WAIT YOUR TURN!

[Gene and Viol]

Winston had a great post in this section on the pros and cons of livining here in the Philippines. I had an experience just the other day and wrote about it. Then got to thinking this might be a good place for it...

We have all heard about and maybe even had to deal with a case of road rage in our home county at one time or another. But what about the surprise and angry feelings one experiences when someone deliberately cuts in front of you at a check out line at the grocery store, bank or other place of business? Add to this that it happens on a day you are in no mood to be screwed with. Do you say something or just let it go?

Where I come from in Southern California, if that happens the offender is very quickly told about it and at the same time told in a very stern way where the end of the line is.

After quite a few years of living in the Philippines now I have seen this many times over the years. It has happened to me a few times as well with nothing said about it by me at the time.
I have always figured its because of lack of education maybe and they just don’t know any better. So I have always let it slide and have not said anything to an offender. That is until the other day…

I had gone to a local pharmacy to get something for a headache I had that was bad enough to make even child birth seem like a pleasant alternative. After waiting MY turn in line and finally at the counter and ready to be waited on, a Filipino woman in her mid 30’s that looked like a wrestler from the Friday Night Smack Down show on TV pushed her way in front of me and tried to place her order.

Well, feeling as bad as I did and needing to tend the headache and get out of the heat anyway, I had finally had enough and gave this woman an education in “good manners and right conduct� as they would say in the school system here.

I tapped this woman on the shoulder and told her “I had to wait my turn in line and you will do the same.� And pointing far behind me told her “the line starts back there!!!�

With a look that could kill and saying a few angry words in her native language that I could not understand, she turned and took her place at the end of the line.

Maybe this woman really didn’t know any better. But judging from her reaction I would assume that she was use to doing anything she pleased wherever she goes and most likely getting away with it. But not on this day.

I guess the point is that even as a guest in a foreign country, geographic location on the earth does not change right and wrong or excuse bad manners and behavior.
And there comes a point when it really is okay to speak up for your own rights…