Saturday, June 20, 2009

Polite Police on Patrol

When someone has an Encounter with a Rude Person they have to share it with friend. Don't you? How many times when you're meeting friends for lunch or coffee does one person arrive saying, "You'll never believe what just happened to me"? We love to pass on tales of the ill-mannered / inconsiderate / clueless / and downright mean. Sometimes the stories even become a permanent part of our circle. My husband and I still laugh with friends over a very rude young woman who tried to push the 5 of us off the sidewalk (into a busy street) en route to Windsor Castle over 8 years ago. Her demanding "Hel-lo! I've got coffee here!" made us (and families from two other countries) stop in our tracks at the time, but it's become a catch-phrase that continues to crack us up.

But, how great would it be if we passed on stories of polite encounters? That's what I'd like to do in this spot. Nothing would be nicer than to hear how some considerate person made your day a little better. The first story is about a friend-of-a-friend who saw a wallet-type thing blow off the top of a car as it accelerated onto the highway a few days ago. He pulled over, retrieved the item - which turned out to be one of those folders carried by restaurant wait staff. Finding that it contained cash, photos, and other personal items, he tracked down the owner and returned it. It's easy to think we would have done the same, but in the everyday hustle and bustle we may not have bothered to stop. The polite 'Samaritan' in question has a very busy schedule himself (including two small children), but made the time to make a difference. So one could surmise that being considerate leads to happy endings while being rude leads to . . . well, you decide.

Stay tuned for more reports from The Polite Police . . .

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