Be nice, you a-hole

I was just in Duane Reade. The lady in front of me was having trouble with the credit card machine. Well, more accurately the credit card machine was having trouble with her: didn’t want to accept her signature as she signed, for some reason, and he was the only checkout open, so a line started to build up behind her. To cut to the chase: the lady was absolutely obnoxious to the Duane Reade guy. Snapped at him a bunch of times, didn’t make eye contact, did the big theatrical shoulder sigh thing over and over.

I shop there quite a lot and I know first hand that he’s always super helpful and super nice. A credit to the store, even. It’s not his fault there’s something wrong with the machine, and he’s doing his best to get it sorted out, so why be an a-hole to him?

Now I’ve been there, and I fully understand that that is an uncomfortable position to be in: holding up the line, feeling like people think your card is getting declined, but that’s still no reason to be an asshole. And honestly, I do feel like I’m noticing it more and more here in New York. Perhaps it’s me being more perceptive, but whether it’s more instances or just me noticing it more, there’s still no reason for us to behave like that towards others. And yes, I understand the fast pace of New York means everything has to happen immediately and exactly how you want it to, but inevitably sometimes things go wrong. And when that happens, remember you’re dealing with an actual human, not a machine. Just because the guy is on the other side of the counter doesn’t mean you an excuse to treat him like crap.

So stop it, please. And be nice, would you?