A few conference guidelines to follow
ByI went to a conference yesterday and was subjected to some people with appalling manners. It amazes me how people don’t seem to realize that they aren’t the only ones on the planet. So, if you are at a conference here are some guidelines to follow:
1. Please leave the room if you have a child/baby that is screaming or crying uncontrollably – do you really think others can’t hear it or that it’s not disturbing while trying to listen to a speaker???
2. Please don’t kick the chair that is in front of you when it is occupied by someone – it’s VERY annoying to have your chair kicked over and over again! In fact, just don’t kick chairs at all and you won’t ever have to worry about disturbing someone!
3. If you find yourself standing in a very confined space with a very large backpack on your back, realize that every time you move around you’re hitting people with said very large backpack. Please remove the backpack so that you aren’t knocking people down or don’t go into the space that won’t hold more than one person if a backpack is included.
4 . If you find yourself walking down a hallway going one way and others are walking down the hallway going the other way (each on their own side) and you suddenly realize you need to enter a room that is across the flow of traffic and you must plow across the hall could you at least say excuse me? Actually it would be more polite to wait until the path to the door is clear but, I know I know, that would be thinking too much of other people!
Okay, so to explain why I’ve come up with these simple guidelines to follow, here is what happened to me – I was sitting in a conference trying to listen to the keynote speaker and there were people in the back of the room with screaming/crying children. I was having a very hard time focusing on the speaker more than once during his time on stage. A little later I was sitting in a different room in a workshop and the person behind me continuously kicked my chair (I’m not sure if it was mine or the one next to me but all the chairs were connected so any chair she kicked in that row would have made it feel like mine was being kicked.) After that I was in a vendor’s booth looking at some books in a very narrow walkway (barely large enough for two people to be standing back to back) and this woman was behind me with a backpack on and she kept moving around or bending over or something and every time she did she whacked me with her bag. Not once did she acknowledge that she hit me at all. I finally had to move before I got knocked down! And lastly, I was walking down a hall and an entire family – mother, dad, children, and a baby in a stroller – crossed right in front of me so that I almost ran into them. They didn’t even acknowledge that I was walking there or say excuse me or anything. One second they were on their side of the hallway and the next they were right in front of me. I just can’t get over the lack of common courtesy these days. Honestly, do people realize that they aren’t walking around on this earth by themselves? UGH!
Mom, this is a true post. People are getting ruder by the day. I can say that by interactions I have like you explain and by my job.
And another thing. I really wish people wouldnt use cellphones while they in my checkout lane! It is to me very rude when they talk to that invisible person and are not able to listen to me when I tell them their “total”, and a Thank you is totally out of the question after I bagged all their items and put them in the shopping cart, because “it is my job to do this”
Love this post
Andrea
Isn’t it sad, Andrea! People just don’t seem to know how to say please and thank you anymore. These are so simple yet they go a long way if you use them.
You’re right about the cell phones. I may write a different post about that! UGH!
What was the conference about if you don’t mind me asking? Don’t tell me it had anything to do w/ home schooling
(we are former homeschoolers).
As a business owner (general contractor), I have to honestly say, some of the hardest people to work for are often ” born again Christians”…and I am one. I would much rather work for a non believer most of the time….don’t know if it’s they think they are “stewards” of God’s money or what. Kindness is a fruit of the spirit, and it is frequently lacking. There are exceptions of course, but give me a pagan any day. Hope that doesn’t sound too harsh.
The baby thing bugs me the worst. We’ve all been there, in church or wherever, and baby starts to cry. I always immediately took mine out into the hall, always. Why is that such a difficult concept?? I am always so sad for the preacher or speaker–imagine how distracting it must be for them!!
Then there are the people who drive through my neighborhood at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning with music so loud it can’t be enjoyable anymore. It blows my mind that the thought of other people sleeping either never crosses their mind, or they just don’t care. (I totally have to blog about this one, it is one of my biggest peeves.)
I’m also shocked at how often people ignore me when I hold a door open for them. Not a thank you or even a smile.
Society is increasingly more about entitlement and less about courtesy, so I’m afraid this will just continue to get worse. My contribution will be teaching my daughter to have as many manners as I can squeeze into her pretty little head!
Great post!
DM, I hate to say this but it was a homeschool conference. UGH! Isn’t it sad when believers who are SUPPOSED to be showing the fruits of the Spirit aren’t doing it but unbelievers do! It’s rather embarrassing because we as Christians (and homeschoolers) should be setting a good example and modeling good manners and behavior. I wonder why it’s not happening?
Missy, you hit the nail on the head when you said, “Society is increasingly more about entitlement and less about courtesy.” I try my hardest to have good manners no matter what the people around me are doing (although I admit it’s sometimes very hard – I wanted to smack the lady kicking my chair and the one that almost knocked me down with her backpack!!) and I hope it’s sticking with my kids as I try to teach them good manners. I loved this sentence you wrote: “My contribution will be teaching my daughter to have as many manners as I can squeeze into her pretty little head!”
Thanks for the great comments!!
i get so annoyed when i go places and everyone seems to have no manners! Especially when I’m pregnant, i’m SUPER sensititve to it then.! My husband gets embarrased because you can read my offense all over my face.
I don’t even have to be pregnant – I just get annoyed period!
I had to shake my head when reading this post – I thought it was only an East Coast thing (I’m in NJ). Apparently this lack of manners is nationwide. I remember being in church, oh about five years ago. There was a family of five with just the father. The baby was screaming and crying during the sermon and the father did not leave even though the noise was very disruptive. Finally the minister STOPPED HIS SERMON to say, “would you PLEASE remove yourself to the Fellowship hall? (In the fellowship hall there were couches and you can still hear the sermon.) Why wouldn’t he just leave before? I would be embarassed if my child were crying. Even now at church, if they become too fussy ( I have three) I will take them right out into the foyer and walk them around. Now that we have a nursery, it’s not a problem.
People are rude, in line, in the supermarket, in Target, then act surprised when people are annoyed. What ever happened to the Golden rule???
Hey, BDG! Your comment got stuck in spam again!! UGH!
Anyway, no it’s not just an east coast thing – it’s everywhere. Your story reminded me of my daughter’s last choir concert. There was a lady a few rows back that had an infant (not a little baby but not quite a toddler yet either) that continued to make noise through a large portion of the concert. I kept turning slightly to look at her to see if she’d take the hint and take the child out but she never did. It amazed me that we could be sitting in a large room where we were watching kids perform songs that they had worked very hard on for months and she didn’t have the decency to go to the back and take the child out! UGH!
I don’t understand why people have gotten so rude! Like you said, what happened to the golden rule???
Thanks for stopping by, BDG!