Etiquette 101

I've always been big on etiquette and manners (aka home training). I was taught to say 'please' and 'thank you', apologize when I did something accidently, cover my mouth when I burped, well you get the idea...I've also always been big on reciprocity. Fighting fair, treating others how you want to be treated, giving people the benefit of the doubt, etc. But I can't for the life of me figure out how or why, I saw proper etiquette=an eye for an eye on my way home from work today.

My office happens to be located in the bustling streets of midtown Manhattan. Somewhere between the city's most beautiful sites like Grand Central Station and the New York Public Library and the tourists traps, garment factories and overpriced restaurants I ply my trade. With the hustle comes tons of people coming at you from every which direction. Courteousness, consideration and etiquette daily get tossed to the curb as people scatter to get to offices, showrooms and the next attraction. So I don't often take it personally when I catch an elbow or some other flailing body part when I'm on my way to and from the office.

Today I happen to be on the giving end thanks to my feeling under the weather. All I could think about was getting home. I got stuck in pedestrian foot traffic behind a group of slow moving, lip smacking, cell phone talking cats whose pronounced limps were more for show than anything else. As I (admittedly) blew past one of them, my very large purse (I'm a woman with lots of stuff, it's gotta go somewhere) knocked into said dude. I didn't stop to say sorry or anything else since home was all I had on my mind. But apparently my rudeness justified getting knocked in the shoulder by this same cat. I was compuzzled. What had just happened? As I turned and said "Excuse me!" he YELLED (what's with the yellers I keep running into?) "EXACTLY! THAT's WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR!" I was stunned. This dude had truly KNOCKED into me as I walked past to make a point about my etiquette or lack there of.

Now, I'm all for making a point but was that really necessary? Am I going to "learn my lesson" because some big dude knocked into me on the street? Since the entire thing was accidental in the first place, I think not.

After sizing him up and realizing this guy had no problem hitting a random person on the street, I resisted the urge to flip him the bird (my hand was already clenched and in position) or yell profanities at him. Someone who doesn't care about hitting a stranger isn't gonna care about doing something worse in public either. So I turned around, kept up my stride and walked away. But was baffled and upset none the less. Guess the boo is right, it's time to invest in some pepper spray for my purse...