of folks to things and others around them. A decline in manners and politeness.  It's your world. And your world. Oh yeah -- your world too.  The rest of us just live in it.

Now before you start flooding the comments section with "Janey you ignorant slut" cracks defending yourself and calling me down, I'm just making some general observations. We're not all self-absorbed. It's not always about us. I know that. Sometimes it just is. Happens to everyone. But when it becomes a way of life as opposed to a situational, periodic thing, well...

Perhaps I'm hyper-sensitive because I have a kiddo who is developmentally delayed. And who sometimes is a little self-absorbed. Who doesn't always sing his song du jour in his inside voice. Who can lose patience because he doesn't always understand what's going on around him. (To his great credit, as he's maturing, these issues are losing strength. He's truly growing up.) And yes, I never EVER want to be "that mom" with the completely inappropriate child in public. We get enough looks and whispers as it is. I've been told that I'm too hard on Will in such situations -- that people like to hear him sing and it's charming when he chats up the ladies. There's a balance in there someplace that I keep trying to achieve. And yes, there's a difference between Will singing Bon Jovi loudly in the check-out line at Publix and the mom who decided that the middle of the therapy waiting room was the perfect place for her to commandeer for her and her kids to do homework as they spread out over one table and two benches and carried on as if they were in their own living room. Although the look she gave me while Will and I were working on our phonics and I asked him to name something that began with B and he said in a not-so-inside voice "boobies" was probably merited.

Yeah. I know.

Back to the matter at hand.

So now that I've gotten this issue off my, well, boobies (Shut it. I couldn't resist.), I realize that for every jackass that turned left from the right hand lane right in front of me, narrowly missing me T-boning his nasty panel van, there are gentle souls like the lovely ladies working at the Savannah Cracker Barrel who calmed my nerves and brought me to tears one stressful morn with their kindness, assuring me that Will was being just a normal kid on what was starting out to be a rough tough day.

I feel like I've eaten a virtual Snickers. All of the benefits, none of the calories.

Although I still think the world could use a memo about please, thank you and pardon me. Maybe a demonstration on holding the door open for someone else periodically. A reminder to not use the speaker function on one's cell phone in a public place unless one would like my peanut gallery comments about one's conversation. (You think I'm kidding? Try me...) And DON'T CUT IN FRONT OF ME IN CAR LINE!

Should have stopped while I was ahead.

One last thing... thank you, gentle reader, for stopping by. It's been my pleasure to host and hopefully entertain you for this brief period. Have a wonderful rest of your day.


4 comments:

Bees said...

*standing O* signed, someone who loves to sing in an outdoor voice along with your magical young man.

planetKnit said...

<3 <3 <3 I love your perspective!

Ruprecht said...

Bra-Freakin'-Oh.

Yep ... I've noticed this too many times over the years. It's not a recent thing. People just do not know how to act anymore ... and they need to be called on it. Period.

Karin said...

Amen!