How Common: Where Have All the Manners Gone?

Here's a question for you....Do you think todays' economic climate excuses rudeness, ignorance and poor judgement?  I don't.  If anything, I think we should all be on our best behaviour as our world has become smaller due to technology's communication advances.  In a world of non-stop networking, you never know who you could be talking to.

I digress, with an example:

Yesterday one of my clients was upset because his current eyeglass frame could not be used for his new eye prescription.  His outburst to me, in front of his wife and two small (toddler, preschool) children was "F**K!  I knew it.  They always F*****g Do This!  I'm so F*****g P****D Off!  I said "Excuse Me?!"  I'm thinking, who talks like this in front of tiny children????  No wonder kids are growing up too fast and getting the wrong message from adults. Now, wait, don't think I am some sort of extreme right-wing-prude.  I'm not.  I can cuss with the best (or worst of them, depnding on how you look at it).  The Inquiry I am making relates to this part of the story...  The man gets up from my desk, makes no apologies or excuses for his behaviour and walks out of the building to smoke.   His (poor thing!) wife, leans in to tell me "He's just upset because he's laid off right now."  (As it turns out he didn't have to pay for his new eyeglass frame...their insurance covered it) Does being laid off, or otherwise financially burdened give anyone the excuse to be verbally abusive to their children, wife, or even a complete stranger?  I don't think it does. 

Again, it isn't unlikely to think that the person who may overhear you even in a momentarily shared environment could be the one you need to help you get your next job opportunity.  Something to think about while you're waiting in line for your coffee having a heated or way too personal discussion with someone on your cellphone. We can all hear your conversation.  Wouldn't it be something if the person you were going to interview with later on was a few feet behind you in the same line?  Awkward! You may never know the real reason you didn't score that job.  People make inquiries.  People listen in, even whe you think they don't.  Everybody's nosy.  Everybody lies about being nosy.  I know I've told a gaggle of friends later on over dinner "You should have heard this woman at Starbucks...her life is a mess, her kids are out of control, she's broke since her husband lost his job  and since her marraige is going downhill she sounds like she sleeps with everybody and seems completely ignorant on top of it." I got all that from 4 minutes in line for a latte. Do you really want to be fodder for some stranger's dinner conversation?  And guess what?  Employers want to hire nice people who get along and have manners to represent their companies.

Back to being financially overburdened...aren't we all?  Can anyone think of one person they know who isn't trying to dig out of a mountain of credit card debt, struggling to pay their inflated mortgage on a house that's no longer worth the mortgaged amount, or working until they drop at the job they have just to keep their head above water and try and send their kid to college??  Our financial struggles do not provide the excuse to be rude.  I am working 9 days straight this week picking up hours at other locations to get extra income as my spouse has been on medical leave and we had reduced income and more bills. I may be tired, worried, and concerned but that isn't the fault of the next person I come in contact with.  It's life.  We all need to remember the meaning of the phrase "How common" and monitor our own selves to keep from being - at least menatally labeled by others we are in contact with - as Common.   I would much prefer someone think I had good manners and a little class.  Wouldn't you?