Things Nice People Already Know

Mamacita says:

1.  If anyone in your family/group can’t behave properly in public, that person should be left at home.  Nice people don’t permit their children – or anyone else – to disturb others in public.  This applies to restaurants, theaters, schools, churches, and anywhere else people congregate.  Behave, or go away.  Period.  If your kids won’t obey you, please feed them at home, or eat in public only in the off-hours.  You might also want to look into why they won’t obey you.  Are you a pushover?  Good parents are not pushovers.

2.  Litterbugs are criminals.  A nice person will put a poopy diaper in his/her pocket or purse before he/she will leave it on a park bench or by the side of the road where others can be grossed out by it.  People who flick ashes or – even worse – drop a used cigarette on the ground are criminals, too.  Dirty, dirty people!  Nasty people who befoul the world.

3. If you are a person who leaves a mess on the table in a fast-food restaurant instead of throwing it away when you leave, please see #2.

4.  People who do not flush are not nice people.

5.  People who bring their portable offices to a busy restaurant during rush hour and spread it out over a four or six-person table and LINGER, are not nice people. If the restaurant manager permits this, he/she is not a nice person, either.

6.  Regarding #1:  It isn’t always children who cause disturbances and ruin the morning/afternoon/evening/meal/experience/life for other people in public, either.  Some of the worst theater offenders are old people who have forgotten how to whisper, and men who require a full meal during the show.  People with miniature bladders who don’t sit on the aisle aren’t nice, either.

7.  Latecomers who insist on being seated after the show has started are not nice people.  Theatre managers who permit this are not nice, either.

8.  Any person, regardless of age*, who does not understand the concept of “indoor voice” and will not change his/her volume upon request, is not a nice person.  *If the disturbance is caused by an infant, the infant should be removed from the room by the parent and soothed.  IF the infant calms down and can be quiet, then and only then should he/she be allowed to return to the public place where nice people are trying to eat, experience something, listen, read, etc.  There is nothing on this earth lovelier than well-behaved children, and few things more obnoxious than a brat.  Except maybe the parent of a brat who won’t acknowledge or take charge of his/her child’s public behavior, ie require that it be changed, or remove the child until such time. . .  What’s that?  Your children don’t obey you?  Well, then, you’ve got far worse problems than we can address here, don’t you.  Shh, I think I hear the Jerry Springer people trying to contact you.

Item:  I am not talking about special-needs people here.  Don’t start in with me.

Item:  Yes, I said “brat.”  Perhaps if we all started using the word “brat” again, there might be fewer brats.

9.  Nice people sit in their assigned seat.  That includes gymnasiums, airplanes, classrooms, theaters, and wherever you go where you have a ticket with a seat number on it.  I’m sorry you paid good money for a bad seat.  Next time, buy your ticket earlier and purchase a good seat.  Yes, they cost more.  Nice people already know that, too.  People who insist on sitting in someone else’s paid seat are not only not nice, they are morons.

10. If everyone in the world would simply buck up and behave themselves wherever they go, the whole world would be pleasant and infinitely more fair.  Nice people have always known this, but they are constantly thwarted by people who choose to behave as they please wherever they are.  Nice people are usually too nice to make a fuss when they are confronted by these bad people, but I think perhaps it’s time the nice people stood up for themselves and insisted that bad people be escorted out of any public place when they act up, and forbidden the premises until such time as they can prove improvement.

I’m not in a bad mood today, really I’m not.  I just get extremely frustrated by our society’s constant catering to the lowest common denominator all the time.

Our courts allow absurd money-wasting lawsuits to take up time that would be better spent on other matters.  Old women so stupid they hold a cardboard cup of coffee between their thighs sue when they give it a squeeze and GASP, who knew?  it burned them, and WIN that suit.  (For the record, I feel no pity for this woman at all.  Hot coffee will burn skin.  Did she really not know that?  She did NOT deserve that settlement money.  She is not a nice person.)  Managers and business owners are so afraid of lawsuits from jerks, and bad PR, that they’ve let the bad people walk all over them.  Maybe if we made it extremely unpleasant for people to misbehave in public, and pointed and laughed a lot, there would be less of it.  Then again, expecting everyone to behave properly might be a little hard on some people’s SELF ESTEEEEEEEEEEEM.*

*Which is viable only when it is honestly EARNED, by the way.  Self-esteem is not a given; it’s not even a right.  It’s an earned honor.  EARN IT.  Then maybe you’ll have it.  If you don’t earn it, you don’t deserve any.


Comments

Things Nice People Already Know — 26 Comments

  1. Remember the woman with the coffee cup between her legs and her desire to blame someone else for her stupidity the next time you get called for jury duty. Think about tort reform and stupid time wasting law suits and how it makes you crazy when people get large rewards for stupidity. Think about how this raises insurance rates, liability and heath, how large settlements result in unneeded tests and laws to protect people from frivolous lawsuits….next time you serve on a civil suit jury – think about who is really at fault and not how much YOU could possibly get some day if you became stupid. Oh right, juries Have become stupid and we all “got it” didn’t we?

  2. Remember the woman with the coffee cup between her legs and her desire to blame someone else for her stupidity the next time you get called for jury duty. Think about tort reform and stupid time wasting law suits and how it makes you crazy when people get large rewards for stupidity. Think about how this raises insurance rates, liability and heath, how large settlements result in unneeded tests and laws to protect people from frivolous lawsuits….next time you serve on a civil suit jury – think about who is really at fault and not how much YOU could possibly get some day if you became stupid. Oh right, juries Have become stupid and we all “got it” didn’t we?

  3. Number 1 is, well, number 1 on my list. There might be a whole subset here of Things All Good Parents Know.

    After my 3 were old enough to know how to behave in public places (in other words, not a tiny infant who only communicates one or two ways,) I only had to take a child out of a public place, what? Three times? I have 3 kids, so once each. Eh, maybe one or two more times for my oldest. I was learning, too.

    Anyway, that way they knew that when I leaned over, gritted my teeth, and used a low, quiet voice to say: “Stop that or we’re leaving.” that I meant business. They learned not only to behave, but that “leaving” would not be anywhere near as pleasant as even the most casual of restaurants. And they all seem to have come out of that with their self-esteem intact. In fact, they are complimented all the time. Not because they sit stock-still with their hands folded, but because they just know how to act in public – like nice kids.

    Oh? And peer pressure? From siblings? A wonderful thing! If all 5 of us have to leave someplace because one of us is screwing around, the other 4 have every right to be mad and every right to express it.

    And the self esteem ’round these parts seems to be just fine.

  4. Number 1 is, well, number 1 on my list. There might be a whole subset here of Things All Good Parents Know.

    After my 3 were old enough to know how to behave in public places (in other words, not a tiny infant who only communicates one or two ways,) I only had to take a child out of a public place, what? Three times? I have 3 kids, so once each. Eh, maybe one or two more times for my oldest. I was learning, too.

    Anyway, that way they knew that when I leaned over, gritted my teeth, and used a low, quiet voice to say: “Stop that or we’re leaving.” that I meant business. They learned not only to behave, but that “leaving” would not be anywhere near as pleasant as even the most casual of restaurants. And they all seem to have come out of that with their self-esteem intact. In fact, they are complimented all the time. Not because they sit stock-still with their hands folded, but because they just know how to act in public – like nice kids.

    Oh? And peer pressure? From siblings? A wonderful thing! If all 5 of us have to leave someplace because one of us is screwing around, the other 4 have every right to be mad and every right to express it.

    And the self esteem ’round these parts seems to be just fine.

  5. Though with all the above Tolerance (TM) today, the lesson is clear:

    BE A WINNER, NOT A LOSER.
    BE A BAD PERSON.

  6. Though with all the above Tolerance (TM) today, the lesson is clear:

    BE A WINNER, NOT A LOSER.
    BE A BAD PERSON.

  7. Gotta love it, well said and of course ever so true. If my little precious starts tantrum when we go out she is put in a corner ( yes even at the big shopping centres) and I don’t care who stares and if it continues I take her home. No need to ruin everyone elses day…

  8. Gotta love it, well said and of course ever so true. If my little precious starts tantrum when we go out she is put in a corner ( yes even at the big shopping centres) and I don’t care who stares and if it continues I take her home. No need to ruin everyone elses day…

  9. Guess I’m not nice.

    I break #2, my attitude is I’ve been out of the Army for years and no longer have to police the mess, that is what employees are for.

    Oh I will do it if the place looks very busy or crowded.

  10. Guess I’m not nice.

    I break #2, my attitude is I’ve been out of the Army for years and no longer have to police the mess, that is what employees are for.

    Oh I will do it if the place looks very busy or crowded.

  11. What about people who don’t adhere to the “you go, then I go” rule of merging…are those not-nice people, too? (I think so and I’m just checking to see if I’m being too sensitive.) Or those that let their children make a horrible mess of a table at a restaurant and still only leave a 15% tip? (If you can’t afford to tip generously, leave your kids at home for dinner or yell your order into the clown’s head at the drive-through instead.)

  12. What about people who don’t adhere to the “you go, then I go” rule of merging…are those not-nice people, too? (I think so and I’m just checking to see if I’m being too sensitive.) Or those that let their children make a horrible mess of a table at a restaurant and still only leave a 15% tip? (If you can’t afford to tip generously, leave your kids at home for dinner or yell your order into the clown’s head at the drive-through instead.)

  13. I have never in my life had an indoor voice, much to my parents chagrin. My laughter only increases my personal volume and that laughter is frequent.

    Perfect example… some friends and I went to see Finding Nemo when it was still in theatres. When Dori started speaking whale I got so tickled and was laughing so loudly that others in the theatre stopped laughing to stare at me. Such is my life.

    If you can’t hear me from a mile away there’s something wrong. It’s not that I’m disrespectful it’s that my ears don’t hear how loud I am until it’s way too late. And honestly, I’ve given up trying.

  14. I have never in my life had an indoor voice, much to my parents chagrin. My laughter only increases my personal volume and that laughter is frequent.

    Perfect example… some friends and I went to see Finding Nemo when it was still in theatres. When Dori started speaking whale I got so tickled and was laughing so loudly that others in the theatre stopped laughing to stare at me. Such is my life.

    If you can’t hear me from a mile away there’s something wrong. It’s not that I’m disrespectful it’s that my ears don’t hear how loud I am until it’s way too late. And honestly, I’ve given up trying.

  15. Would you consider running for president next term? Or at least, Secretary of Education?

    How is it that so many educated people believe that they can give “self-esteem” to someone else? We all know that you cannot feel good about yourself unless you are doing what you know to be right.

  16. Would you consider running for president next term? Or at least, Secretary of Education?

    How is it that so many educated people believe that they can give “self-esteem” to someone else? We all know that you cannot feel good about yourself unless you are doing what you know to be right.

  17. Well said! We have at least 1 teacher at our school who doesn’t flush…pretty gross! I’m thinking about leaving a copy of Emily Post or Miss Manners in the bathroom. What do you think?

  18. Well said! We have at least 1 teacher at our school who doesn’t flush…pretty gross! I’m thinking about leaving a copy of Emily Post or Miss Manners in the bathroom. What do you think?

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