A friend shared the following story with me. “I went to a restaurant to pick up a pizza. Both rooms were full of diners, and the phone was ringing nonstop with take-out orders. The employees were running their legs off, and the guy ahead of me was screaming abusively at the woman behind the cash register because his pizza wasn’t ready. She handled it very professionally, but it was obviously challenging, and frankly a little scary. I could see she was really shaken after he left.” This begs the question: why do people behave like this? It doesn’t make the situation any better because it ruins the day of the person receiving the abusive behavior and puts a serious damper on the day of everyone who observed it. On top of that, the person who engaged in the abusive behavior will be remembered as a classless jerk and someone to be avoided. This abusive person could have made everybody’s day by simply smiling and saying something kind to the person behind the cash register, and he would have been admired by everyone for doing so.

One Sentence Wisdom

• “Rudeness is a weak person’s imitation of strength.” — Eric Hoffer
• “There’s no excuse for rudeness.” — Tyra Banks

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