Pet Peeves #2: RUDE PEOPLE.

Okay, so yesterday we got paid. Payday=shopping day. And I don't necessarily mean shopping for fun - I'm talking the stuff we NEED to buy.

So I hop on the bus as soon as I drop the kids off at school. Get it done early and then I can come home and relax and enjoy the quiet until the little monsters come home. Right?

Well, these 2 men get on the bus with me. They sat near the front, I sat near the rear. I didn't really think much of them until the bus started to get near my stop. I got up, pushed the button, and went to the front of the bus so that I could hop off as soon as it stopped. Just as the bus was slowing down, these 2 men get up, and elbow me out of the way to stand in front of me!! (I'd also like to point out that there's a blue line painted on the bus floor, and a sign saying "no standing in front of this line" -- I was standing right AT that line.)

Now you need to understand something. I'm not the kind of woman that wants to be treated differently just because I am a woman. But I do want to be treated with respect.

Just the other day, I was reading some Icelandic guy's blog, where he was saying that chivalry truly WAS dead and he was glad of it. But then he went on to explain. He was talking about doing things like giving up your seat to a woman simply because they are a woman. And he said something like "if you're going to hold a door open for a woman, then why not hold it open for a man, too?"

I do do that. If I come up to a door and I see that someone's trying to pass through - regardless of whether they're man or woman, young or old - I'll hold it open for them. It's called having manners.

If I see an elderly person or a person with a baby buggy struggling to get on the bus, I'll offer to help and/or give up my seat (and I have to say that out here, I see just as many men with baby buggies as I do women).

I never understood why people made such a big deal out of the fact that my kids have manners. I can't count the number of times I'd have complete strangers come up to me and say "your children are so well behaved!" (Of course, that's in public - they're totally different at home!!) I didn't understand why it was such a shock to them.

I asked my husband last night: am I being ridiculous expecting people to treat me with respect?

He said no, but I still have to wonder.

(P.S. It wasn't until the bus stopped and they started to get off that I got a good whiff of them. They REEKED of beer. At 9 o'clock in the morning!!!!! ... but that's a rant for another day.)