This blog is different this week. On Wednesday I was on my way back home. It was after 7pm so I was expecting a reasonable uneventful journey. All went well until I had to change from the underground to an East Anglia train. The announcement at the station informed us that there had been a fire and all trains were subject to delay or cancellation. I followed the crowd onto the platform. As I reached the top of the stairs some man behind me muttered something about me blocking the way. I turned and looked straight at him and asked him not to be rude. He repeated what he had said and I looked him straight in the eye and repeated what I had said. Well, all he had to do was to say ‘excuse me’ and I would have immediately moved out of the way. The platform was reasonably crowded so I just waited until the train came in. Trying to get on the train with my suitcase whilst being pushed back by another young man was too much. Again I said ‘ No you don’t’ and eventually got on. Then the story changes. A lovely man who was standing in front of me moved forward enough so that I could hold on to a bar and keep my case out of the way. I thanked him and remarked on how he was the first person to be polite. He giggled but for the rest of the journey he managed to find me a seat and put my suitcase up on the rack. Since that day I have been thinking about why I responded in such a way to three individual situations. I believe that having had three days looking after my grandchildren, I reacted to the men in the same way, as I would have done to my grandchildren. Rudeness should not be tolerated, pushing is not acceptable and politeness should always be praised and encouraged.
The Rude, the Pushy & the Polite
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