Killing them with manners....

Well...today I had another joyful experience at Wally World.  Love the place really.  (crickets chirping).  I have taught my children to always get out of the way of any other adult on the aisle.  I have taught them to say "...I'm sorry, Ma'am or Sir, am I in your way?" and then move out of the way.  Kindness.  Respect.  Manners.

This afternoon we taking up the entire back to school aisle.  We were having issues picking out the one subject notebooks.  Should we get kittens and Captain America or Hello Kitty and Spiderman.  A lady walked onto the same aisle and I tried to move our buggy out of the way.  "I'm sorry, am I in your way?" is all I said.  Polite, customary, manners.  Then came the same responses from Manny and Little Cheese.   She snarled and the air around us because crackly tense.  In a low sing-songy voice she said, "I haven't spoken to anyone, I am just trying to look."

Well, the heat rose in my face.  All sense of calmness and the urge to keep my mouth shut left.  LEFT!  So, I replied in the same sing-songy voice, "I'm sorry, we were just trying to be polite".  She abruptly  turned and left the aisle.

I read a blog post one time and I wish I could find a link to it about how wonderful it would be if everyone could wear a sign around their neck.  "Leave me alone...I've had a bad day" or other examples that I remember from that post were "I'm suffering, I'm lonely, I'm overwhelmed, my husband just left, my daughter has cancer, I just lost my job,  I (fill in the blank)..."

My instant thought was to think that she was just a horrible grouchy person.  But in reality, my thoughtfully taught manners and response to her might have just been enough to push her over her limits.  I wish I could have seen her sign.  I wish I hadn't held our "manners" in such a high idol regard!