No time for courtesies

We’re by nature an impatient lot. Living in the rush and bustle of the city does that to you sometimes. As a rule, we don’t like waiting but it seems that’s what we seem to spend the most time doing. We have things to do, places to go and people to meet!

Parking is a perpetual problem and when your car is double-parked outside, you obviously want service – fast! But wait till you see the lines, they’re miles long and the cashier is working as slowly fast as a tortoise. And there will always be some person attempting to cut the line.

I don’t think I’m overly impatient though compared to the people who rush into the elevator before the people inside have a chance to get out (and how does that help to speed things up, I wonder), or the ones who cut right into your group as you’re trying to step on the escalator, or those who slam bodily into you in their rush to get ahead (hell-lo?!). Kids do it, adults do it !

I take it that they’re in a bigger hurry than I am, so I usually step aside and let them through, and I remind my kids to do the same. I’m not sure if being in a hurry is necessarily the same as being rude though. Do you think so?

Because quite frankly, we’re all in a hurry and we all hate waiting but uttering a simple excuse me, sorry or thank you barely takes 1 second… so my question is, is being in a hurry an excuse to be rude?