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Old May 19, 2019, 8:06 am
  #7  
WillCAD
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
Programs: Southwest Rapid Rewards. Tha... that's about it.
Posts: 4,330
Originally Posted by Badenoch
That's a good approach if your objective is to escalate a delay of a couple of minutes into a further confrontation. While you might be a person who feels free to rebuke slow women be mindful of who she might be with. An accompanying male might take offense to your patronizing and insulting tone.

A couple of months my wife and I were stuck in a long exit line at YYZ. A fairly aggressive fellow began pushing my wife and demanding she "hurry up." He was quite started to discover she was accompanied by a large man who took exception. The fellow's departure was further delayed as he was advised in very direct terms to mind his manners and keep his hands to himself.

My mantra at the airport is only you care about whether you catch your flight. The airline, security, cab drivers, shop clerks and other passengers couldn't give a damn so adjust your expectations accordingly.
I don't give a rodent's posterior what gender, age, or size a person is. Rude behavior is rude behavior, and my estimation of when to call it out or not call it out is not based on something as primitive or backward as whether they're a man or woman, or whether they may have an irate hubbie in line who might feel compelled to protect his lady's honor and virtue by challenging me to a joust because he thought I failed to show proper obeisance to the Weaker Sex.

However, my instinct is always to de-escalate a situation, so I probably would not have delivered that entire speech to the rude woman, only the first sentence or so. The angrier someone is, the less likely I am to speak to them at all, because even offering helpful suggestions can focus their anger on you. Still, someone who is holding up a line full of people due to either cluelessness or outright rudeness should be informed of the fact. I don't expect anyone to care about anyone but themselves in today's society, but many people do, in point of fact, mitigate their behavior to avoid causing inconvenience, difficulty, cost, or harm to others. Such behavior mitigation is called "common courtesy" or "manners".

YOUR situation was entirely different. Some guy actually pushed your wife while in line, that's assault, and rather than coming to her rescue like a knight in shining armor, you should have called the police and filed an assault complaint against the guy. Had he responded negatively to your advice to "mind his manners", you could have found yourself in a physical altercation that would have landed both of you in jail, despite the fault being entirely his.
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