As I, and others, stood waiting patiently in the self service queue at Tesco a woman in her early 70s came barging through in the opposite direction with her trolley. She just glared at me as she expected me to move Harry's pushchair without an "excuse me" or "would you please mind moving?". If I hadn't have moved she would have knocked into Harry as she was NOT going to stop but I was stunned when the rude old bat went past without saying thank you. If she had walked a few feet further she could have passed through the main area of the store without having to cut through the queues.
15 minutes later when walking home a young lad of around 13 came cycling towards me and as there was space for me to pull over to one side I did so and waited as he cycled past. He smiled and said thank you.
I'm reluctant to tar them all with the same brush but it's worth noting that I rarely meet a rude teenager and I rarely get a thank you from a pensioner (for holding open a door for example.)
What's your experience on rudeness and the elderly?
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I fully agree with this I get it everyday when im out walking. I always give way to people on the path and the older people are the least thankful sometimes they dont even look at me.
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It's ridiculous, isn't it?
DeleteI think you may have a point. The elderly of today were expected to respect their elders when they were young and perhaps that's why they now see it as their right to be first, or walk through a door ahead of younger folk? It doesn't excuse the manners though weather they think they deserve the respect or not. Good to hear that the youth of today are holding the side up, I certainly hope mine all will!
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy to say that 99% of the time my children are polite and rarely need reminding of their manners. They often point out when others have been rude and unthankful so it seems like I'm teaching them well. I just hope they stay that way!
DeleteI fully agree and wrote a post about it a while back which still gets Google traffic so others must agree too! The other week an old lady stood behind me in a queue tutting and huffing because my children had the audacity to be giggling at each other. Rude.
ReplyDeleteHow dare they giggle?! Children should be seen and not heard, didn't you know? lol
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