Oh Dear, I've Turned into Stephanie...

"How Rude" seems to be my new internal dialogue. It even carries to voice of the child actress who first coined it in the late eighties. As I was sitting at home in between classes, I happened upon the Oprah Show. Now, please do not interpret my decision to continue watching her show as my loyalty to that woman, however, what caught my eye was the content of her discussion. Apparently, there has been this increased trend of rudeness in America. Who knew? (I say that sarcastically). They claim that 90% of Americans polled say that there was this "new" influx of rudeness. Of those same people polled, 80% are adamant that they are not rude themselves. Humm...so 10% of the people polled are responsible for the rudeness we all experience? And what about the other 10%?

It wasn't until I found myself pregnant that I began to notice the people around me. It's probably due to all those hormones, however, it seemed as though every where I went, I encountered extremely rude behavior. I found myself verbalizing my objections. Which would probably be considered rude as well. It began slowly in the Wal Mart parking lot. A car was tring to back out of the parking spot and another car sat waiting behind it. What was oblivious to the person waiting for the spot, the person in front of me and my husband, was the fact that they were blocking the car, preventing it from leaving the desired space. We sat. We waited "patiently". ten minutes later, still no movement in any direction. I was done. I was hot. I had to pee. I was hungry. I reached over my dear husband who was driving and punched in the horn. Several times. and then again. The car who was blocking the driver from backing out finally understood and drove off. We finally made it inside the store. And I quietly apologized to Aaron. He said pregnancy actually tamed me...

Incidents like this became increasingly overwhelming. Ranging from people blowing smoke in my direction as I walk to class, or should I say waddle to class. Why do they think a pregnant woman would appreciate cigarette smoke in her face? Then there are the people cutting in front of me as I waddle across the street to go to school. Even city buses seem to think it's ok to to drive into a pregnant woman.

Then it happened, I reached the pinnacle of rudeness at the fabric store one night with my sister Andi and oldest niece, Moriah. It was my idea to go to Dutch Brothers before the store, needless to say about twenty minutes inside, I really had to "go". I made it to the back of the store where the bathroom was, and waited. From inside the single bathroom came the loud voice of an older woman. At first, I thought there were two people in the one room, then I realized that what I was hearing was a cell phone conversation. This went on for about ten minutes. Then She yelled out, "There isn't even any toilet paper in here!". A young male employee walked by me and I grabbed him and asked for the paper. He politely smiled and handed me some, then asked if I was waiting for the person in the room, or for the room it's self. I said I was waiting for the room. He said "good luck" and went on with his work. I gently knocked on the door and the old lady popped her head out, cell phone in hand and I handed her the paper. "How did you know?" she asked. I smiled and said I heard her. She disappeared into the bathroom and continued her business and conversation. This went on for over ten minutes. Moriah showed up to check on me and to throw her cup in the garbage. We waited. Finally Moriah asked why I didn't just knock. I told her that I didn't want to be rude. She rolled her eyes and knocked very loudly on the door, then hide behind the corner as soon as the door swung open. I was caught wide-eyed and flustered for words. What happened next was this:

"What do you want?" She snapped, "What are you waiting for?"

"Well," I said, after clearing my throat " People generally use the bathroom to go to the bathroom in."

At this point, Moriah and the woman's granddaughter appeared. Instinctively I held onto my belly as the old woman proceeded to yell at me. Her granddaughter broke in and asked if they could please go now. The woman finally gathered her things, mumbled something of an apology, well, it was more of an excuse saying she was having an "upsetting" phone call. In the bathroom? Anyway, she didn't even flush. How rude!