Perhaps a Saturday wasn't the best choice to visit Old Town Fort Collins - or maybe it was the fact that they were welcoming the Colorado State University students back for the fall - or maybe it's because we were actually on the "main strip" in Fort Collins, and not in the actual Old Town area - but, for whatever reason, it seemed like we were walking through the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. Most of the clothing shops were for name-brands and came in extremely small sizes - for anorexic teens and college students - or the stores were just too over-run with small children whose parents were letting them have a free rein... We've decided to go later in the fall and see if it's any better. There were two stores that were actually nice - and one of those was an artists' co-op shop.
I think the other thing that bothered me was that people were so rude. Both men and women, boys and girls, the whole gamut of ages, reached in front of us while we were looking at items, almost knocked us off the sidewalks, almost knocked us down with backpacks and/or papoose-style child carriers, and the shrieking babies were the worst. And they were being ignored by their parents. When I go out to wander and relax, and check out new places, I do not want crying infants and children up to six years old shrieking with temper tantrums in a book shop or a furniture store. It's a good thing that "looking daggers" is just an expression - otherwise, I'd have been a mass-murderer today.
At least all of the animals were cooperative and easy to deal with this morning, and this evening. Lovey had quite a lot to say this morning, and woke Beatrice up earlier than usual, but, then, she's been extremely vocal ever since I returned from vacation. Nedi does his purrs and little trills and the occasional soft meow. Lovey comments at the top of her voice any time I'm not touching her, and frequently, when she's already laying on top of me. Sometimes I think the only way to keep her satisfied is to let her live under my skin...
Tomorrow, I'll spend most of my time with my animals - that will be calming and therapeutic.
Showing posts with label rudeness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rudeness. Show all posts
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Overheard... Amazing!
I'm definitely what is tagged as "an older person," and I don't mind that. I was born in 1956, and that was well before cell phones and all the other technological gadgets that youngsters today accept as normal. When I was young, if you saw someone talking out loud, with no one around, you assumed that that person was (a) practicing for a recitation, or (b) was a little strange, and should be avoided. I have been aware of the proliferation of cell phones, iPhones, Blue Tooth, ear buds, and all sorts of wonderful inventions that enable a person to converse with others without an visible means. But it still makes me pause. Yesterday, as I turned a corner, next to a building, I was surprised when I was greeted with a robust, "Good morning, sweetheart!" It took a moment to realize that, even with his hands in his pockets, this man was speaking to someone on a phone connection.
Yesterday afternoon, I was again amazed when a young woman got onto the bus, talking at the top of her voice as she got on, throughout her journey, and even as she disembarked. The young lady was clearly excited, and she was speaking with her Mother. As the bus trundled along, anyone who did not have earplugs in use heard the girl's first and last name, where she worked, that she was on her way to work, after a college course, what time she'd get off, and that she was then going to see her boyfriend at his place of work. We heard that she had been offered a summer job, and where, and what her hours would be, we heard which dorm she lives in, and that her roommate was gone until after Easter. We heard her plans for the summer, including trip details that included dates and companions. She was still talking at the top of her speaking capacity when she exited the bus. All I could think of was that it was good that I wasn't a thief, looking to steal something... I could have easily gone directly to her dorm, and stolen all sorts of electronic equipment - and she would have been amazed, trying to figure out how someone knew she wouldn't be there...
On my trip back from Jasmine's, I had to listen to four young street people, in their early 20s, complain about the poor services for the homeless in Boulder, and complain about their parents, who refused to house, clothe and feed them since they were over 21 and wouldn't work for a living. Since when is a person guaranteed free housing, clothing, food, and extra money to spend on alcohol and drugs, once they quit school? One of the females asked the only male how he was doing... His first comment was that he had "a massive migraine" and was truly suffering. I just about choked when I heard that; I suffer from migraines, and I know that if you are experiencing a true migraine, you are not out walking about - you are curled up in a ball of misery, shrinking from every bit of light, motion, and sound. All of your senses are totally overloaded - you can't even complain robustly, as this boy was doing. First, he and his friends complained about having sunburns from the day before; then about how broke they were. Then they started adding their money together, and were trying to decide whether to purchase food, marijuana, meth or crack. Then one of the girls asked the boy why he was so down - and he said that he had just returned from Florida, where he'd dropped in, unannounced, on his parents. They had made him welcome for five days - providing all his meals, spending money, doing his laundry, buying him some new clothes, and staying in the now "guest" bedroom. The boy was irate with his folks, because, after three days, they made it clear that if he was not looking for a job, he was not welcome to stay for free - they would let him sleep in the guest room, but they wouldn't continue to provide free meals, allow him to invite friends over to party, or give him daily pocket money. This young man, who proudly proclaimed that he is 26 years old, had dropped out of school - college, that is - that his parents had been paying for, and he had "just been bumming around" since he was 21. And he was angry because his parents would not give him "a free ride."
People today just amaze me. I would never speak of such things, loudly, on a packed city bus. I would never hold a conversation on a phone that loudly on a bus, and give away as much information as the young girl did earlier. I am amazed and appalled by the rudeness, loudness, entitledness, (stupidity) and insensitivity of all of those young people I just described....
Was our generation that egotistical?
Yesterday afternoon, I was again amazed when a young woman got onto the bus, talking at the top of her voice as she got on, throughout her journey, and even as she disembarked. The young lady was clearly excited, and she was speaking with her Mother. As the bus trundled along, anyone who did not have earplugs in use heard the girl's first and last name, where she worked, that she was on her way to work, after a college course, what time she'd get off, and that she was then going to see her boyfriend at his place of work. We heard that she had been offered a summer job, and where, and what her hours would be, we heard which dorm she lives in, and that her roommate was gone until after Easter. We heard her plans for the summer, including trip details that included dates and companions. She was still talking at the top of her speaking capacity when she exited the bus. All I could think of was that it was good that I wasn't a thief, looking to steal something... I could have easily gone directly to her dorm, and stolen all sorts of electronic equipment - and she would have been amazed, trying to figure out how someone knew she wouldn't be there...
On my trip back from Jasmine's, I had to listen to four young street people, in their early 20s, complain about the poor services for the homeless in Boulder, and complain about their parents, who refused to house, clothe and feed them since they were over 21 and wouldn't work for a living. Since when is a person guaranteed free housing, clothing, food, and extra money to spend on alcohol and drugs, once they quit school? One of the females asked the only male how he was doing... His first comment was that he had "a massive migraine" and was truly suffering. I just about choked when I heard that; I suffer from migraines, and I know that if you are experiencing a true migraine, you are not out walking about - you are curled up in a ball of misery, shrinking from every bit of light, motion, and sound. All of your senses are totally overloaded - you can't even complain robustly, as this boy was doing. First, he and his friends complained about having sunburns from the day before; then about how broke they were. Then they started adding their money together, and were trying to decide whether to purchase food, marijuana, meth or crack. Then one of the girls asked the boy why he was so down - and he said that he had just returned from Florida, where he'd dropped in, unannounced, on his parents. They had made him welcome for five days - providing all his meals, spending money, doing his laundry, buying him some new clothes, and staying in the now "guest" bedroom. The boy was irate with his folks, because, after three days, they made it clear that if he was not looking for a job, he was not welcome to stay for free - they would let him sleep in the guest room, but they wouldn't continue to provide free meals, allow him to invite friends over to party, or give him daily pocket money. This young man, who proudly proclaimed that he is 26 years old, had dropped out of school - college, that is - that his parents had been paying for, and he had "just been bumming around" since he was 21. And he was angry because his parents would not give him "a free ride."
People today just amaze me. I would never speak of such things, loudly, on a packed city bus. I would never hold a conversation on a phone that loudly on a bus, and give away as much information as the young girl did earlier. I am amazed and appalled by the rudeness, loudness, entitledness, (stupidity) and insensitivity of all of those young people I just described....
Was our generation that egotistical?
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