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I was on the radio last weekend doing my news reads, and during one of my breaks, a DJ-in-training, whom I had only met just moments before, saw my phone sitting in front of me, and asked to see it. No problem...until she started looking through all of my photos and even read an email or two.
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Everyday, I have to fight my way off the elevator, off the bus, and out of the lecture halls, because people force themselves inside, whether there is room or not.
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People push and shove their way through/past, without even a hint of an "excuse me."
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I was entering a members-only area of campus the other day, and had just swiped my access card, when someone just swooped in, past me, through the now-open door, and closed it.
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Perfect, or near-perfect, strangers sometimes come up to me and ask the most personal questions, fully expecting me to answer them.
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Students ask rude questions about a person's salary during a career talk, and persist even amidst numerous rebukes.
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What is happening? Am I the only one who notices these things? Please don't tell me I'm the only one bothered by these things.
Some of the above examples are just a small portion of what I see on a daily basis, not only happening to me, but to others as well.
Some of them really don't make sense--I mean, really, there won't be any room for you to get into the elevator/bus/lecture hall if I don't first leave to CREATE the room!
And then others are just plain rude. I understand wanting to check out an acquaintance's phone's features etc., but what happened to asking for permission to browse through one's personal photos? What gives people (and I don't mean friends, I mean the odd person you might happen to see on a semi-regular basis in a class, at the bank, on the bus, etc.) the impression that they can just ask any old random question they want about you, with no regards to boundaries or personal decency? Questions about your romantic life, your salary/bank account, your family business...
What about common sense and decency (which, like Mom said, isn't as "common" as you'd hope)?
Are manners things we're taught, and then only practice at home? Why do we leave them there?
What's happened to respect???
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Listen: "Push and Pull" - Nikka Costa
