GOOD MANNERS (MY QUIET PLACE 29)
GOOD MANNERS (MY QUIET PLACE 29)
So I stop by the mall on my way home and while I am there, an elderly comes with a few groceries and wants to join the back of the long queue. I was about to tell her take my place while I respectfully move to take her own back space but before I could, people in front of me encouraged to go to the front of the queue. It was quite a sight to see such an old lady doing her own shopping. Her smile just seemed to just warm everyone’s heart. Everything seemed fine with the move or so we all thought until a young well-dressed lady started to complain.
She said the person that gave her the space ought to have moved all the way to the back. Not a few people were taken aback especially as we could all see not just that she was old but also that she had just a few things in her trolley. Miss Young Lady continues to spill so much vile and even insulted a few people that dared respond to her. Some people tried to calm frayed nerves even though we all still agreed we did the right thing, but Miss Young lady wouldn’t stop. I had had such a long day and all I wanted really was just to get home. Just when we thought it had ended, the lady would start voicing out again.
At a point other ladies on the queue were rebuking her but she had an air of arrogance and she seemed ready to tackle everyone. It got so bad, that other shoppers had gathered to look and security personnel were even called in. A man that was well dressed in suit and looked very English looked at Miss Young Lady after paying for his purchases and said, ‘what a shame’, She made sure she spewed some insults on him as he walked away. Eventually she was taken to another queue and attended to. She released a few stings to the others that were still on the queue on her way out and she hummed a song of victory or so it seemed as he waltzed away.
领英推荐
It's 11pm and I’m at My Quiet Place (a small space in my home where I sit and reflect on activities of the previous period), flashes of the day’s event keep popping up. For me it was a bit difficult to see how a beautiful calm looking lady could be so vile. I also remembered the face of the old lady who tried to apologise to the young lady but was told by others on the queue not to worry about her that it was the lady that was wrong. The old woman was so troubled that she actually wanted to go back and join the back of the queue. I remembered the young lady again and just kept wondering how she turned out like this as an adult.
A few months later, I’m on my way to the Island to seat on a panel for a friend who runs a business that employs over 300 people. He wants to hire an Executive Assistant to help ease the stress of constantly interfacing with the employees. They got a few good candidates and it was narrowing till it was down to two of them. Lady A and Lady B. They both did excellently well, but Lady B seemed to have won the heart of everyone on the panel. Her confidence was high and composure was like someone that had gone to ‘finishing school’. I perused her resume but couldn’t find anything familiar. I asked if she had attended any of my trainings to which she said no. A closer look showed she stayed on the mainland even near the mall, yes the same mall.
I asked a few behavioural type questions and though she answered well, her countenance reflected otherwise. She looked a bit ruffled and irritated at the same time. Right before me was a movie script playing out. She was the same lady except this time she had eye glasses on and looked a lot taller. When she left the interviewing room, everybody looked at me and said I hope you won’t say anything about her because she is the better of the two. I smiled and asked when lunch was coming so we could conclude. In life I have come to understand that respect for ourselves guides our morals, however respect for others guides our manners. Most times rudeness and arrogance is a weak person’s imitation of strength
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