Acco40, the Pit is the one place where we can pretend that we are King/Queen of Earth and we can actually issue the order, “Hey, Fucknuckle! Yes, YOU! OFF MY FUCKING PLANET!”
Sometimes you’ve got a choice between venting and going D-FENS IRL, that’s all. Anyone who seriously believes that what they post here will do anything to affect the behaviour of the world’s (vast and growing) population of fuckwits and losers needs to get some more sleep - but there is considerable beauty in a well-crafted and passionate rant. Catharsis, like you said.
featherlou, can I join you in the compound? I promise to bring some meat for the cougars, consideration for those around me and no mobile phones with stupid ring tones.
jarbabyj, I always enjoy reading your rants :). Here’s a tip; go through life, crowded stairwells, buses and subways, with an insane and evil grin on your face[sup]1[/sup]. Dribble a bit, and hold conversations with the Invisible People. Or Elvis. Sing[sup]2[/sup]. Your personal space will soon be uninfringed-upon, I guarantee it.
[sup]1[/sup]Although I doubt you need it, I can lend you some if you like. I have a wide and varied selection.
[sup]2[/sup]I can personally recomment the Lumberjack Song or “I Like Traffic Lights” from Monty Python. Either of those and people will scramble to get out of your way. In the resulting some of the fucknuckles may be crushed and killed. Natural selection in action; it’s a beautiful thing.
Oh Acco, what are you doing? Trying to draw me into another fight? Don’t waste your time.
Here’s my POSITION:
All I’m asking out of everyone in the world is to THINK OF THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. Yes, I think that’s in our fucking social contract as being human beings.
Feel free to go through life pushing people, being mean, rude, inconsiderant, inordinately loud and generally prickish that is your right. If you think its ok for your kids to punch adults and call them ugly, knock yourself the fuck out, but don’t expect me not to react in a distasteful way.
Acco40: No, you didn’t adress that particualr point in your post. You simply made a blanket statement about the OP, namely:
The first paragraph was a reply to one event in the OP. The second paragraph was a general conclusion. I gave two examples from the OP that showed that jarbaby does not, in fact, expect some sort of crimson floor covering to be provided for her wherever she goes. Get it now?
Anyway, in response to this: Do you feel that people are obligated to respect the importance of others’ time, freedom of movement, etc.? I’m trying to understand your position, that’s all.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I feel that the answer to your question is yes. People do have an obligation to uphold their part of the unofficial section of the social contract. Failure to do so makes you a rude person.
Oh, don’t mind Acco40, he’s just learned that negative attention is better than no attention at all. I feel sorry for whoever has to change his rubber sheets at home.
You still haven’t told me why you didn’t ask the kids to move out of the lap lane.
Or why you couldn’t, (being the adult in the situation), remove yourself from the ‘vagina-punching child’.
Sealemon:
The “blanket generalization” was in reference to the OP’s seeming expectation that your so-called ‘unofficial section’ of the social contract be fufilled in her presence; thus my allusion to ‘red carpet treatment’.
Because they were thirty year old adults who could plainly see that they were inconveniencing everyone and continued to be rude.
And I did answer this:
The mother should have told her to stop. I did push her away from me, but she came right back. Her mother still did nothing, and the child pulled my hair. I have tried to yell at my family’s children before, only to be met with “don’t discipline my children for me”, so I shut up. I could not leave because I live in reality where I can’t just jump in a car and run away because a six year old punched me. I was at my family’s house for the afternoon. Knowing that I will be punched has made me decide not to go back.
Somewhere along the way I picked up the idea that there is a standard of polite behavior that goes: even if you are being inconsiderate, rude or even downright cruel, I cannot respond in kind. I just let the behavior pass, try to ignore it. I think to myself: Let it go. Turn the other cheek. Try to be the better person. Don’t get into a pissing match with a skunk. (And so on.)
I try to be polite. I try to be kind. At the very least I ignore people or “let them have their space” and allow them to be weird or rude or offensive. But the world keeps beating up on me! What hurts is the way people don’t seem to recognize the defense I have chosen. They just think I’m a wimp. They seem to have no concept of manners.
I am truly the original, “Why, I was so angry I almost said something!” person. But I’m afraid of getting more aggressive as I get older and less patient with this nonsense. Even as I ignore rude and thoughtless people I play out various aggressive responses in my head - stupid, childish, violent revenge scenarios involving knives and baseball bats. Know that I would never act out these fantasies, even if I were in the physical condition to do so. And I know that some of it is a normal, “fight or flight” psychological response. But sometimes I get all charged up with adrenaline just thinking about it, sometimes for half an hour or more after the situation has ended, and then have nowhere to go with it!
Right. That’s why i listed a couple of examples from the OP and…nevermind. How this:
If you find yourself in an area where your actions might conceivably affect others (Like anywhere on the planet Earth except for your house, in a soundproof room), then pay atention to what your doing, and try not to inconveniance others. Don’t block aisles, don’t use your cell phone in a theater, don’t blast your stereo, don’t litter, don’t drive drunk, don’t shoot your gun out your front door at random targets.
If you should find yourself faced with someone in violation of rule #1, then in almost every case it’s best to say “excuse me” politely, and give them a chance to rectify their behavior. If they don’t, then kill them, and throw them in the ditch for the wolves.
They’ve got all day to do nothing, true…but they may be restricted by a retirement-home shuttle that takes them out at 11 and brings them back at 2. I’m sure it sucks to be in line behind them, but it sucks even more to be unable to drive.
I wish to offer an observation: In my experience, the most blatant acts of rudeness come from those least likely to be considered “old” or even “aging.” Instead of eating the elderly, we should kill and eat everyone under the age of forty and start all over.
I’m sorry Louis, but on North Michigan Avenue at least, I must disagree. I am constantly running into these 60-70 be-furred sunglassed, heavily made up billionaire women who expect me to fall over backwards for them simply because they’re the old matriarch of the Gold Coast.
There are DEFINITELY crude, rude and abhorrent people of every age, color, size and shape
But it’s time we admit, that contrary to our views of them being cuddly grandmas sipping lemonade on the porch – Old People Can Be Pricks, Too.
Am I the only person who noticed that all of the people jarbaby describes in the OP are female? Strange, twilight zone coincidence? Or jarbaby’s self-admitted connection to the male of the human species? I let you decide
AMEN, jarbabyj. I have witnessed two of the most blatant examples of Unbelievable Rudeness by Old People (UROP) this week, both in the metro.
Example one: croweded metro. It’s hot. It’s humid. People are miserable. Me, standing next to young mother with two small children. The children are acting just fine, but you can tell the mom needs a seat. Finally, a seat opens up. Politely, the young mother offers the seat to an elderly woman in front of her. The woman thanks her and declines. The young mother begins to sit down, but before she can she is accosted by a screaming harpy she hadn’t noticed. The woman screams “Women with children are all well and good, but old women like me have priority!” and she BERATES this young mother for not having asked every goddamn person in the car whether or not they wanted the seat. The young mother tries politely to say that she HAD asked if someone wanted the seat, but Old Harpie isn’t having any of it. It was terrible to witness. I wanted to grab that old lady, throw her off the train and tell her to learn some manners. Not only that, but there were men and women seated all around who really should have had the kindness to give up their seats to the young mother. They just looked away.
Example 2: Suburban train line. I’m coming from a day of IKEA hell. Not having a car, my boyfriend and I are on the train with two boxes and a big bag of other stuff. At first, there’s no problem. However, by the time we hit the Gare du Nord, people start piling on. People with luggage. Not having any place to sit, they and their luggage are in the entryway. They are NOT blocking the entryway, for the record, people are still able to get on and off easily. Enter Old Harpie number 2. From the platform of the station she starts yelling at them. “You should put your luggage on the luggage racks! You’re taking up too much space!” The people try politely to explain that a) putting their luggage on the luggage racks risks mutilating the people sitting below said racks and b) said racks are behind them. You never,ever leave your luggage out of eyesight. Old Harpie number 2 is having none of it. Then she spots us. We are informed that we are taking up way too much space. (Even though we are doing everything in our power to take up as little space as possible.) The screaming and berating lasts for two stations before Old Harpie gets off; she culminates this BY SPITTING ON THE PASSENGERS AT THE ENTRYWAY. I could not believe my eyes. I would have thought she was a lunatic homeless person, except her husband was standing right next to her. Hey, maybe she was a lunatic. It was truly awful. Just goes to show that politeness must be learned young, otherwise you are a hopeless jerk for the rest of your life.
Sorry this is so long, just wanted to share some of my frustration…
