My mom and I went to a big department store over the weekend to buy a thermostat for our central heating system. The parking lot was very crowded, so she told me to wait in the car, that she’d be right back. She came, indeed she found what she was looking for, but she came back almost crying. She told me that while the store employees were nice, answered her questions, helped her, one customer was so rude that he brought her to that mood. There were a few models of that item and she asked about them so she could choose what would fit her needs. The customer, a rather young ‘gentleman’, shouted at her in a surly tone, ‘You don’t know what you have at home? Hurry up!’ My mother didn’t reply and, unfortunately, told me the story when I had already left the place, otherwise, I would have liked to lecture the gentleman for several reasons.
First of all, talking to someone in the second person singular is inappropriate in Romanian, especially when you don’t know the interlocutor, not to mention that they are older than you.
Secondly, it’s good to understand that not all of us are equally technical. Just as some of us have no idea how to speak German, others how to cook, others are more technical, just as some have not developed civilized behavior in society at all.
Then, if we go out shopping for household items, we also arm ourselves with patience. There is no one in the world at anyone’s feet.
In a way that is hard for me to accept, many people have come to think of themselves above others, they feel entitled to pour out their venom in full view of everyone, to display their hatred in plenary. Some see society as a stage for unsophisticated, grotesque behaviour.
I don’t know what they think entitles them. But I am reminded of a French philosopher’s statement: common sense is the most widespread thing in the world. That’s why we have so little of each. Some even missed that lesson.
