The woman wasn’t happy.
She and her adult (solely defined by chronology only) son were at the counter.
They were, the rest of us in line gathered by their loud play by play descriptions of exactly what they were doing, getting a form in order to be added the roster of their new doctor.
“If I came all the way down here for a goddamn form, I’m going to be pissed,” said the sweet old woman somewhat enraged to the saint of a receptionist.
Things escalated slightly from there.
Then the medical receptionist, who stayed pleasant and calm throughout the exchange, shifted back to her monitor… behind a sign on the glass that warned that abuse of any kind will not be tolerated.
The exchange softened.
I’m assuming it softened when the old woman saw her own reflection in the glass and was reminded of how old women are right up there with… the rest of humanity as sometimes needing doctors.
A form was passed.
A second form was politely requested by the old woman… who despite earlier promises was not pissed.
“You know what they’re like,” gestured her fully-formed son in the direction of his mother.
Once I noticed that ‘Abuse will not be tolerated’ sign in the doctor’s office I started to notice them everywhere.
The post office.
The bank.
Fast food places.
What’s happened to us?
Do we really need signs to remind us to not punch the people we’re trying to obtain services from?
Does that not already seem counter-intuitive to the customs associated with basic transactions?
eg. I would like you to do something for me and/or give me something. Therefore I will not yell at you and/or threaten you with violence.
Well… I guess robbery.
It works for robbery, but it just seems wrong for other situations.
It all adds up to a breakdown of trust.
We don’t trust each other anymore.
Grocery stores, in addition to the “Please don’t punch employees” signs, have installed gates that we need to go through to get in and out.
Wanna feel like a thief?
Try exiting a grocery store without buying anything.
We don’t trust each other anymore.
For that, you could point to inflation but… the numbers don’t bear out.
I blame the pandemic.
Everything we felt was concrete in life turned to pudding.
Regular life became very irregular.
People were on edge.
People were angry about being on edge.
Understandably so.
If the rules for regular life had been turned upside down, maybe it was okay to yell at the kid behind the counter at McDonald’s.
But of course… it’s not okay to yell at the kid behind the counter at McDonald’s.
That makes you a terrible person or at best a person who needs to shut up, enjoy their hot apple pie by the Play Place, while they get their shit together.
I occasionally get told by some people that I focus on the pandemic too much.
To a degree, I agree.
I’m sick of it.
However, until we don’t have signs explaining how to act like normal non-jerk humans, maybe we need to talk about it a bit more.
Trust me.
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"until we don’t have signs explaining how to act like normal non-jerk humans"
This says it all ...
#commonsensejournalism
To some extent, we have all brought this upon ourselves. Much like bystanders to bullying, we must also now step up as bystanders to abuse. Announce that such abuse is not acceptable, verify that it stops and, if not, then be prepared to intervene to the maximum extent of our tolerable discomfort. Sorry, eh?