(Im)patience, grasshopper

Patience, it seems, has joined common courtesy among the ranks of the forgotten.

This wave of impatience is apparent just about everywhere you go. Just go for a drive, you'll see what I mean. Watch those people in the front of the line at a red light.

It can be observed largely at the store, ANY kind of store. There were two instances of this that I had to deal with this past week, on the same day, and at two separate stores! You may know the kind; the impatient ones are the people who will stand right behind you, as if unaware of the concept of personal space. If they have a cart, it's usually just about attached to your rear end if they're behind you.

On both occasions, the women in question swooped into the register as soon as I turned to leave, as if they were rushing towards some imaginary pile of cash. I don't normally make comments to people like these, but their glue-like behavior here made me make remarks both times, saying "Impatient, aren't we," to one woman, and "at least wait till I get out of the way" to another.

Luckily I don't have to deal with these kinds of people very often when I go shopping. If I did I certainly wouldn't stand for it. One of the most irritating instances was a time where this woman behind me starts moving my items out of the way so she can put her two or three items down. I told the woman I'd be done in a minute and to please not touch my things, and she of course gave me the "what's your problem" look.

I can't imagine working in the customer service industry in this day and age. It must demand an enormous amount of self-control not to put these people in their places. I don't think I could take another "I don't want it fixed tomorrow, I want it fixed NOW" before I yelled at the person. It's probably why I moved to the position I am now at my current job.

Where does this behavior stem from? My guess would be all these services that cater to the person who doesn't want to go out and do much, or don't want to make a lot of effort for things. Like home video rental delivery services. TiVo. Broadband internet. Amazon.com. With services like these, you get to do so much from the comfort of your own home, and all pretty much at the click of a button. To these people, actually having to go out and stand in line to get what they want is abhorrent.

So, another wonderful thing that's been lost. I really hate to think that all these qualities that I've learned, and that have been taught to me by my parents, are being spat upon by the general public.

Oh well, I could always order my groceries online.