Stop Being An A**
I was at dinner the other night with a group of people I knew and one couple I had never met before. We were all sitting at dinner and it’s time for the check and Guy X, who I’ve never met before, starts CLICKING HIS FINGERS to get the waiter’s attention. Now, before this he has already yelled at the poor guy once for pouring wine in his EMPTY glass because he said he didn’t ask for more (since when has too much wine ever been a problem?) and also complained very loudly about how bad the food was and how a competing restaurant was 10 times better. He also complained that the fish smelled like fish- it was crabstick.
Before I get into how shocked I was, I think it’s a huge problem when people think they can treat people in the service sector badly and belittle them in order to inflate their own egos. I find it amazing that someone who is educated and can afford to eat out regularly, thinks that it is acceptable human behaviour- to click your fingers to get the attention of another human being. To essentially treat someone like a dog (though my dogs have never responded to clicks) rather than taking the time to turn around, look someone in the eye and say, “excuse me”.
I feel like at least once a week my friends and I will exchange these ‘can you believe how rude people are’ stories and most of them really make you think that having been around for 200,000 years isn’t long enough for humans to have evolved. On a daily basis, I am faced with people who are so incredibly rude that I then become rude and then I feel super guilty and it’s no fun for anyone. I find it strange that someone can think it is okay to push another person, to cut in line or to click their fingers at you. I sometimes decide that this is an issue with education and that people who are uneducated, unfortunately have a different set of sensibilities. However, on the other end of the spectrum you have people who are running companies and sending you text messages that say:
WHERE ARE YOU??????????
Answer: At a meeting you wanted me to go for. True story.
I’m definitely not a very new-age kind of person but I really do believe in energy. I talk about positive energy way more than I practice it but then I’m hoping that just by saying the words ‘positive energy’ I’m earning some karmic rewards. I believe that whatever you put out into the world, in a genuine and real way, is what you will attract. I haven’t figured out how this then manifests itself because I see terrible people living seemingly great lives all the time but I’m guessing there is some form of karmic retribution that exists. When people put out so much anger, negativity and general rudeness into the world, not only is that rubbing off on me (because of my generally inelegant reactions) but it’s also making the people you have directed the rudeness at, feel really bad. And if there is really nothing I hate more than making someone feel bad for no reason. If there is a reason, I may get a small amount of pleasure out of it, but that’s besides the point.
Research at the University of Buffalo has found that people with certain DNA patterns are genetically more likely to be nice, so that gives some of us an excuse however there was further research done which says that your upbringing and life experiences will also influence how nice you are, in tandem with your DNA. It’s pretty obvious that when you do something nice for someone (I gave someone at the gym a hair tie and felt like queen of the world all day) you also feel better which goes to show that not clicking your fingers at the waiter is a win-win for everyone.
