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12/16/2006

Rudeness...

Compared to my first day skiing, the next few days were much better. I regained the feel and was starting to come down some easier blacks. Good times. I'm going to miss skiing when I am back in Hong Kong... sigh.

Anyway, since being in Chicago (Midwest), I have had great experiences with all strangers that I've met. They're all nice and polite. (Some of my Chinese classmates have found this disturbing because the is no prior relationship build up and they find it hard to accept a stranger's random hello.) But during this ski trip, I had an unbelievable rude experience. After a grill-your-own-steak meal and a couple of drinks, a bunch of GSBers left the restaurant to go back to the ski condos. The shuttle made one stop at a local restaurant to pick up people. The shuttle had two seats left and a family of four came aboard.

There were two young kids so I offered my seat to the kids and knelt near the driver's seat. The father and his daughter took my row and I crouched right in front of them. I offered a smile. No response from dad. Maybe he didn't see me. I looked at him a bit, just a bit pissed off that he has completely ignored me. He stared right back at me. No smile. No nod. No nothing. A completely blank look. Never said anything nor acknowleged me. The family got off the shuttle at their stop. As soon as the driver closed the door, everybody in the bus started talking about how rude the family (well, dad and mom, I guess) was. Even the driver chipped in: maybe they are from the East coast. haha. I held my tongue: I'm from the East Coast...

I'm courteous on public transportation not because I want to be praised for my actions. It's the right thing to do. But... I've never experienced such rudeness!

1 comment:

hedonist said...

In situations like this I tried to think about / understand what could have happened to these people for them to behave in such a way.

You'll be amazed....some people really don't mean to be rude, yet they can frustrate you a lot.

Just calm down and re-center your Chi.