On Forgetfulness and Rudeness

[katiefoolery]

Bah bah bah!  Why did I spent all my valuable working hours writing blurbs and descriptions for my stories if I was going to forget to email them home so I could start uploading them to my website?  I really don't know the answer to that one.  It's just stupid.  And annoying.  More to the point, this means I can't make any progress on the site until Monday afternoon.

Bah.

Ah well, I suppose it means I can do some more fiddling around with making my own template on WordPress.  And I do have my bio and writing CV here, so I suppose I could upload those.

It's just frustrating.

While we're on things that are annoying me, I want to rant about the stupid kid and his dad at the supermarket the other day.  I was behind the dad in the queue and he'd just finished paying for his groceries when his son joined the line with a bottle of drink that he wanted to buy.  I thought I'd be nice, so I stood aside and said to the kid: "You go next."

Well.  He just gave me a weird, ungrateful look and went right ahead.  I was bewildered.  There wasn't even an attempt at a muttered "thanks".  Even worse was his dad, who said absolutely nothing to his ungrateful wretch of a boy.  He just stood there, unconcerned, while his son was rude and sullen to someone who'd just done something nice to him.  I couldn't believe it.  No wonder half the kids I deal with in the library are nasty little brats if this is how their parents are bringing them up.

I still can't get over that dad.  If it had been my dad... well, for starters, I would have said thank-you without being prompted.  And if I hadn't, my dad would have made sure I did.  Loudly.  And gratefully.  I thought we were supposed to ask what's wrong with the youth of today.  Now it appears we have to ask: "What's wrong with the parents of youth today?"

Is this all part of the "me!" culture that we seem to be developing?  You don't thank people who do nice things for you because of course they're going to do it.  It's for me after all, isn't it?  Everyone should do stuff for me, because I'm great.  Of course I should go ahead of you in the queue, because I'm me.  Of course I should shove my way to the front of the bus line, ahead of the people who already have tickets ready to go, to hold everyone up while I buy mine... because I'm me.  Of course I should expect you to get out of my way, because I'm me.

My parents brought me up to consider other people and not to be selfish.  But I have to tell you, I'm sorely tempted to ignore all of this when people behave so rudely to complete strangers.

Comments

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I walked back across the road, muttering about "Kids these days..." althought it's not really their fault, as was demonstrated quite amply.

Kids did behave better. When I went to secondary school, anyone who answered back was the rebel and was more than likely getting a detention. Now, I hear kids answering back and making smart-mouthed comments to their teachers... and they're the tame ones. If they're told to stop doing, they demand to know why and keep doing whatever it is until they're all but forced to desist. Even the "bad" kids I went to school with would have been disgusted by this behaviour.

What about the boy who barged into my workroom the other day (it's usually off-limits to students) and, when I asked him what he wanted, looked at me in surprised and muttered: "Melway," as though I was an idiot.

"Can you phrase it as a request?" I asked. Which he did. Reluctantly.

Kids learn from their parents. You can't deny it. I learnt from my parents. It's just shocking to see what sort lessons they're learning.

[the-kaytinator.livejournal.com]

Parents work more nowadays, and they spend less time with their kids. One way of compensating (the WRONG way), is to buy the kids things and give them whatever they want. Buying the love, effectively.

But of course, as we all know, because we are people of common sense, such parenting teaches your kid that there are no boundaries to what they can have.

And it doesn't work, because such children do not often respect or appreciate their parents, because they've always been given everything.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

That's exactly it! Very few families can survive if both parents don't work and how can you discipline your child if you feel guilty for leaving them alone (out of necessity, admittedly) for eight or nine hours a day? My ideal world would be one where families could get by on one income and one of the parents could decide whether to stay at home or not. What point is there in having a society if there's no actual society to speak of? Money does not equal love and family.

I wish it were possible for one person to change the world. :(