They say patience is a virtue but whoever came up with that line is obviously still not with us I've realised recently some through my own actions that today's society has little or no patience at all in fact I'll be the first one to tell you i have none at all. I started to think why has this happened how has our attitudes changed towards each other over the years and i could only come up with one answer which is today's technology everything is at our fingertips the net is a big part of that, we don't have to move to go buy our groceries order DVDs buy basically anything you want even our cell phones make it to easy theres even an iPhone application to order pizzas for you. One thing i do love is you can hop online to buy your movie ticket and move to the front of the line when you get to the cinema which makes alot of people jealous that have to wait.
It's not just the fact that we are impatient it's also the fact that alot of us like to piss people off. The other day i was on an escalator and a woman behind me was tapping her foot as if to say move so i can get passed you but lucky a large painting i was holding allowed me to block her path on purpose unfortunately alot of times I'm so sadistic that even if I'm in a public toilet and there's a huge line up I'll stay in there longer to piss people off god I'm mean, one of the things i most enjoy is when I'm doing my grocery shopping and little old ladies with their trolleys take up the whole isle i make a noise behind them like a car beep i receive dirty looks but it always works they move. I also have a pet hate when somebody cuts in line in front of me unfortunately I'm not one who just lets this happen i confront these rude people I'm the kind of person who would do a "Liz Lemon" seeing a guy cut infront of me in the hotdog vendor line so i would buy all the hotdogs to piss him off. Maybe one of the most meanest things i do is when I'm on a bus i move to the outside of the seat so nobody can sit next to me because i don't have the patience to have a conversation with a complete stranger when they feel the need to open their mouth and tell me their life story it totally annoys me.
I have had time to think about my actions and other peoples I've witnessed but i honestly can't imagine myself changing aswell as our society anytime soon although what i do may be considered rude and upsetting i take joy in pissing people off as I'm sure other people do, this may make me a sick, sad person but i don't care however i just wonder if we didn't have all the latest gadgets and technology at our disposal would we all still be like this would we actually find the time to talk to people face to face instead of on the net would we actually walk into a bank look at someone face to face to pay our bills i don't know readers what do you think?
Working in customer service requires some degree of patience. I am sure of this because for the number of people I would have enjoyed throttling, I have (as of yet) managed to muster my patience for their annoying -isms that drive me mad, and breathe through it.
ReplyDeleteThat having been said, you're right: we are a fast-paced society that has a rather significant attention deficit disorder. Everything is -now- and -me- and nothing is about the journey, just the results. I am guilty of pulling out my iPhone to consult my bills - unhappy to wait until I get home to check what my latest cable bill was, or what have you. I want to know now - not because I *need* to, but because I can. It's a funny way to live.
Patience isn't exactly cultivated in a world that's so readily at your finger tips, but I figure I'll accept this as a rather bothersome but otherwise necessary aspect of the life I lead. I love my aps, my internet, and my phone - and I love having things when I want it. It just means I have to accept when others do the same. ;)