Cindy Munford on November 27, 2009 at 1:19 PM

Here’s an old trick that frequently works well. If a car with a piercingly loud audio system, especially one dialed to the maximum window-rattling bass, pulls up anywhere near you on the street, just try to catch the eye of the driver, and when you do, mouth a few nonsense words — and do it with a big smile so they do not conclude you are annoyed by the noise.

Nine times out of ten the person will turn down the sound in order to ask you to repeat what you just said.

Then, just smile and say, “Thank you!” And then turn and walk away. You’ll get a good chuckle from anyone around you who witnesses it.

A couple of summers ago some parents in the neighborhood bought their darling, precious teenage son an ATV. He started riding it around our quiet, rural subdivision with a hell’s fury, jeopardizing himself along with the handful of neighbors we have. I stopped the boy one afternoon and explained to him that he was breaking several different state laws and that he could be fined and his machine could be impounded.

He looked me in the eye and said “Fuck you!”

One evening he and a friend started zipping around the neighborhood on the ATV and a mini-bike. When they stopped, I went into the boy’s yard and told them that they were going to stop or I would turn the matter over to the authorities.

They threatened me physically, and I told them that it would be a terrible, terrible mistake on their part. I never threatened them, though. A little while later some sassy woman came into my backyard and started screaming at me that her boy had every right to ride his mini-bike on the road around our houses and wouldn’t listen to me about what the state law said about it.

She threatened me physically, and I went after her and scared the holy hell out of her. I’m a polite and quiet person but no redneck woman is going to sass me on my own property.

A few minutes later the boys started racing around again with an emphasis of staying near my property. I called the county sheriff, and deputy came out and fined them. He had to re-explain to their parents what the state law says about riding ATV’s on county and state roads.

I thought I’d be the bad guy of the neighborhood, but the other neighbors started telling me that they’re glad I made a stand because they were afraid to.

I thought it was amazing that adults would cower to a punk teenage kid. That’s the problem. Yeah, sure I would’ve loved to beat that kid to a pulp, but that would’ve landed me in jail.

If I behaved that way at a similar age, my parents would’ve killed me. I would’ve had to go from door-to-door apologizing for my behavior. Parents don’t care. Children run everything.

I live in a semi-rural area, but the yuppies are coming, some are already here. My children’s school has a “car-rider line.” These families who have fled the taxation of the nearby town bring their kids to school, but the kids won’t get out of the car until a teacher or school employee opens the door for them. They think they’re some sort of little sultan. Then the parents sit an watch their kid all the way into the school, as if something could happen to them in the 15 or 20 feet they have to walk into the building.

Spoiled! Spoiled! Spoiled! Their parents are doing them no favors, and they are weakening the nation in the process.

My wife says that there’s a Jimmy Buffett song that fits me (can’t remember the title):

“I’m just trying to get by being quiet and shy
in a world full of pushing and shove.”

Page turner.

Head turner, too. There’s just something about redheads.

I agree with Amy somewhat, but I disagree about noisy children playing in the neighborhood. If children aren’t laughing, hollering, screeming, crying, chasing, and generally making a ruckus, they aren’t being children.

I keep the a couple of windows open, and children playing doesn’t bother me. Playing even loudly is not rude, that’s what children do. People who get annoyed or upset when children are playing are the inconsiderate ones.

What is inconsiderate? Trying to enforce a “quiet zone” around your block and being the neighborhood grouch to children.

Rode Werk on November 27, 2009 at 1:04 PM

I completely agree. More than birdsong, I like the sound of children playing in the neighborhood. It’s the sound of life.

For anyone that hasn’t read her story about the stolen car–it’s priceless! Thanks again for the heads up!

Japan also is draconian in demanding societal members adhere to the basic and advanced tenets of good manners.

I think this is a myth, because in my personal experience I’ve seen no evidence of this whatsoever. Spending time Honolulu (a.k.a. Tokyo East), I’ve had Japanese not hold the door for my wife, not excuse themselves for cutting in front of you or cutting in line. I’ve also seen the same behavior in Tokyo, too. Pushing and shoving on the trains, barging through open doors without consideration for others. I know the bowing thing makes it seem like they are all well mannered and polite, but that’s about as far as it goes IMHO.

simpleton is a turd in the pool no more no less…

huckelberry on November 27, 2009 at 6:57 PM

He’s simply hateful, and a lib. I use him as the model against the other libs who post here.

Unfair, maybe. But none of the other libs deny him.

He’s a tool for me, my being on the Right.

I hate libs, of that there is no uncertainty. Part of that revulsion is how simplesimon treats us, like with his term of ‘racefan’.

Him, being a lib, as determined us and that’s BS. So, as he judges us, I call him as a spokesperson for ALL libs who post here.

Am I being unfair? Maybe.

I give back by the same measure to which I’m also held.

Liam on November 27, 2009 at 2:22 PM

simpleton is a turd in the pool no more no less…

Me, too… on a black and white TV.

TXUS on November 27, 2009 at 3:25 PM

We didn’t evem have electricity back then. We had to watch TV by candlelight.

*** That does not excuse the mother’s reaction and her sense of entitlement to special treatment because her little darling was naughty enough to get kicked off of a plane. ***
Lily on November 27, 2009 at 1:17 PM

The story doesn’t talk about what the flight crew did, or didn’t do, before the pilot decided to turn the plane around. Did anyone try to calm the kid down?

Tail-gaters & constant high-beam users are the worst of the worst in the annals of rudeness.
jgapinoy on November 27, 2009 at 4:31 PM

I hate tailgaters, too, but have found myself tailgating people when they do things like drive 5-10 mph below the posted speed limit in the left lane. So I guess I hate myself. :)

“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot…”

KendraWilder on November 27, 2009 at 4:30 PM

With his divorce & a suicide in his lineage, Spock wasn’t the family expert many thought he was.

Sure enough, the youngest became so spoiled and self-involved that she was literally a very unlikeable person to be around, and remains so self-involved at this stage of her life that I usually cut her short on telephone calls because I get tired of hearing the same routine over and over unchanging.

In much later years, not too many before he died, Dr. Spock, in a moment of candor, admitted that he’d called it wrong in many ways, and in retrospect regretted helping to create the “ME” generation that we’re now dealing with in Baby Boomer liberal/progressive activists.

Bank of America

Yes, they have been alternately crooked & incompetent in their dealings with me.

For example: I’m seriously disabled with a rare and crippling form of Rheumatoid Arthritis. In large Wal*Mart type stores I use the scooter to get around. In smaller markets and stores where the isles are narrower I usually hobble around with my cane so that I don’t cause squeezing in the small isles.

But while shopping recently in a smaller market, as I was attempting to maneuver down an isle that had a large power pole next to one of the racks, opposite and coming towards me was a mother wheeling her kid around in the kid-type shopping cart that looks like a truck or auto. She came around the post as I was approaching it, took all of center isle and barreled towards me without a single concern. As a mom wheeling a small kid around, she was convinced she had the ‘right of way’ as her cart was not as maneuverable as I was hobbling with a cane. There was no choice but to bite my lip and move aside so she could pass.

This is not the first time that moms pushing kids around in carts or walkers have almost run me over as they assume the ‘right of way’, and it is rapidly becoming a pet peeve of mine.

Me, too… on a black and white TV.

TXUS on November 27, 2009 at 3:25 PM

Yes! A big console that had a record payer in it!

I mean–I watched Man on the Moon live, as it happened.

Liam on November 27, 2009 at 3:02 PM

Me, too… on a black and white TV.

Why thank you, I am sure being 56 probably has more to do with it then anything else.

Cindy Munford on November 27, 2009 at 2:43 PM

Well, I’m 59, but still feel 30 and unfortunately often live that age. But I do read on a 63 year old level. -_*

AsianGirlInTights on November 27, 2009 at 3:11 PM

“Liam” is short for my real name, both of which mean ‘determined guardian’. Everyone used to call me ‘Billy’, but I’m a grown up man now.

“Liam” is Irish, which is my indirect lineage. I consider myself a Scot, going back to 536AD.

I’ve seen so many beauties and, being a history nut, love everything the God of Creation has given me.

Cindy Munford on November 27, 2009 at 2:25 PM

Thanks for the update from last night. On second thought, I probably won’t take my 7 year old son, just the one who’s 18.

I mean–I watched Man on the Moon live, as it happened.

Liam on November 27, 2009 at 3:02 PM

‘Liam’ seemed like a younger person’s name to me somehow.

I can see what you mean about the experiences and not wanting to trade them though. That’s the whole point in living a good long life.

51!?! I thought you were younger.

AsianGirlInTights on November 27, 2009 at 2:58 PM

Nope. I’m 51.

And, really, I’m glad I’m not younger. I’ve learned a lot these years that I wouldn’t trade for all the gold in the world.

The things I’ve seen, the beauties I’ve witnessed–it’s all been good and wonderful.

I mean–I watched Man on the Moon live, as it happened.