Excuse Me, But You're Stepping On My Shoes

For sometime now I have been saying that there are too many people in Manhattan. Everywhere you go there is a queue for one thing or another and forget about the subway. Strangers breathing down the back of my neck is not the way I like to spend my time. And I can never figure out why people "intentionally" stand on line for some new trendy restaurant. I never wanted a meal that badly.

Noise, dirt, germs and crowds make me wish for a time when life was not so harried, noisy and people had manners. I share most of this with my partner, who is probably tired of hearing it, but I'm happy to see that there are others with similar thoughts. In this article, Paul Theroux describes what I feel about crowds and noise but mostly about our lack of civility. The article reminded me of a recent trip to the pharmacy to pick up one of my many medications. I had been going to this pharmacy for sometime and was, unfortunately, serviced by a young lady who seem to have a trademark on rudness. I was getting tired of it so I decided to say something on my last trip.

Here is how it went. Me: "I realize that working with the public can be stressful and frustrating but I really do think you need a lesson in customer service." Pharmacy Aide: "Customer service? I aint got no problem with nobody." Other than walking away and shaking my head what else could I have done other than correct her grammar? And this is just one example of what we are facing in our society today. As Theroux states in his article, "Yes, it is just silly and fogeyish to yearn for that simpler and smaller world of the past. But one could ask for the past's better manners, the instinctive decorum that has served to mitigate conflict." A girl can wish can't she?