decline and fall of civilized society (chapter 3)

Sigh…

Click pics to enlarge

It’s the grocery store line all over again

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decline and fall of civilized society (chapter 2)

So we had a hellacious storm yesterday and the power was knocked out here and there. When this happens, I am sometimes forced to once again face my old nemesis, the 4-way stop. Actually, that’s not right. The 4-way stop is not my nemesis. I love the 4-way stop. It’s so civilized, everyone takes turns, it’s lovely. I think it should be all 4-way stops and roundabouts all the time. No, my actual nemesis is all those damn people who don’t know what do when a traffic light is out. Morons.

When a traffic light is not functioning, it is supposed to be treated as if it were a 4-way stop. Everyone approaches the intersection, stops, and then proceeds according to turn. Usually, this seems to go ok when the intersection looks like this:

But not so much when the intersection looks like this:

I encountered this little scenario recently. The light was out at an intersection just like this one, where lanes 1- 13 comprise a major thoroughfare through town, while lanes 14-17 are side roads that lead to popular shopping centers and off-the-main-road-shortcuts. Obviously, there is quite a bit of traffic in both directions. Actually, it’s really a bigger intersection that the picture shows. I just got bored with drawing it. I think there are actually 5 lanes on the bottom right, so that would be 11, 12, 13, 13a, and 13b.

But, I digress. My point is…it’s still a 4-way stop people. Just because normally more than one car gets to go through the intersection in the 1-13 direction doesn’t mean that is still the case when the light is out. You still treat it like a 4-way stop. Approach the intersection. Stop. Let the cars from the other direction go. Then you go. Not rocket science people…

The decline and fall of civilized society

Sometimes I’m not too sure about people. I mean in general they seem ok, but I also sense a distinct and prevailing…impoliteness I guess you would call it, permeating the species. Basically, I don’t understand why people act the way they do. And I’m not talking about the big issues like, “why is there war and bigotry when we should all just be able to get along?” or “why do boys act that way?” I’m talking about little day to day choices that people make without considering how it might affect another person.

Case in point: the grocery store. So there’s one register open and a number of people standing in line. Noticing this, the store opens another register. What should happen in this situation is that the person who is next in the original line should move over to become the first person in the newly opened line. Person number 3 can then decide whether to remain in the old line or switch to the new—based on which they think will move faster. Then the rest of the people can divide themselves accordingly. But what actually happens is this: the new line opens, the people in the back of the line see their chance to get ahead a make a break for it, and they end up ahead of the people who had been waiting patiently to pay for their purchases long before those back of the line people even got there.

Again, it’s a small thing, but it’s also an illustration of how people seem to look out only for themselves. As long as they don’t have to wait in a long line, it doesn’t matter how it impacts others. It’s like the people who don’t recycle because it’s too much trouble for them to rinse out their yogurt container or break down their cardboard boxes or whatever. “It’s just one soda can, how much damage can it do? Besides, other people are recycling, so that should take care of it, right?”

I know I sound like a grumpy 98 year old talking about how “these kids today got no respect” but to that 98 year old I say “word” Common courtesy people…get with the program.