I walked by the chip aisle searching for my favorite snack, hot Cheetos and bean dip. A lady in her mid-30s with two kids in her cart, walked behind me. I stopped to grab my chips, and immediately she ordered me in a cold voice to “move.” I smiled politely with my mom’s voice in my head whispering “kill them with kindness, Darcy,” and so I moved to the side, so she could get by. She moved forward, looked me up and down with a scowl and continued on her way. I did nothing to provoke her behavior.
On average you interact with at least 25 people on a daily basis. The average person will meet less than 10,000 people in their lifetime. Six out of 10 strangers are rude. That is a statistic I would’ve believed to be higher.
I have worked in customer service for three years in total, and all three years were pure torture. Customer Service is the dark sector, where people are inevitably rude and cold towards you, and it’s your job to smile, shake it off and wait for the next rude person to ruin your day. But even when I am not in a customer service position, when I am a citizen simply shopping for groceries, walking down the sidewalk or sitting with family and loved ones at a restaurant, I encounter rude people.
I’m not naïve. I have a deep understanding that the world is full of rude and nasty people, but it costs nothing to be polite. If I am in your way say, “excuse me,” or politely catch my attention because I will gladly move for you if you make eye contact with me. It wouldn’t hurt to smile, and if I say, “thank you,” please don’t roll your eyes, scowl or sigh. There have been many times when someone says or does something rude and has ruined my day with negativity.
Now I understand that bad things happen to everybody, and usually it’s one of these bad events that has triggered your mean, cruel or irritated behavior. But just like you have had bad things happen to you, you also don’t know what kind of trauma, pain and other bad things are happening to others. Other people don’t deserve to be your metaphoric punching bag.
Perhaps I am being slightly dramatic, I have pretty thick skin, but I know that sometimes the little things do matter. The things you say, do and act upon matter. Customer Service representatives deal with rude people all the time. They signed up for this when they took their jobs, but most everyday citizens didn’t do anything to deserve your attitude.
