Awareness and Consideration

I am a considerate person. Probably too considerate. One of the things that I've struggled with my whole life is how incredibly rude and inconsiderate people are in general. Maybe it was how I was raised or maybe it is just because I'm INFJ, but I've always been aware of how my actions and behavior impact those around me. The fact that other people don't think this way baffles me.

Examples:
Traffic and driving - If I am in a merge lane and someone is trying to merge, I let them merge in front of me. If I'm in the left lane and a car comes up behind me looking to go faster, I switch lanes to allow them (if possible). If I'm driving in the rain and a pedestrian is trying to cross the road at a light, I motion for them to go...I'm not the one getting rained on.

In a store - If I have a cart full of groceries and am waiting in line, if someone comes into the line behind me with just a few items I let them go in front of me.

I think you get the picture. I am always considerate and err on the side of civility (the way I see it anyway) instead of selfishness.

The problem here is that no one reciprocates. It is a rare occasion indeed that others give me the same consideration that I give them. It has always bothered me - I equate being considerate of others to fairness. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly. When others are blatantly inconsiderate or unfair to me, it really pisses me off. Those are the times that I loathe humanity.

I know what you are thinking, "Life isn't fair, cupcake." Well, in my eyes, it damn well should be. I have no way of solving this and when I point out how rude or inconsiderate others are to their face, I am either ignored (which I absolutely hate) or my observation is met with indifference. How can people be so incredibly selfish and unaware of their surroundings that they just do what they want, no matter how "wrong" it is? It's like sitting on the subway and not letting an elderly person have your seat. How can people behave that way?

This rant was inspired by a trip to the store in which a mother and her child were waiting in line, holding a small basket of items, while a large (let's not mince words here: obese) young woman with two (2) carts full of crap was in front of her. There were other lines but they were all pretty long. I was waiting in the line next to them when a cashier walked over to tell everyone that they were opening another register. I watched in shock as the obese chick nearly ran over the mom to maneuver her TWO carts out of the line, to race over to the newly opened register. The mom hustled out of her way and walked over to the new register. The obese chick cut the mom off, banging her cart into the mom's shins, and without a word started to unload her TWO carts of crap onto the conveyer belt. The mom angrily confronted the obese woman about running into her and get this...the obese chick merely shrugged her shoulders and continued unloading her carts.

I'm just standing there, looking disgusted and the mom looks around her for allies - someone had to have seen that, right? Her kid starts crying and the obese woman has the gall to glare at the mom and say, "Why don't you shut up so your kid stops freaking out?"

At that point, I couldn't handle it anymore and marched over to support the mom. I'm not one for confrontation, especially when I'm angry because the meanest shit comes out of my mouth, but I let her have it. She deserved every nasty word I threw her way. I have to say, she took it like a champ but not another word came out of her mouth. The check out clerk was smirking and waved another employee over and said, "Hey, can you open a register and take these two ladies (pointed to the mom and me) first, please?" She then proceeded to ring out the fat chick as slowly has humanly possible, bagged her crap painstakingly slowly, smirking the entire time.

The mom was grateful to get rung out quickly, turned and smiled at me and walked past the fat chick who was not even halfway through one cart and flipped her off. Her kid did the same. I couldn't help it and burst out laughing. I did the same as I walked out, with a nod to the clerk who recognized the injustice in the first place.

In one experience, I witnessed both the scum of the earth and the righteous savior of humanity dishing and receiving justice. So, I had to write about it.

If everyone was just a little more aware of how their behavior impacts others around them, the world would be a much better place. Maybe it is vindictive of me to say, but I hope that fat woman is still waiting while being rung out for all of her prepackaged crap. Screw you lady. You suck.

And kudos to the clerk for being a hero (however trivial it may seem) to both that mom and to me.

How do you deal with witnessing injustice? Has the rudeness of others annoyed you to the point of confrontation? If so, I hope it went as well as this did.