Decided people are becoming even more mean

I was in an M & S food store this morning. I walked towards the self checkout. There was a mother and daughter coming the other way and we got there at the same time. I stood back to let them through. Not a single word of thanks or acknowledgement. Didn’t even look at me.

Yes people are more selfish,oblivious to others and entitled than ever.

I think many more people these days have serious mental health issues / learning disabilities for which they receive no support.

I think it’s too crowded and public services are underfunded and overrun and everyone is overwhelmed and tetchy.

I think we self soothe with phones because it’s not quiet enough anywhere anymore to read a book.

I think even habitually well-mannered people have learned the hard way that being polite and considerate and moderate just gets them deprioritised and put to the back of the queue in most situations, and they’ll need sharper elbows and a more histrionic manner if they hope ever to see a GP, etc.

I have absolutely no idea why people play things out loud on their phones though.

There is a famous fb post circulating, with a nice tall woman dressed in black, walking away. How she always kept walking away from nasty people

@TheYearOfSmallThings Actually I did see someone with a reborn doll in a pram the other week at a bus stop (wonder if it was the same woman!). Some foreign tour party students were laughing and pointing at it and the lady owner was shrieking. Poor woman.

Generally I do agree people are far more self-centred and with phones are oblivious to others, even if they don’t mean to be actively rude. I think the mental health thing has gone too far when everyone being anti-social has an excuse. Dh was commuting to work on the train when a woman said she needed all four seats because of her “anxiety”. Dh went to a less favourable seat, but said Good luck with that at the next stop. Sure enough a million people piled on and her protestations were ignored.

Yes. This country has gone to shit

The majority of posts on here are kind of constructed anyway for a bit of a chat, not always advice

Some people behave badly in public. Some people are also very intolerant of sharing their lives and space with others.

In my last job one of my colleagues had a client who brought a reborn doll to all her appointments.

This is why I just give space to everyone, prefer waiting on queues, stating firmly my needs in my jobs and tough titties if someone does not want to give me what I want. I will find another place

Ah we’ve all moved on from that! I’m here for my menopausal rant! Join us! 😆

We all also live on top of each other, and are fighting for access to the same crumbling services.

This with bells on! Absolutely. I’d neglected to even take the latter into consideration. That’s really a huge part of the problem. And there’s such a disparity between those who can pay their way towards ‘better, faster, stronger’ services and then… well, the rest of us. And it really creates an undercurrent of resentment, not so much towards the people who can fund fast tracked services but towards a government that perpetuates social crises. Our own services are consistently underfunded and undermined. It devalues us as a society and we therefore feel devalued by our own government and the very system that should function for our benefit but doesn’t. But instead it’s all #gratitude for sub par services.

Too many people
Poor public transport
Poor customer service

Everything seems so much trouble/hassle, even for the simplest of things.

Just going out and doing things that were normal 20-30 years ago causes me the rage these days.

Far easier just to stay in and order everything online!

I think you are right, I think that as a society we are incredibly entitled and there’s been a massive move towards people believing that rules don’t apply to them, that they are somehow special or have circumstances that make them exempt. Someone playing music on their phone? Oh they’ve probably got anxiety. Queue jumping? Maybe they’ve got a poorly dog at home.

We all also live on top of each other, and are fighting for access to the same crumbling services.

🤣🤣
I do that too my favourite is ‘A thank you would have been nice’ in a cheery tone because its calling their rudeness out and they don’t have a come back due to the cheery tone it seems to baffle people!

I think businesses need to make more effort. They don't even bother with signs saying please use headphones if you are playing a video or music on a device. I know a sign won't stop an obnoxious person but it would justify others then asking, and staff too. In time it would become unacceptable. These businesses don't care about the comfort of the majority of their customers if they do nothing. No doubt I'll be told why should the staff have to deal with this etc. Thing is there's always been assholes, remember when people kept trying to smoke after the ban or before that, smoking in a non smoking area? Staff were over straight away and customers approached too. Its like we have collectively decided to let the bullies win.

Oh don’t get me started on the decline of dog etiquette since the dog population has exploded (Again, a response to and result of lockdown).
What part of ‘Our dogs will get in a tangled mess underneath the table I’m trying to enjoy my coffee at, so can you please not?’ do they not understand?
And what’s with all of these crazy breeds? What happened to the standard lab? It’s all husky-dinosaur-Rottweiler crosses, off lead and ready for lunch: My dog. 🍽️

That’s why I always sit upstairs on the bus with headphones on to drown out all the crap 🤣

The amount of dickheads is unbelievable.
today so far I have witnessed

• I’m sat at an outdoor table with my family and dog having a cuppa. Man with a dog walks past and lets his dog approach mine, mine barks, I say no to her. He proceeds to stand there staring at me in an intimidating way for 5 mins till I stare back. He walks off still staring with a neck like an owl. Absolute dick!
• Currently sat on a bench in a crabbing spot, completely out of the way of pedestrians, you have to go down steps to get to this spot and no real reason to walk down here unless you want to crab. Tons of people crabbing. A man walks down the steps, barges through the people and you the steps the other side. He was looking for a fight!

Shesnotelectric

When I came to the UK in ‘95, I had to fuel up on manners and thank yous. Now I’ve got a surplus! The lesser part of me does bite back, once in a blue moon, with a sarcastic “You’re welcome! My pleasure! No need to thank me! Your silence is enough!”

But then, I’m just as bad as those I’m berating. My friend once read my tarot cards and said I’d become a really difficult rather disgruntled old lady. Welp! Here I am! Ready to tilt at windmills! 😆
I’m still friends with her, despite that terrible reading!

Lots of people know their rights. Fewer people understand their responsibilities.

Never a truer word said. I work with challenging young people. I am extremely fond of them. But the inability to take responsibility for their wrongdoings blows my mind on a daily basis.

Jesus said in the end days: “Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold

I don't think we, as a society, are encouraged to think of others as much. It's all, 'I, I, me, me'.
Self-care is very important, but not at the exclusion of consideration for others.

In my opinion, it started decades ago. Anybody remember the dubbing of young adults in the 80s as, 'the 'me' generation' ?

Lots of people know their rights. Fewer people understand their responsibilities. 'I do what I like, you must like what I do.'

Definitely! People seem to be more self absorbed than ever!
I have just come back from holiday in the UK and found myself getting hacked off at the lack of manners. Have been ignored holding doors open, people queue jumping, barging past and general horrible treatment towards staff members. I did open my mouth a couple of times with people being rude to staff.
‘Im ok Jack fuck the rest’ attitude is rife especially in my home town.

I wonder what would happen if social media was banned

That horse has bolted. I wouldn’t want that. I like social media. I need my cat memes! But it’s not something that needs to define our individuality or dominate our daily lives, yet it tends to.
It doesn’t require banning just self discipline ( which is really, really, really hard to achieve but definitely doable). Good social media health is the way forward. I think people are aware of this. I like a cat meme. I don’t want Taylor Swift influencing my political beliefs. She is not a political analyst. 😆

I actually think that we’re currently living out the results of the Covid years and that things will improve (that’s probably my Californian optimism. Feel free to slap me and dump cold water on my head 😆). But yeah, we’re sort of dealing with the aftermath of intense social media usage and bad habits we picked up from 2020 onwards (along with the sticky tumbleweeds that inevitably show up during any sort of societal advancement, to put it kinda nicely, which tech absolutely is, despite its downside).

I guess I should clarify that living on top of each other now is so different than the postwar/post modern period. Families tend not to live close by. The demographics are different. The economy is totally different. Multi generational living that was so common in both my parents’ families has reduced in a lot of cultures. People move around a lot. The multi generational families I know are Ukrainian, Lebanese, Sudanese; families from countries in conflict and/or in economic crisis. Different times. Different variables now. Different influencing factors.