Jerkface
Finding inspiration to blog hasn't been going so well for me. However, I've been writing this entry in my head for awhile, out of pure annoyance. And another thing was just witnessed to make this entry happen.
I've lived in, surprisingly, a lot of places for being a North Dakota girl. I don't feel all that accomplished in my life until I think about how many places I've lived. In the past 11 years of my life, I've lived in 6 cities in 4 different states (ND, CT, MN & MT). And really, 5 of those 6 cities in 4 different states have come in the past 5 years. So, with living in the Northeast, the Midwest, a big city in the Midwest and now a Western mountain state, I feel like I know some of the niceness in the US. And to top it off, after various trips in my lifetime that include NY(NYC and Long Island), FL, NJ, VT, CA, WA, OK, SC and GA and with driving through, many, many more states, I have a grasp on niceness.
Let me just start, I expected more from MT people. Okay, 99% of my experiences have been nice, at stores, restaurants, strangers on the street. There are great people here. But I've been bothered by the 1% of the people that seem more rude than a lot of places I've lived or visited. My guess, they're not from here and if they are, they weren't trained (aka raised) to have respect and manners.
First example, a kid working at Target. He's checked me out (as in rang up my items at the register) several times. And not once has he spoken a word to me. Not a "Did you find everything?", a "How are you?", a "Thank you", nada. It's kind of his job to help people and be polite, am I wrong here? Then at Starbucks one day, a customer was so impatient waiting for their drink. I get it, customers are always right, the baristas are paid to help customers, yada, yada. But the customer, a woman, stood at the counter tapping her fingers on the bar impatiently waiting for her drink. Really? It took the barista maybe 2 minutes to make her drink. Then the super nice, friendly barista went to set the drink on the counter and the woman took it out of her hands before it touched the counter and when the barista, said "Thank you, have a nice day!", the woman just walked away with a scowl on her face.
My next experience was personal. A note on my car. From my neighbor. I have never met said neighbor and the note wasn't outwardly rude. It said please and thank you. And the neighbor has two adorable little girls. But the note said "Since you don't live in the building, could you please park across the street and not in front of my apartment? Thanks." Where I was parked narrowed it down to only that neighbor that could have left the note. Okay, I was parked in front of your apartment. And you do have 2 girls to haul in and out. But the rude part for me was that she assumed I didn't live in the building. Which I do. We share a wall in fact. And I have lived here 4 months longer than her. My car is here whenever I'm not working or babysitting. So why assume I don't live here? Just ask me if I can park elsewhere. I don't get it.
But the icing on the cake for the rudeness level was this morning. My neighbors two little girls were standing on the sidewalk. A man walked by them. The smaller of the 2 girls (guessing 2 years old) said to the strange man, "Hi... hi... hi... hi... hi... hi..." What did he say? Nothing. How much energy would it have taken to say hi to a little girl? I get that the girl won't remember 5 minutes later about the rude man. But that little "hi" in response would've made her happy for a brief moment. Maybe she needs to learn that not everyone in this world is nice, but not yet. You know what that man is? A jerkface.
Don't get me wrong, I love Montana. I love the nice people. I love the laid back nature. I love it. But for you 1% of rude people that live here, get over yourself. Life will be much more enjoyable if you say, "Hi", "Hello", "Have a good day", especially if it makes a child smile.
I've lived in, surprisingly, a lot of places for being a North Dakota girl. I don't feel all that accomplished in my life until I think about how many places I've lived. In the past 11 years of my life, I've lived in 6 cities in 4 different states (ND, CT, MN & MT). And really, 5 of those 6 cities in 4 different states have come in the past 5 years. So, with living in the Northeast, the Midwest, a big city in the Midwest and now a Western mountain state, I feel like I know some of the niceness in the US. And to top it off, after various trips in my lifetime that include NY(NYC and Long Island), FL, NJ, VT, CA, WA, OK, SC and GA and with driving through, many, many more states, I have a grasp on niceness.
Let me just start, I expected more from MT people. Okay, 99% of my experiences have been nice, at stores, restaurants, strangers on the street. There are great people here. But I've been bothered by the 1% of the people that seem more rude than a lot of places I've lived or visited. My guess, they're not from here and if they are, they weren't trained (aka raised) to have respect and manners.
First example, a kid working at Target. He's checked me out (as in rang up my items at the register) several times. And not once has he spoken a word to me. Not a "Did you find everything?", a "How are you?", a "Thank you", nada. It's kind of his job to help people and be polite, am I wrong here? Then at Starbucks one day, a customer was so impatient waiting for their drink. I get it, customers are always right, the baristas are paid to help customers, yada, yada. But the customer, a woman, stood at the counter tapping her fingers on the bar impatiently waiting for her drink. Really? It took the barista maybe 2 minutes to make her drink. Then the super nice, friendly barista went to set the drink on the counter and the woman took it out of her hands before it touched the counter and when the barista, said "Thank you, have a nice day!", the woman just walked away with a scowl on her face.
My next experience was personal. A note on my car. From my neighbor. I have never met said neighbor and the note wasn't outwardly rude. It said please and thank you. And the neighbor has two adorable little girls. But the note said "Since you don't live in the building, could you please park across the street and not in front of my apartment? Thanks." Where I was parked narrowed it down to only that neighbor that could have left the note. Okay, I was parked in front of your apartment. And you do have 2 girls to haul in and out. But the rude part for me was that she assumed I didn't live in the building. Which I do. We share a wall in fact. And I have lived here 4 months longer than her. My car is here whenever I'm not working or babysitting. So why assume I don't live here? Just ask me if I can park elsewhere. I don't get it.
But the icing on the cake for the rudeness level was this morning. My neighbors two little girls were standing on the sidewalk. A man walked by them. The smaller of the 2 girls (guessing 2 years old) said to the strange man, "Hi... hi... hi... hi... hi... hi..." What did he say? Nothing. How much energy would it have taken to say hi to a little girl? I get that the girl won't remember 5 minutes later about the rude man. But that little "hi" in response would've made her happy for a brief moment. Maybe she needs to learn that not everyone in this world is nice, but not yet. You know what that man is? A jerkface.
Don't get me wrong, I love Montana. I love the nice people. I love the laid back nature. I love it. But for you 1% of rude people that live here, get over yourself. Life will be much more enjoyable if you say, "Hi", "Hello", "Have a good day", especially if it makes a child smile.
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