Etiquette of everyday life.

Something happened today that FIRSTLY got me awfully worked up and to be honest it left me a bit shocked about human behaviour....and SECONDLY, thinking about manners in general. And kind of 'expected codes' of courtesy. Being a sociology student also, this is kinda second nature to me, to think about things in this sort of way, how people generally believe they should communicate with others and also how they communicate with blatant strangers.
My question to you is how polite are you? I happen to be one of those people who try and go out of my way to be polite, let people go by me if their isn't enough room, always say 'thank you' if someone is polite to me...but what happens when someones rude? I can't even express how it makes me feel. Basically, an older lady with her husband were sitting on a train, this lady has her bag on the chair next to her...now there isn't a hell of a lot of room on said train and I have 2 big bags and I'm feeling kinda wobbly. I say 'excuse me...' wanting her to move her bag, or at least usually this will warrant some sort of reaction. MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WILL AT LEAST RESPOND TO THE BLOODY POLITE GESTURE OF EXCUSE ME. Right? Wrong.
Now, I have the inherited trait of temper. When pushed to my limit, may I add. I'm usually quite shy I suppose but I swore in dumbfounded shock if I'm honest.

This situation got me thinking however. Have you ever done something rude without really thinking about it? We live in a little country really, and typical british manners and common decency tend to go along way here in the great britannia in which we live. Of course some people are actual arrogant and/or ignorant idiots who really don't care about anyone but themselves? But surely this is not a way to live your life. In my opinion it is healthier to be a nice person, to smile at strangers, to hold the door open for someone just for the hell of it, and why shouldn't we do things like this everyday without even thinking about it? It isn't such a big deal to be friendly to someone you've never met and will likely never meet again, but if everyone in the world acts with rudeness and distain then that will get us nowhere. What pisses me off the most is that the youths of this country are labelled constantly as deviant, with no respect for their elders, but as I have witnessed today, the elders often have very little respect either- perhaps they should remember in future, the 'older generations' and the of course the ever present negative media- who actually raised these youths with no respect....?

Being a waitress & a slave to the wage.

I've just started my second year at university and also my 3rd job. It isn't much fun trying to divide your time between a lot of different things, sometimes it can be tiring. However, I absolutely despise being bored- I drive myself practically insane with pondering, worries and generally thinking about every little thing and managing to work myself up about stuff.
So here is a little bit about how I have learned since joining the masses of students who commit themselves to part time work:

There are a few things that I can tell you about being a waitress and the number one thing to mention is that it is not fucking easy. Yes I know plenty of people have absolutely no regard or courtesy to people who work in the service industry, or waiters and waitresses, something I have noticed is people deciding that you are now their personal slave for the next hour and a half during their meal...
One of the most VITALLY IMPORTANT qualities that you should have as a person if you decided you really want to be (have to be because you simply need the dolla) - is being able to fake a huuuuge amount of friendliness. Generally, most of the people I have ever worked with have some form of split personality, smiling at everyone one minute then either screaming profanities behind the bar (first job), scowling at the chefs (certain people in second job) or becoming extreeemely passive aggressive, or as I witnessed on my first shift in this new job, slightly directly aggressive- which to be fair I have never witnessed before in all my time of being a slave to the wage. (Placebo reference there for any fans ;))
I think you also have to be quite open, be used to having the piss taken out of you a little bit (this bit is easy really if you have a sense of humour). To be honest, I have now worked in 3 totally different types of places. Fast food chain, middle class 'posh' restraunt chain, and small local bistro. They are all different and y'know in a way, good and bad. However, lets just say that I actually have nightmares about my first job now and I quit almost six months ago.
And then, the most obvious one is enjoy being busy. I hate being bored, I worked in a nursery for like a day when I was younger and it was horrible, slow, boring. But the great thing about being a waitress, especially in a big establishment is that you are constantly doing something. So, if you have ever thought about working in a restraunt/looked down on someone because that is were they work then think again, its a bloody hard job and if you don't believe me- go try it.