I had always told myself as a writer that the last thing I do is to use my writing to rant, or say something negative.  I had always thought myself that it is still good fashion to be a gentleman, and if you don’t have something nice to say, it is better not to say anything.  So I think when I complained generally on attitudes of impolite sales people or cab drivers,it was generally because as a tourist visiting the Eastern United States, I encountered some amount of discourtesies.

This is especially true in areas where there are a lot of tourists, and the shop people or cab drivers in general know that they may never do business with you again anyway.  I can give in that many of them are very pressured or harassed by sometimes insensitive tourists asking somewhat stupid questions as well, but I would rather think also that we always remember that as a rule, our best character is showed by our ability to inconvenience ourselves to convenience those who may never be in a position to return our favor or who may never do business with us again.

At any rate my wife just returned from thailand, and related to me with much indignation something she experienced in a fruit market in Thailand.  She went to buy some fruits, and even carefully selected these.  The shopkeeper got the selected fruits from her, and weighed it.  She even offered to put in 4 pieces for free.  Apparently whileshe was counting the money, the shopkeeper ( who looked like a nice old lady) switched her bag of fruits in the package with another package which contained the same fruits, but almost rotten.  So when she reached back her hotel, she found out to her indignation that she has just paid for  a bag of rotten fruits.  Only the 4 pieces the shopkeeper offered to add for free was any good.

I can imagine the shopkeeper. Probably she ended up with some rotten fruits she could not sell, and knowing some customers to be tourists, she apparently saw no damage to pass on these rotten merchandise to somebody who may never returned, or who may not take the trouble to complain, and just call it a bad day.

How about you.  Have you similar experiences, in which you feel you just had nowhere to go, and just bear it?