#81 ·
Robert Martinez6 said:Ever had this dream of living in some refined, civilized utopia populated exclusively by decent people?🙄
I’m just too polite—too well-bred, really. In today’s world, that seems to be a liability, a fact I've learned the hard way.
My parents raised me this way, and frankly, I can't seem to shake it—even though part of me wishes I could.
For instance, if there's even a slight misunderstanding with a neighbor, my first instinct is to extend an olive branch—to check if *I* was the one in the wrong and offer them a drink to smooth things over.
I always greet acquaintances on the street, I always give up my seat on the subway, I actually use silverware (yes, even for watermelon), and I have a genuine distaste for any form of crudeness...
I was just heading down to the corner store. In those ten short minutes, I witnessed absolute chaos: people blocking the crosswalk while they chatted (forcing me to walk through the grass just to get past), some guy spitting right on the sidewalk, and some idiot flying through a red light and splashing pedestrians with a puddle...
The rude ones always seem to come out on top, but I simply don't have it in me to change...
Look, there's a huge difference between being a gentleman and being a pushover who retreats the moment someone snaps at him.
I've dealt with my fair share of issues when someone tries to push me around 🙂. It’s not like I have major anger problems, but if someone ticks me off, I'll be thinking to myself, "Oh, you little... son of a..." 🙂, but then I realized that reacting isn't the point. You just have to be persistent—firmly, politely persistent about what you need.
Like, if some clerk at the DMV starts giving me attitude because she doesn't feel like doing her job, I'm not going to back down. I'll just stay there, being perfectly pleasant and refusing to leave until she realizes she's not getting rid of me that easily.🙂.
