Have been thinking a lot about writing a blog and its been quite sometime now. Its not that there is dearth of topics to write about,the only constraint being unable to choose an apt one. For some , writing is innate,words flow continuously without any blocks in the channels of their minds, some make an effort to write, and there are some like me, who sit with pen and paper, doodling, racking brains, to come up with a subject. I have read many bloggers comment when asked that writing blogs gives them mental stimulation, but what doest that mean hasnt been briefed about. I guess it means that it stimulates the mental faculty and its capacity to stay active and not to rust away. Now, I am here to figure out the same , and to find that out, I have to make a start and this is my humble start in the world of blogging.
How hard is to be Courteous?
Posted 21st September 2009 at 06:08 PM by Sheebavinod
This small incident which took place yesterday when I was in a shopping mall, took me by surprise at first which later turned into sheer anger and bitterness as I thought about it incessantly during the night. How insensitive can a human be? It is a question worth pondering over for which we may never get an answer.
We went out for shopping last evening in a mall and I was in a shop checking few bags, when the sales girls came forward to talk to my 10 month old baby, Shre’ya. One was an Arab lady and the other a Filipina. The arab lady came forward and took Shre’ya in her arms and willingly Shre’ya obliged as she is a very friendly baby. As Shre’ya started cooing and babbling, myself and the lady struck a casual mother talk as she had a year old daughter herself. Food, massages, oils, doctors and many other topics relating infant’s were covered in that brief span of time. From her talks I was sure that she had very little knowledge about these matters and life’s toll was heavy on her. I didn’t delve deep into details though am sure our chat cheered her up. She thanked me for clarifying her doubts. The satisfaction on her face made me feel good too. Now the Filipina came forward and started chit chatting to Shre’ya. I was used to this since every time we go shopping, the sales people laugh and coo with Shre’ya as she responds well. The Filipina lady remarked ‘Madam you have a healthy darling’ and both sales girls unanimously exclaimed ‘Masha Allah’. An Arab lady customer along with her year or so old son was in the shop at the time and she saw what was going on among the three of us .When one of the sales girls walked towards her to extend help, she immediately retorted 'Don’t touch my son' and walked away. She was very loud with an air of arrogance and haughty appearance. The sales lady had not even shown the slightest intention of touching the little boy. The sales lady was taken aback by shock though am sure she did a good job in covering the embarrassment and humiliation and I pretended not to have heard anything as I didn’t want to add to her embarrassment. But I felt anger towards that customer for what she did. What right does she have to humiliate another person? Why should the sale girl put up with her tantrums? Just because she is a customer doesn’t give her the upper hand in humiliating the sales girl. What harm would the sales girl cause to her son? The hubris of the Arab lady customer reflects, probably her inferior complex. And in due period a lot of people tend to use this hubris as their privilege.
How difficult is to engage in a light hearted conversation with a person? How difficult is to bring a smile on a person's face? How hard is it to lend an ear to someone who may need your counsel? How hard is to be polite to one another? Is it so hard to acknowledge a person’s presence and to give him / her a smile? Is it so difficult to enjoy such small simple pleasures in life? How insensitive can a human be towards another? I guess it is subjective and depends on how one prioritizes and incorporates such little values in life which can make a big difference is some one else’s. I still remember the smile on the salesgirl face when I left the shop after my baby gave a peck on her cheek and waved bye to her. Now for me, such little gestures enrich life.
We went out for shopping last evening in a mall and I was in a shop checking few bags, when the sales girls came forward to talk to my 10 month old baby, Shre’ya. One was an Arab lady and the other a Filipina. The arab lady came forward and took Shre’ya in her arms and willingly Shre’ya obliged as she is a very friendly baby. As Shre’ya started cooing and babbling, myself and the lady struck a casual mother talk as she had a year old daughter herself. Food, massages, oils, doctors and many other topics relating infant’s were covered in that brief span of time. From her talks I was sure that she had very little knowledge about these matters and life’s toll was heavy on her. I didn’t delve deep into details though am sure our chat cheered her up. She thanked me for clarifying her doubts. The satisfaction on her face made me feel good too. Now the Filipina came forward and started chit chatting to Shre’ya. I was used to this since every time we go shopping, the sales people laugh and coo with Shre’ya as she responds well. The Filipina lady remarked ‘Madam you have a healthy darling’ and both sales girls unanimously exclaimed ‘Masha Allah’. An Arab lady customer along with her year or so old son was in the shop at the time and she saw what was going on among the three of us .When one of the sales girls walked towards her to extend help, she immediately retorted 'Don’t touch my son' and walked away. She was very loud with an air of arrogance and haughty appearance. The sales lady had not even shown the slightest intention of touching the little boy. The sales lady was taken aback by shock though am sure she did a good job in covering the embarrassment and humiliation and I pretended not to have heard anything as I didn’t want to add to her embarrassment. But I felt anger towards that customer for what she did. What right does she have to humiliate another person? Why should the sale girl put up with her tantrums? Just because she is a customer doesn’t give her the upper hand in humiliating the sales girl. What harm would the sales girl cause to her son? The hubris of the Arab lady customer reflects, probably her inferior complex. And in due period a lot of people tend to use this hubris as their privilege.
How difficult is to engage in a light hearted conversation with a person? How difficult is to bring a smile on a person's face? How hard is it to lend an ear to someone who may need your counsel? How hard is to be polite to one another? Is it so hard to acknowledge a person’s presence and to give him / her a smile? Is it so difficult to enjoy such small simple pleasures in life? How insensitive can a human be towards another? I guess it is subjective and depends on how one prioritizes and incorporates such little values in life which can make a big difference is some one else’s. I still remember the smile on the salesgirl face when I left the shop after my baby gave a peck on her cheek and waved bye to her. Now for me, such little gestures enrich life.
Total Comments 18
Comments
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sheeba
wonderful thought and topic too....in this mechanical life we all lost that charm of having those small enriching moments of life...
its really so rude how that arab lady has acted..i was wondering what made her feel so angry at the sales people....i did observe few such incidents in india where the sales people were treated with lots of arrogance..
i remember Nandshyam has raised a thread on similar topic...its really nice to see lot of us having this thought of having these small happy gestures to enrich our lives...Posted 21st September 2009 at 10:11 PM by SriVidya75
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Hey Sheebs
A very good topic. I guess the Arab customer must have had her own reasons for acting in such a manner. We get so absorbed in our own lives that we fail to see that the person at the other end is somebody like us. Small, sweet, encouraging and happy gestures surely enrich us. We feel happy when we receive them and love doubles in quantity when we share them with all.Posted 21st September 2009 at 11:12 PM by knot2share -
Yeah Sheeba some people surprise us with their arrogant/ adamant nature about certain things. May be something which went on there might have provoked that Arab lady or she might not be on one of her best moods…please don’t think am trying to justify her behavior just thought about a reason why she might have behaved so. But still you don’t have any right to spoil some other’s day as she did that sales girl’s. If we closely notice it will surprise us that each and every one of us shouts only to the less privileged ones than ourselves. In office we don’t shout at our boss/subordinates but to peon/clerk or team members below our grade….in a shop we do that to sales girls/man, when calling customer care most of us vent out our anger to the poor customer care representative who is on the other end and who still tries to calm us down and talk to us in a more polite way. A great gift that we can give our fellow beings is a wonderful moment be it a dear one or a stranger. How good do we feel when a person smiles at us and how bad do we feel when someone frowns even if that is a stranger?! But surprisingly some of us forget this or like to forget it and doesn’t care a bit to embarrass or hurt fellow beings. I do agree sometimes I also end up being angry towards other people, esp. cutomare care when not responding properly, without considering them, but your blog has provoked my thoughts regarding this and a serious effort will be put from my side not to embarrass anyone for what matter it may anytime henceforth and I hope fellow ILs too will do the same and make this world a better place to liveJPosted 21st September 2009 at 11:42 PM by amihere -
Dear Sheeba,
Its very thought provoking. sometimes we too go through similar experiences, but tend to forget it then n there. I'm very happy that u had put an effort on all of us to rethink about our behaviour towards our fellow beings.Posted 22nd September 2009 at 04:32 AM by bindhusubi - Thanks srividya for dropping by and the wonderful comment. As you said we may not know what prompted the lady to behave like that but we can expect a lil bit of decency on her part right, after all she is a mature adult.
Its all about taking effort i guess. Happy that u liked the post.Posted 22nd September 2009 at 05:04 AM by Sheebavinod
