I went into the local Tesco Express earlier, having run out of milk and coffee. Got to my turn to pay, I rummaged a bit in my pocket for change and found I was short of 40p, so I had to get my card out. Now how long do you think this all took? 20/30 seconds ? The look of exasperation on Grumpy's face (that's the name of the guy at the till now), because I obviously was taking far too much of his time. You'd think I was taking half his day with my transaction....Maybe I am old fashion now. It's not cool to be polite, let alone pleasant, for a shop worker it seems. In most shops, you get bored, grumpy, unpleasant people serving you. And it was not just Grumpy who was grumpy looking. The woman behind me had the same exasperated look on her face when I turned around, and made no effort to let me pass, she had to in the end but really...Maybe I am just a "past it" ol'codger.. But at least I do my best to be pleasant to people.
Oh, how I know this... your not only past your time, when you try to be polite, I often think, I even feel sometimes out of date if I am not nasty and violent to people.
ReplyDelete"Schüüüsch alda hassu problem oda was?" ("Fuck, do you have a problem?") is an equivalent of "good morning, Sir", around the place where I live.
That´´s the reason I love the solitude of nature, for Grumpy will - most of the time - not last too long there. I hope so, or else the woods -or vthe desert-will look like the suburbs some day.
Maybe we have an image problem and should change it, Markus... start wearing scruffy black leathers, tatoos on our forehead saying "I hate everybody" piercings and then learn a few choice words which we use constently on everybody...maybe we would start to fit in better ;-(
ReplyDeleteActually, I don'think I want to fit in if that's what I should have to do!! My dog is a far better company than a lot of people!
I find I get nasty from time to time already, sort of running out of patience. But since I do not want to get nasty, for I know, if I get really nasty, that will do neither me nor others any good and someone might get hurt, I just do my best to walk away from any chance of meeting these goofbrains.
ReplyDeleteSadly I have to go by bus or train sometimes. That´s hard on the stomach;-), I can tell you, and I live in a suburb with massive social problems and a very diverse cultural structure.
But there´s still a forest. Call me escapist, but that´s better than doing harm to other people I do not want to do. A long time I tried to fit in, but it did not work out.
The forest, and the animals are a part of me. I looked into the eyes of buzzard, boar and deer, of fox and badger, of squirrell and the little robin, and there was a solution for me, and still is. There is peace for me. I often embrace a tree, I freely admit it, and I feel how slowly life flows through its body. I feel it live, living free from the cancer of the heart that humans get nowadays, and this makes me strong and strange.
I even use my strangeness sometimes to keep them off my back. I look at them, and they seem to be terrified. Why this should be I cannot tell, for I do not even frown at them for the most part. I even smile at them, and they are taken aback. I don not know why this should be, mind you.
I think they just fear us because we remind them of what they have lost, even if this is not a conscious action. (conscious actions are hard to come by in those tiny minds fixed on Nintendo players and Bluetooth).
Doesn´t really matter, though. There are many of us, and there´s still some nature left for a habitat.
Good to have you funny guys and gals around!;-)
Ah, yes, and it´s a comment post, not a blog post;-) sorry for that, but it´s an important topiuc for me these days...
ReplyDeleteThe rudeness we all encounter in the hundrum of town life only pushes us further away into the wild fringes! A very positive encounter in my books! Makes you realise how narrow some peoples lives have become, and only aids you in realising how rich your life is!
ReplyDelete