Man, I'm sure there's so much I could go talk about with title! People are just crazy sometimes!
This time though, there's something that happened to me the other day still just really irks me.
I'm sorry but I must vent and see if anyone else agrees with me.
Anyway, I went to Target, trying to get some measuring cups. They didn't have what I wanted, so I decided to look around a little bit. I went to go look at teakettles but had to go down the isle I was on in order to turn down another isle where the kettles are. There's a lady, a boy, and another person ahead a bit, with their cart more or less in the middle of the lane. I don't say anything, but as I push closer to them it's obvious that I won't fit. I see the boy move the cart a tiny bit. I realize I still need
several inches to clear. This is what ensued:
I say:
"I'm sorry, I need a few more inches."
The Mom goes something like:
"Oh he didn't move the cart. [Very smug now]
He didn't move the cart because you didn't ask him to."
I was a bit surprised by her saying this and in the tone that she did but all the same I say:
"Could you please
move the cart a little bit?"
The boy goes to move the cart and the Mom stops him. Mom:
"No, you did not ask him politely with respect, you did not say excuse me."
I'm getting really peeved at this point, I'm rather incredulous that this is happening, but I still say:
"Excuse me, could you please move the cart?"
They move the cart then, barely enough for me to make it past them, and the Mom talks to me as I pass them.
Mom say something like:
"You have to give respect, it goes both ways, you have to be respectful of the people around you...."
So basically, this lady, who was probably only in her late 20's to early 30's (keeping in mind that I'm 22) tells me off, tells me off in front of her kid/the store, gives me insane attitude, and quite possibly tries to make an example of me.
Now the only thing I can give her is that I was on my cell phone during this exchange, however I stopped talking when the ... exchange between us began and only continued my conversation once I'd passed them. I was unable to drop the phone as I didn't have a free hand to hold it.
I was raised to be polite and think of others. I thought it was very reasonable to ask for a few more inches to move my cart over (when they had parked themselves in the middle, paying attention to other things). I also thought it was appropriately polite to have asked "please could you move the cart". I have never heard of excuse me being the ONLY polite word that can be used. I use sorry and please like they're going out of style, but apparently this lady didn't feel that was good enough. I felt it was rather ridiculous for her to have made such a big deal out of all of this. What really drives me crazy is that she made such a big deal out of it and gave me attitude as she was complaining/reprimanding me about my ability to be respectful!
Ugh! People are insane sometimes! Now, I've vented, I feel better, thanks!
What do you guys think?
-Vicky
P.S. Keep in mind I'm not trying to make a big deal about respect for elders, as far as I was concerned this "Mother" was only a few years older than me and more than likely
not much older than me. I also know that everyone has different opinions about respect, how it should be given, and when and how it's appropriate. So given that everyone has different feelings on the matter I do understand that there may be people who felt my actions were wrong and I'm sorry if you feel that way (but respect you and your opinion if that is how you believe). I do genuinely believe I'm good person that gives appropriate respect when needed. That said, this is in the past so as my friend would say "build a bridge and get over it".
P.P.S. I've never started a thread on Off Topic so I'm sorry if I went about this wrong, it's not appropriate to be here, etc.