Rudeness of people increasing

[Honest1980]

Just that really - not sure whether it's just me or whether other people are experiencing this. Few examples.

Daughter getting braces. One of the admin there messed something up but since being really off with me. I had to send a email and she replied quite curtly. I will complain if happens again but why be so rude?

Ordered full length mirror off amazon, arrived smashed. Had to return it at evri parcelshop. As soon as I walked in with it shop keeper was rude to me firing loads of questions saying wouldn't be accepted because of size etc. Clearly didn't want to accept it. I had trouble scanning qr code, shop keeper shouting at me that I'm not holding phone properly. Really rude. He kept telling me how to hold phone to get qr on screen and I kept telling him qr code on screen between lines cannot understand why not scanning. I knew it was because he didn't want to accept parcel so that made me more stubborn to not take it elsewhere. I was really calm and polite. I asked him to please help me and he actually said "No I'm not going to help you". A few minutes later I said please help otherwise I'll be here all day. He was so rude "OK I'll do it but I'm not touching your phone if I drop and break it you'll sue me you're all the same". He took a picture and scanned it. Then went on about packaging that it better not fall apart etc. It was packaged well.

When I went out of shop I realised that I should have adjusted brightness on phone. I have returned lots of parcels fine. I go to that shop a lot but won't anymore. It's owners son I think, I've never seen him before.

Couple of people at work so rude. Work in large office. Some are in their 50s but act like school kids whispering, purposely blocking corridors when they know you want to get past, one was aghast that I took her lunch put of microwave when she had left it so I could use microwave.

People in shopping centres not moving put of way. Had instance of standing outside shop with my daughter while I looked for something in my bag, plenty of room behind me. Mum and dad with you son all holding hands walked right up to me and just stood there expecting me and my daughter to jump put of way despite being lots of room to.walk.round us. Then says really loudly "excuse you!". I just looked at him and said "walk around". He said something sarcastic when they did walk around.

Eating out. We generally have a good experience but some are so rude and unhelpful.

I know all the above sounds petty and everyone experiences same - and I can deal with it, might be annoyed for a bit but I move on. But it seems to happen a lot and I just wonder if people are becoming more rude and entitled.

Also, do you think that sometimes your appearance affects how you are treated? I've put on some weight (although am losing it now) and before I used to make effort with hair and make up. I've found when I've been my heaviest and not making effort with appearance people have been ruder to me than when I was slimmer and made effort.

Essay over!

Agree with all the posts people are getting ruder and in most cases just damn right nasty, not just in public but also while driving.
I was told to f of you silly b* yesterday by a middle aged man cutting across a roundabout - and I’m the silly one ? Just wish the police had been there they’d have taken his license.

We seem to now be surrounded by an entire world of negativity, scare mongering and bad news, and I don't think that helps tbh. Negativity breeds far more greater than positivity and everywhere we've looked (more so) post-covid is full of it - social media, media, news sources etc and it'd be no surprise that slowly over time it's all had a detrimental impact on a lot of people's MH. I have worked in customer service for nearly 20 years and I learned very quickly that if somebody is being rude or angry and I kill them with kindness that they then seem to retract, calm down, and their humanitarian side shines through the anger, often resulting in an apology on their part. I think in a world currently filled with "bad things" everywhere we look that it's important now more than ever to hold space for those who struggle to harness a resilience to it. I have said for a couple of years now that the world seems a lot angrier, but all we can do is build our own resilience and continue to treat others with the same manner and respect that we'd like to be treated.

There was always a subset of people who were rude. However, I think because everyone is more stressed out and (especially in busy cities e.g. London) less likely to know people in the community you live in. People feel they can be rude and get away with it. Shame used to stop most people but now with the erosion of shame people just do not care.

There is a reason the response to more and more issues is to pop your noise cancelling headphones in and ignore.

Yes, entitlement, "everything's about me" attitude. Just today, we're driving through the (one way) high street, two back from a minibus which stops in the middle of the road. No problem, guy gets out the passenger side and goes into the bank. Obviously we expect the minibus to then drive on. Nope, he sits there while a queue forms behind him. Eventually horns start blowing, and the woman in front of us gets out to ask what is happening. Guy then ambles back out of the bank and we all get going. So we sit there for 3 or 4 minutes while Mr Important decides he needs to go to the bank. 2020s Britain, it's getting worse and worse.

I think people are just so fed up of a few things, i.e. crap customer service virtually everywhere, poor driving standards, entitled/arrogant pedestrians/cyclists, etc.

You can try your hardest to be nice and considerate, but when you're just constantly being treated badly yourself, you start to think "sod it"!

Yep, same in our village this lunchtime. Because of parked cars on one side of the road, it's effectively single lane traffic, with most normal/sensible people taking turns letting traffic through in each direction.

This lunchtime, a huge scaffolding lorry stops right outside the pie shop. Completely blocking the road. Three oafs get out and amble into the pie shop. They were easily there 5-10 minutes waiting to be served. All the while, the entire village is now gridlocked as cars in each direction can't get past it. It made no effort whatsoever to actually "park" - there were places where it could have pulled in and parked on double yellows within 50 feet of the shop.

When they finally came out, they just started bipping their horn and gesticulating at the traffic in front of them to reverse out of their way so they could carry on.

It's people like that who need prosecuting and the driver's licence taken off them (assuming they have a licence!).

I think people are taking it out on each other.

Everybody seems to think somebody else is being the rude one.

This is very well written and absolutely nails it!

I think the last three posts sum it up. And nobody, or very few people, try and fix it by “being the change they want to see”- they just make it worse by shouting BE KIND!

A man decided to bash my ankles with his shopping trolley because I wasn't walking quickly enough. He was muttering all sorts under his breath. Unfortunately for him, he misjudged the space around me & wheeled the trolled straight into the security guard! Instant karma! I did smile sweetly at him as I hobbled passed.

Totally agree with you. I've noticed an increasing amount of rudeness and just general unawareness of other people lately. Everything from able bodied people on buses/trains sitting in priority seats and ignoring disabled and elderly people who need a seat,to people just letting doors go in your face. I've had this happen several times over the last week when I'm certain that they've seen I'm behind them! I am disabled and can't walk very fast and I get sick of people walking on my heels. For goodness sake,just go round me if you're in a hurry! And people walking into me because they're engrossed in their phone. Naturally,it's MY fault that they bumped into me! People on push bikes jumping red lights is another of my bug bears. It's not enough for the red light to show that it's safe to cross,I have to check that there's not some lunatic cyclist driving at breakneck speed jumping the lights. As a person with mobility problems,I find day to day life outside of my house quite wearing sometimes.

Very true.

They were the ones that didn't observe the 2m during SD days, stood right behind me in shops.

Then see them push in queues 'claiming' that they have a bus to catch and I have seen them 20 mins later having a chin wag with someone outside.

I have said to fellow shoppers who are being rude towards retail staff "what do you want to achieve from treating retail staff like that?" They have nothing to say.

Then I say "the reason why you are struggling to say something is because there is no benefit to being rude to them"

Staff are leaving retail all the time. One of the main reasons is that they can't cope with the rudeness anymore. No one wants to work where they deal with rude people all the time. People need to understand that their behaviour towards shop workers is making them leave.

Rude people have always existed but I do agree these days it's increased. I think it's mostly down to technology, people don't notice or take care to move, phones in hands constantly and in their own worlds. Society has become used to speed so anything that's isn't instant induces exasperation, meanwhile those working to try to be fast become stressed. It's all become a bit of a mad world, rushed, you can be contacted 24/7 so no downtime. X

@Calliopespa so op should have dealt with some other families shit filled nappy to 'help them out'? That's so far beyond entitled I don't actually know what to say.

If it was that stinky why should the mum have thought it any way near acceptable to leave a shit filled nappy in a communal area in a hot hotel in France? That's beyond disgusting

I think that’s almost celebrated and congratulated though.

Where did I say she needed to deal with it? She only needed to pick up the phone.

I can honestly deal with that level of effort to avoid a stinky-nappy altercation in a corridor- probably disturbing other guests too.
And how did you get entitled out of that?

I wonder, sadly, if politeness is viewed by growing numbers as a sign of weakness or some kind of inferiority now?

That’s exactly what I think.

Or somehow “ passive aggressive” ( maybe because it makes them feel bad they know they would not have done it).

The pp who said that stress is a bug factor in rudeness is spot on. We live in such a hard world where we are expected to do so much for very little downtime. Unless one is lucky enough to have the cushion of money and or a supportive partner, life is crushingly hard.

I work in a sector where the main part of our business is asking for money. The rudeness is unbelieveable. It just washes over me now as I have come to understand that asking people for money when they just don't have or didn't budget for leads to fear and anger.

I like to play a little game when people walk up to me and death stare instead of saying excuse me if they want to get past. I pretend that I haven't seen. The tutting gets louder until they invariably say, "Can I get past you." My answer is always of course and something about, how wasn't sure what was happening as they were just standing there.

I don't think good manners and courtesy has ever been innate. We'd not place so much emphasis on it with our children otherwise. (Well, I do with mine!) Rude people have always existed. Oh and, Be Kind, is only ever spouted by rude people.

Three people walking holding hands. All they had to do was 1 person drop a handhold to pass other people in a public place.

This has happened to me several times over the last 12 months. They wanted me to move out of their way, I 1 person. Why couldn't they just stop holding hands for less than a minute?

Also I notice if I've not made an effort to dress in my work clothes but I'm wearing casual clothes with no makeup - I receive below par service.

Stress is a part of everyday life, its not a reason to be rude to customers.

I've found people are definitely rude sometimes for no reason at all. I was in a supermarket once and a family was there with several children and a trolley and they had taken up the width of most of an aisle. However it was most of the aisle, not all of it, so I went through the gap to get past. I didn't touch any of them or their trolley but suddenly the mother was shouting at me and telling me how I should have said 'excuse me please'. I literally didn't inconvenience them or do anything to them at all!

I think people are worried, stressed and unhappy in life so much more now than ever before and the rudeness is a symptom of that.
happy people are not arseholes

@Calliopespa why should she have 'just picked up the phone?' It wasn't her child's nappy stinking out the communal areas!