Simple things made difficult ..

"Would you consider this/that rude behaviour?"

"Do you consider it rude if someone...?"

"Am I being rude..?"

I remember the Reader’s Digest once conducted a survey of local politeness. Three tests were employed in order to determine the result; Dropping papers in a busy street to see if anyone would help; checking how often shop assistants said "thank you"; and counting how often someone held a door open (Reader’s Digest, 2006). Based on the survey, Kuala Lumpur was ranked third least courteous city in the world simply because those chosen ones (people selected for the survey) did not help to pick up the papers, the shop assistants did not thank customers for making a purchase and some Malaysians refused to hold the door open.

Well, some people might and might not agree with the result because there are things that may be considered rude by one culture, but normal for the others. However, I don’t want to talk about the validity of the survey in this post. I just want to share with you my top list of annoying things that people do and they genuinely don't realize they are actually being rude. 

1) Smoking in a restaurant where other patrons pay their hard earned money to eat. I have no problem with smokers, it’s their lungs and money after all. What annoys me the most is that why some of them cannot be considerate and always careful of where their smoke goes!!

2)Some shop assistants are so effing rude and make us feel like not shopping there even though we really like the stuff. There are three types of rude shop assistants:

• Some shops love to have the music blasting so loud that sometimes we can't hear what the shop assistant is saying, and he or she can't hear what we’re asking. Also, they really couldn't be bothered with serving customers because they're too busy dancing and singing.
• Shop assistants who refuse to serve the customers because they think we can’t afford to buy their items. <<Err sorry I made a mistake here, It's not 'THEIR ITEMS'. It’s supposed to be THE ITEMS THAT THEY SHOULD BE SELLING TO EVERY POTENTIAL CUSTOMER WHO ENTERS THE SHOP! >>Hello, you cannot simply judge your customer based on their looks lah. It does not mean that if the customer dress a little too casually for the so-called "shop/brand standards", they cannot afford to buy it. Also, it does not mean that those who enter the shop wearing an Armani coat or a Louis Vutton handbag are the only one who deserve the VIP treatment from the shop assistants. If that is the case, why don’t they just paste a notice: ONLY THOSE WHO EARN MORE THAN 10K ARE ALLOWED TO ENTER THE SHOP! Then people like me won’t enter of course! So if they had this kind of rule and regulation, then I won't blame them for showing their very best stone-faced! (But, they can't put ‘Only those wearing LV, ARMANI, CHANNEL, JIMMY CHOO and other ACKNOWLEDGED DESIGNER BRANDS, are ALLOWED TO SHOP' because most Malaysians nowadays can afford to buy one from Petaling Street- Opps, those who have the original one, sorry! No offense ya). 
• Shop assistants who love to follow us around the shop (and very close). Hello where is our shopping privacy? Didn’t they learn the comfort distance theory in school? I personally don’t feel comfortable if I were being followed by the shop assistant. They said one of the reasons for doing this is to avoid shop-lifting. But my argument would be “Hello, what is the purpose for you to have the barcode alarm and in some shops, a CCTV?”.However, I won't blame the shop assistants entirely. I’m gonna say the bosses are also responsible for making them following us all the time. Based on my experience, if you're working in clothing departments/stores and you don’t watch and follow your customer around the shop, you’re considered lazy. As a result , you might get fired. Hoho..

3)People didn't flush the toilet after using it (especially public toilet). Should I explain more? Err I think better not because I'm afraid I might explain it in details and some details are not appropriate to be discussed publicly! Hehe..so let's just assume you guys understand the situation well.

So basically, these are the three things/situations that I considered very rude. To some people, it may mean nothing. But to me, these three things simply prove the statement “Malaysia has first-class infrastructure, but third-class mentality”. Owning first class or one of the highest buildings in the world but nation with third class mentality and attitude is nothing to be proud of. 

So Miss Florinta, you should educate your future students not just to be English literates, but also good-mannered citizens. Chayo-chayo :)

Goodbye, until then.