“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
-Dalai Lama
I am often looking for easily executable ways for all of us to be better people. I believe most folks don’t want to be annoying, selfish, inconsiderate individuals. I’m a glass full kind of woman. So, I choose to believe these two things: 1. People don’t know how inappropriate their behavior is. 2. People know their behavior is inappropriate they just don’t have better choices at their immediate disposal. People need compassion and hope and wonderful blogs with insightful, funny, but applicable life hacks. Not to fear! Stephanie is here!!!
3 WAYS TO BECOMING A BETTER HUMAN BEING
1. Sit only the ticketed seat you paid for.
Yep. I know. I know. It seems intuitive to sit only in the seat you paid for. Well, not for everyone. I have been to several movie showings and concerts where people happily and comfortably sat in seats that did not belong to them. I don’t get it. Why would you sit in someone else’s seat? Like, are you looking for a confrontation? In more than one case I saw people become indignant when they were asked to vacate the seat. I am fascinated by people who don’t immediately find it appropriate to apologize when obviously wrong. In my personal case, a woman informed me that it wasn’t a big deal for her to have her ass in my seat. I could just sit in her seat. Ma’am! WHAT???
The best part of pre-paid seating is selecting the seats of your choice. I find it disrespectful to sit in a seat that doesn’t belong to you. It doesn’t matter if the show has started and the person didn’t come in yet. It is not okay to cop a squat until the seat owner arrives. When I get to my seat I want to sit in it. I don’t want to wait for your acknowledgement. I don’t want to wait for you to gather your things. The seat belongs to the ticket holder from the beginning of the event until the end. You are not entitled to things that don’t belong to you. Sit in the seat you paid for to avoid unnecessary disruption and angst. You get what you pay for. Bloop.
2. Put perishable items back on the shelf or give them to a store employee.
I can think of many times I had to leave a cart full of groceries at the store. I can think of times I decided halfway through my shopping trip that I didn’t want or need individual items in my cart. When this happens I simply return the items to their rightful place or I alert a store employee to do it for me. It’s usually a pretty painless experience. Even when they say, “So you don’t want this?”, after I already said, “I don’t want this.” Anyway, this is an easy thing to do. It’s a kindergarten lesson to put things back in their original place; isn’t it?
It really grinds my gears when I find fresh meat or deli items on the shelf next to canned goods. Two things, in the event the store does the right thing and discards the meat; it was a totally avoidable waste. The amount of food thrown away in this country is staggering. Second, sometimes stores unscientifically decide the meat or milk is still cold enough. In this event, store personnel simply puts said items back in the refrigerator or freezer area. And then an unsuspecting shopper like myself might not find out she bought spoiled bone-in ribeyes until she gets the charcoal grill smoking hot, 30 minutes before dinner… on Father’s Day. To say I was not pleased is an understatement. You can take your entire cart to customer service and say, “Can you put these item back for me. I changed my mind. Thank you.” And they’ll say, “So you don’t want these things???” Just smile and walk away.
3. Use The Lil Bakery Paper
I am not a germaphobe. I mean, I have trained my children to wash their hands as soon as they come in from ANYWHERE, but that’s normal; right? Most of us enjoy an occasional donut from the store bakery. So many people enjoy things from the baked goods case that someone decided all those hands should probably have a protective layer between them and all the donuts, muffins, cookies and such. The store executives are being thoughtful. They want you to use those lil papers. Why is this so haaaaaaard?
I don’t care if it’s cold and flu season or not. It’s always germ season. Those lil papers are free. They’re usually placed very neatly under whatever baked good you want. It looks like a Kleenex box, but the opening is bigger and it’s more like wax paper than Kleenex. Maybe I’m a weirdo, but I really wish there was a tissue to get the tissue because some of you heathens actually lick your fingers before you get the lil tissues. UGH. Stop that immediately. LBVS(laughing but very serious)! Grocery bags and paper do not need saliva for separation. Use a spray bottle or a dampened sponge. No one wants your DNA on their stuff. For real.
An overarching idea to understand that we all have to live here together. At the present moment; Earth is all we got. Our respective communities are all we have. Everyone should be intentionally working towards living harmoniously together. Intention is when thoughts and actions come together to produce an outcome. That means you think about doing considerate, loving, favorable things and then you move your body into agreement with those thoughts.
Too many of us are ho-humming through life without considering how our decisions affect others. Small behavioral shifts will make a big difference in our daily interactions. So, sit in your purchased seat, put perishables in their designated spaces, use the provided tissue paper and we’ll be on our way to world peace folks. You heard it here first! Love you!
I’m not here because I’m an expert. I’m here because I have experiences. -Stephanie