How Ruuuuude

One afternoon I called the phone company to check on an issue with my bill. It was about a quarter before 5:00 when I called and was put on hold by their computer. The wait was to be several minutes and intertwined with the music was an occasional, " We're sorry for your wait. Someone will be with you shortly." This went on for fifteen minutes then at 5:00 the recording came on, but this time it was different, "Thank you for calling. Our office hours are Monday through Friday 8 to 5. Please call back during our normal business hours. I thought, "How Rude". I had patiently waited to talk to someone then was abruptly dismissed by an insensitive computer.

I genuinely despise rude acting people. I really feel sorry for restaurant waiters, clerks at return desks, customer service representatives and just about anyone who has to spend their day dealing with people on a personal basis. People can be rude at times, sometimes on purpose and other times out of frustrations. Of course the people behind the counter can also be just as rude to their customers.

I've been to restaurants where people complained about the prices, berated the waiter for slow service or because something wasn't cooked right. One time I was with a preacher at a breakfast and he was so rude that I almost changed tables rather than be seen with him.

I read the story of a man who went into the athletic store to buy a baseball bat for his son. He spoke rather rudely to the clerk and then realizing what he had done apologized to her. "I've been at the Department of Motor Vehicles all morning dealing with a rude lady over my auto registration and I'm sorry I've taken it out on you." The clerk looked at him holding the bat and smiled "Do you want this gift wrapped or are you going back there this afternoon?"

Love means that we treat people like we want to be treated. Waiters don't cook the food, clerks don't set the return policies and customer service reps don't make the products that are giving you problems. They are there just doing their job in spite of how they may be treated.

Unfortunately in today's society rudeness appears to be on the rise. People are impolite to each other. We make degrading remarks about people. We talked down to those that serve us. We're quick to tell people exactly what we think without giving their feelings any thought. We ridicule, cut down, demean and often have a "better than you" attitude. We are impolite, have bad manners, bad attitudes, yelling, screaming, griping complaining and display snobbish noses.

Love is not rude. In other words love treats people like people and not things. It approaches people with the feeling "I care about you". Love listens. Love opens doors. Love says thank you and you're welcome. Love shows appreciation. Love makes people glad they passed out way. Love is not rude.

Remember Rudy on "The Cosby Show"? When her friend would treat her wrongly she'd always say, "How ruuuuuuude." Just maybe if we started telling ourselves this every time we stepped out of line it would help us to make everyone else's world a better place to live.

As the old saying goes, "You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar." So trying being nice to each person you meet and see how it changes people's lives.