I was told that being cheeky wouldn’t get you far, cutting in line was wrong, being nice to people would make life easier. Turns out being selfish is pretty much the best way to survive.
On the flip side of this, i think its okay to be that way, but we should also try to do what we feel is the right thing to do. What surprised me about being an adult is how incredibly unique everyone is, and how much crap we all go through. It can be a problem at times, but its also great to step in their shoes and learn a new perspective.
Going into any social situations, I try to be aware that someone may be having a rough day, and a small, unexpected, friendly gesture can help make their day a bit better. Even if it takes 5 minutes out of your entire day being inconvenienced (thats 0.35% of your entire day), you can make someones day 100% better for the rest of their day, week, or even month. It just feels so rewarding to help when you can. At least it does to me.
Just an anecdote of something that happened mere minutes ago:
I was at the supermarket and we have this plastic bottle recycling system where you pay for the package and you get it back once you hand in the bottle at the supermarket. You’ll receive a kind of coupon with a bar code.
Some older dude before me handed in some bottles and got out of the way quickly because I was in line behind him. I noticed that he forgot his coupon but he walked off rather quickly. He stopped pretty close to the machine so I handed in my three bottles and took his coupon and my own. I then sought him out and gave him his coupon.
It was just a very simple thing for me, it was his ticket, I knew it was his and I could find him easily so giving him his coupon was a no-brainer. It was only for 75 cents but that doesn’t really matter.
He was very surprised and happy with my action.
It got me thinking. What would the situation have called for in order for me to behave differently. Would I not have returned his wallet packed with cash if he’d dropped it? No. So the amount of money is not the issue.
Would I not have sought him out if he had moved further away from the collection machine? Maybe. I would’ve taken the ticket and moved around a bit to see if I could find him.
Would I not have gone through the trouble if it was anyone other than an older gentleman? Not really.
So in short: you can always do the right thing in these situations, no matter if the parameters are slightly different.
I was told that being cheeky wouldn’t get you far, cutting in line was wrong, being nice to people would make life easier. Turns out being selfish is pretty much the best way to survive.
On the flip side of this, i think its okay to be that way, but we should also try to do what we feel is the right thing to do. What surprised me about being an adult is how incredibly unique everyone is, and how much crap we all go through. It can be a problem at times, but its also great to step in their shoes and learn a new perspective.
Going into any social situations, I try to be aware that someone may be having a rough day, and a small, unexpected, friendly gesture can help make their day a bit better. Even if it takes 5 minutes out of your entire day being inconvenienced (thats 0.35% of your entire day), you can make someones day 100% better for the rest of their day, week, or even month. It just feels so rewarding to help when you can. At least it does to me.
Just an anecdote of something that happened mere minutes ago: I was at the supermarket and we have this plastic bottle recycling system where you pay for the package and you get it back once you hand in the bottle at the supermarket. You’ll receive a kind of coupon with a bar code.
Some older dude before me handed in some bottles and got out of the way quickly because I was in line behind him. I noticed that he forgot his coupon but he walked off rather quickly. He stopped pretty close to the machine so I handed in my three bottles and took his coupon and my own. I then sought him out and gave him his coupon.
It was just a very simple thing for me, it was his ticket, I knew it was his and I could find him easily so giving him his coupon was a no-brainer. It was only for 75 cents but that doesn’t really matter.
He was very surprised and happy with my action.
It got me thinking. What would the situation have called for in order for me to behave differently. Would I not have returned his wallet packed with cash if he’d dropped it? No. So the amount of money is not the issue. Would I not have sought him out if he had moved further away from the collection machine? Maybe. I would’ve taken the ticket and moved around a bit to see if I could find him. Would I not have gone through the trouble if it was anyone other than an older gentleman? Not really.
So in short: you can always do the right thing in these situations, no matter if the parameters are slightly different.