Today, I'm truly thankful, truly thankful to all the courteous, well-mannered and polite people out there. We all should. Rarely do we appreciate the goodness in this world, let alone acknowledge it. Rarely, until you get a taste of the repulsive, repugnant characters that traverse this earth. This morning started off really well. I attended one of those single's valentine day dinners last night. It was really good-I hate Valentine's Day so this is really hard for me to admit-so I was really fired up this morning. My enthusiasm didn't last long though.
As I was getting to work, a voice behind me said, "I hope you've come to work today". Curious to see who was saying this and to whom, I turned around. To my shock, it was directed to me by someone who has absolutely no idea what my job description is. I always thought Good Morning was the accepted form of greeting early in the morning but perhaps I was being too naive (at least in this lady's case). I chose to ignore the comment and the lady and proceeded to the security desk. Perhaps she didn't get the point from my act of civility because she repeated the comment. The lady at the security desk was as shocked as I was and began talking back to her. She seemed genuinely concerned that the first words from a respectable person's mouth-or so we thought- could be so vile. This lady wouldn't be deterred though. Not by my silence and definitely not by the security lady because she repeated the same comment two more times and then proceeded to accuse my department of not doing anything. I am very passionate about what I do and very protective of my friends and colleagues so this really got to me. What did she think I had come in at 7.30 a.m. for? Sit round and bet on the time I'd get my first phone call? Count how many emails I'd get all day? Play solitaire? How ironic that I have found her playing solitaire several times. She probably has the top score at my work place. Anyway at this point there was steam coming out of my ears that if I had said anything to her, she'd curse all my predecessors and the God that created them. I hurriedly grabbed my stuff and walked off very fast. She then called me. WTF? B!@#h. She's started following me to the lift, trying to get a response/reaction. It closed on her, thank God because someone was about to lose their teeth in there and it wasn't me.
I already had a low opinion of her so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised by her outburst. I have a lot of faith in the goodness of humanity and that's why I have a problem with her approach this morning. It doesn't matter how bad a day it is for someone, always show your better side. It's not only polite but also humane to greet people and treat them with the respect every human deserves; especially if they have always extended the same courtesy to you. They will always respect you more and will definitely be a lot more willing to help you. This very arrogant, vile, contemptible woman (lady is too respectable a title for her) obviously hasn't the slightest clue about this. I only hope it was a one off (Valentine's Day disappointment) and next time she'll have the decency all other people I have encountered have shown. If not, God help one of us because I cannot say with certainty that I will be too accommodating.
