Sharks In Your Mouth

As I was walking down O’Connell Street late last night, with a very good friend of mine, it struck me that, after walking the whole way from Griffith College, stopping off for a late night coffee might be a nice thing to do before turning back home. Nowhere else was open except Mc Donald’s, so much to my disappointment, we paid a visit to the infamous Mc Cafe.

As we queued at the back of a considerably large line, I couldn’t help overhearing a woman complaining (although she was being quite loud) about the rudeness that tarnishes today’s society. Why, not 3 hours ago she had been in work, and was asked by her boss to photocopy something “without as much as a ‘please Martina’, or ’thank you Miss. Stafford’, or even an acknowledgement of my offer to make tea or coffee for him!”

Miss Stafford went on to say that bad manners were a sign of complete ignorance and idiocy. Apparently, they also stemmed from a poor upbringing.

Miss Stafford went on and on and on, and my friend and I had to laugh as we saw the woman’s friend with a very fixed smile on her face, and her eyes glassy as if she were somewhere very far away, perhaps she was bringing herself back to her childhood where her mother used teach her about manners, except Miss Stafford was performing a voice over.

The topic for discussion then moved on from bad manners, to the ignorance of people in general.

People who forget to cover their mouths when they sneeze. People who dither along and don’t consider others who might be in a rush. People who don’t uphold any religious views, and consequently don’t bother to think of others who might feel very strongly about something, by passing discriminative or offensive remarks.  I was beginning to feel like the centre of the earth, where everything is meant to end, was actually in the form of Miss Stafford, standing in Mc Donald’s at half 10 on a Wednesday night waiting to buy herself a coffee.

In fairness to the lady, she was helping pass the time, as the queue was moving at a snail’s pace.

Next thing we knew, we were next in line to be served, and the dictator was being seen to.

“Yes I want a cappuccino with 1 sugar, no 2 actually. And a Danish pastry. The apple one.”

Without so much as a please or thank you, she turned back around to her friend.

“Oh, sorry Dee I forgot you wanted to order as well. You can ask when the girl comes back with my things.”

Upon the girls return and Martina being handed her coffee, her friend went to order her things, but was (what can only be described as rudely) interrupted by a bitter sounding;

“I asked for the apple Danish, not the peach.”

“We don’t have apple, I’m sorry Madam.”

“Well then I won’t have anything except my coffee, is there one sugar in here?”

“You put the sugar in yourself, over there Madam.”

And without so much as a “Never mind” or a “Not to worry”, or even a “How much will that be altogether then?” , a fistful of change was banged on the counter, and poor Dee was ordered to hurry up with whatever it was she was asking for.

As if this weren’t a contradicting situation enough, when Miss Stafford walked over to get her one sugar, she spent an unreasonable amount of time deciding whether she’d actually take a second one or not. Then she noticed the chocolate sprinkles she could have, and spent an unnatural amount of time examining the contents, while a steady queue of people who had been waiting for their beverages behind her in the coffee queue, had begun to grow in number behind the sugar stand.

Clearly, Miss Stafford was not aware of the delays she was causing, or her extreme rudeness she had displayed not 10 minutes previously to the lady serving her her coffee. Perhaps this was a good thing, as judging by her case she had presented to the world earlier, if she were aware of the example of “pure rudeness” and “inconsiderate stalling” she had just showed us all, I doubt she would have been able to live with herself.