::footprints of ie|en

Arrogant, Stupid and Kurang Ajar

Went grocery-shopping at Carrefour with my youngest brother today. Got quite a few items with us. As we were queuing up to pay, I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation between a husband and wife two lanes down ours.

Husband : Why are we queuing here? We should go to the Express Lane.
Wife : We can’t go to the Express Lane. We’ve definitely got more than 10 items here.
Husband : (Very haughtily) I don’t care! We’ve got 5 of the same item here. And mostly trash bags. Surely they can overlook that.

So both husband and wife proceeded to the Express Lane, the wife, albeit very reluctantly and embarrassed.

At the Express Lane, the cashier very politely informed the couple that they have more than 10 items, therefore they should queue at one of the non-express lanes. But the husband, very arrogantly, argued with the cashier, saying that although they have more than 10 items, they have 5 of the same, so therefore it should qualify as one item. Tried as the cashier may to explain to him, he grew more impatient and arrogant, and demanded that the cashier proceed with scanning the items. The poor girl, while not wanting to create a scene, also did not know how to explain to the rest of the people waiting in line. She finally did what the man demanded.

Some customers waiting in line began to whisper to each other, no doubt not happy with the man’s action. No one said anything though. Either no one dared to for fear of being bashed up later on, or for fear of creating yet another scene. And that is basically how our culture is like. When things like that happen, people dare not speak up. They just whisper among themselves, looks of disapprovals on their face. Or if they do speak up, they will probably get bashed up later on. So these arrogant and kurang ajar people continue to bully people into submitting to their demands.

Not so long ago, I was queuing up at McDonald’s. I was craving for fries. And just wanted to get a large pack of fries to take away. There was a long queue and I was quite relieved when there was only one other customer in front of me. Out of nowhere, came this woman, and she simply placed herself in front of me. Like, hello?? Was she blind or was I invisible? I mumbled (loud enough for her to hear): “Don’t even have the courtesy to line up!” And she gave me this “I ain’t done nothing wrong look.” which pissed me up considerably. So I said: “What? You don’t know how to line up?”

A few years back, a friend and I were queuing up at an ATM machine at Subang Parade. We were standing behind the yellow line. This lady came up to us and very rudely said: “Excuse me! Are you people lining up?” Duh! Why would we be standing there if we weren’t? For fun? My friend said politely: “Yes, we are.” And this woman went “Well, if you are lining up then you should go in front a bit!” Puzzled but still polite, my friend said: “But we’re supposed to stand behind the yellow line.” And the woman went: “Yeah, but can’t you stand in front a bit?” What is the difference right? We would still be queueing up. As we walked away, I said (loud enough for the woman to hear) and with relish: "Never mind, some people are just bitches!"

Also a few years back, I was driving on stretch of straight road, when this Volvo came out of a corner and hit my behind. I was like: Oh no! I just got hit by a Volvo. This can’t be good. I stopped by the road, thinking that the other driver would, too. But the driver just continued on even though I honked at her to indicate that she should stop. When she didn’t, I went after her and thankfully, I was able to stop in front of her at the red light. I got out, she rolled down her window and I said: “You hit me and you didn’t even have the courtesy to stop?” Her reply: “I know but I didn’t know how to stop.” Goodness, where on earth did she get her license? She knew how to drive a car yet doesn’t know how to stop her car?

Just where on earth did these arrogant, stupid and kurang ajar people materialize from??

posted by ie|en @ 3:31 PM