I had just finished serving a regular customer. A local builder who had been using our garage since before I started there four year earlier.
"Yeah, I'm off to that nightmare project again. It's a load of b0110ck5 really. They should get shot for treating me this way but hey ho life goes on right? I'll learn from this and never take on a job from t0553r5 in big houses again" He called over his shoulder as he walked out of the shop.
"How ignorant !!!" Jan began, "He's so impolite. Never says Please, or Thank You. Always going on about his jobs. I was raised to always say Please and Thank You."
I don't know what her problem was. The builder might not have used polite words, and may have been using bad language, but he was a pleasent person to talk to. Being from a Pakistani background I'd not been brought up to say Please and Thank You. In our house you just demanded things and if you're big enough you'll get it and if not then tough luck... Find a different way of getting what you want.
I just let Jan carry on with her little rant as the next customer walked in. A smatly presented woman, probably the HR director of a big company somewhere in London who was just visiting my little town for some reason on her way to Oxford.
As this customer got to the till, I said "Morning"
She replied with "Morning!!" but not in an enthusiastic way. Maybe she'd had a long drive down and couldn't be bothered with a smile and small talk. Then she threw her fuel card down on the counter and said in an abrupt sort of way "Pump three please..!!!!"
I processed her tansaction, trying to remain polite and professional all the way through and as I reached across the counter to hand her fuel card back she snatched it, and the receipt, from my hand and in the same abrupt tone said "Thanks you....!!!!" and walked out.
"Woah - that was a little rude. There's no need for that was there?" I said to Jan who was sat on the overflow till watching the whole thing.
"Well - at least she said Please and Thank You, unlike your builder friend."
Comments
Lol
Well I was brought up to say please and thank you but I know what you mean. You obviously think the builder makes a decent conversation and is nice enough even though he doesn't say please and thank you. And just cuz you do say please and thank you it doesn't make your more polite, like the woman in your story, she was clearly rude!
I know some people who are really polite, sometimes I find it awkward because they're quite close to me yet it so formal. When you've known people for a while you don't need to be *that* polite. But I guess there's nothing really wrong about it an certainly better than being rude/taking thongs for granted.
"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi
TPOS's first paragraph is exactly what i was thinking whilst reading this blog. I think you can still be polite without saying Please and Thank You, as long as your not shouting and demanding the request. Thats just what you call really rude and impolite. It also depends on who you're talking to. If you don't really know the person, i think you're more likely to use those phrases. There's times when i totally forget to use them, accidently, not on purpose! (Im sure you can relate to that).
An important lesson i learnt from my mentor. Was to always be nice... even to your opponenets, it will unnerves them. Ofcourse thats only until its time to stop being nice.
We're firm with people (its in the tone of voice) we make polite threats of court sanctions and the occasional hanging up on people. But in my line of work we dont curse... its a sign of weakness. Its like saying i dont have anything intelligent to say so im gonna shout and swear... but thats not an arguement. Its a sign of helplessness.
Back in BLACK
Silence hurts the most, along with not giving your 'haters' the attention.
Apparently, people who swear too often, lack a variety of vocabulary! This is something i've noticed and i do believe in it!