On my way home from work, I watched as a man got out of his car and started yelling at another man who had a three-year-old boy on a bicycle.  I think the first man pulled up into the crosswalk, almost running over the second man and his son, but they yelled and yelled and pointed fingers and perhaps fought momentarily, but it ended when the second man almost tripped over his son, making him cry.  What made this exceptional was that instead of remaining frustrated, the second man picked up his son and the bicycle and kept on talking to him in soothing tones, rather than letting out steam.  

I stopped by the grocery store and when I was checking out, I stood behind a man who had just finished unloading all of his stuff onto the conveyor belt.  It must have taken him a few minutes, because he had a ton of stuff.  Right as he was done, the cashier turned off her light and said, “This register is closed.  You’re going to have to move your stuff.”  He asked if she was serious, and she said yes.   I moved on into a lane where the cashier obviously had a back problem and wasn’t bothering to bag things.  The same man got in line behind me.  As I was bagging my groceries, I heard the man ask if a manager was around.  The cashier said no, and I mentioned that there’s usually a survey on the receipt that he could leave his comments there.  He thanked me.  The cashier tried to interrupt, and the man got frustrated with her.  

There’s a moment where you can’t be nice anymore, but I hate it when I go into places where people obviously hate their job, or when people don’t know how to let go.  I try to extend common decency to people, and I hope that they do the same back.  When they don’t, though—what’s the right choice to make?  Do you fight back, or do you take it calmly and hope that the calm, rational response will make things better?  Are they even supposed to be better, or should you just let it go?