Common Courtesy Isn't So Common

Before we were in grade school, we learned to wait our turn. We would stand in lines with our mothers waiting for the drinking fountain or for the long, red, twisty slide at the park. We were always told "Wait your turn." "Let the other girl go. She was here first." 

In Elementary school, if we let someone cut in front or behind you when you were on your way to the lunch line, you would get yelled at by the rest of the classmates that were behind you. You would probably get death glares for the rest of the day. In high school, you might get punched out for the very same act. 

So why is it okay to do it when your older? 

At the bank, waiting patiently for the cars in front of me at the drive through to finish their transaction, we are asked to wait a certain, designated distance back for pedestrians to cross without being accidently hit while they pass from the building to the covered parking. There is a fire line, a strip of pavement that is supposed to be clear just incase catastrophe strikes and people need to get out, sits vacant next to the area where we are supposed to wait. 

A car pulls out of the stall where he was being helped and exits onto the street. I'm about to move my silver-blue SUV forward when another white SUV revs behind me, around me and into the fire lane, through the pedestrian crossing--which luckily was empty of anyone thinking they would safely cross in the designated space--and into the pull-through teller's station. All before I have the ability to move at all. Didn't the black haired lady realize how dangerous and rude that was? 

Now, she already did something rather reckless and stupid, but then she takes forever at the teller's station. I was forced to move behind her and wait and wait and wait for her to finish, while everyone else in the other lanes moved and left before she was even half way done. I had no chance to back my car up and because another car had pulled in behind me. I was stuck behind this slow and rude person. 

I am slightly irritated that I had to wait a while longer but the recklessness that the woman had to the possible pedestrians that might have been crossing. She had no way to tell if a mother and her three kids were coming out of the bank. My SUV and a thick, black wall obscured her view of the door or walkway. She could have pulverized a pregnant lady or a newly wedded couple who had just opened their first account together. Thankfully, the way was empty, but it could have just as easily not have been. 

What kind of example was she setting for the two kids she had in her back seat? 

People, be aware of your surroundings and the others that are part of your community. 

Make common courtesy a common thing again. It is sorely missing in the world we live in.