Rude People and Inconsiderate Drivers

It occurred to me today that people and drivers in general around this area are a rude bunch. I've noticed this in certain customers that come into the store where I work, other shoppers when I'm doing my grocery shopping at either WalMart or Giant, and especially in the other drivers on the road. First, let's start with customers. There is one woman that comes into the store that causes EVERYONE (including other customers) to cringe every time she comes into the store. For all intents and purposes, I will refer to her as "Jane". Every time we see the blue PT Cruiser pull into the parking lot, we pray that it's Jane's husband, "Shane" (of course, not his real name) that is coming into the store and not her. Whenever Jane walks into the store everyone knows it, because instantly, you hear a caterwauling worse than Fran Drescher's "Nanny" butting into somebody's business. She'll not only say rude things to the employees, but make rude comments to and about other customers. To say her infamy precedes her would be a gross understatement. Another customer, although not nearly as rude, but still rude enough is "Corrie". Corrie is one that will come in while there is only one person working, see that employee waiting on a line of customers at the open register, and proceed to remove the "register closed" sign from the other side of the counter and expect to be served right away. Most of the time, I have no problems with Corrie, but when she does that, I just want to tell her to leave the store and come back when she has the common courtesy to wait in line like everybody else. There are a few others, some regulars and others that just come in off the interstate, that come in talking on their cell phones, and don't have the common courtesy to put the person they are talking to on hold while they are checking out. They'll keep talking on their phones and expect not only the person waiting on them to wait for them to finish their phone call, but they'll expect the line of customers behind them to wait as well. Again, if you can't be considerate and get off your phone, get out of the store until you're finished. Next, let's look at the fellow shoppers in the grocery store. We'll start with Betty Jo Redneck and her gaggle of screaming, kicking, punching, yelling, crying, etc brats. While Betty Jo is blocking the aisle talking to her girlfriend, Hilda Hicks, her gaggle is running rampant, chasing each other down the aisles, knocking displays over and running into other shoppers, sometimes hitting the unexpecting person and oftentimes uttering profanities that I never heard when I was their age. When approached about her childrens' behavior, good ol' Betty Jo looks at you, shows you the finger that doesn't mean "you're #1", and tells you to mind your own business. You turn around and finish getting the small list of 10 items or less and proceed to the express checkout, where you bump into your old friend Betty Jo once again, and she's unloading two cartloads of groceries (either she can't read English -or read at all- or she's holding up the express lane to support her smoking habit of a carton per day, since she just bought 7 cartons of cigarettes.) You patiently wait, hoping that she'll hurry up and get checked out, fearful of a repeat performance of your last encounter. Last, there are the drivers. I thought people up in Erie were bad (hey, at least they could drive in adverse weather conditions and not cause any major catastrophies), but down here, it's every man for himself, and heaven forbid if you try to do the speed limit like a law abiding citizen, because you'll get blown off the road. I've seen more people make left turns before waiting for opposing traffic to pass, more people driving 20+ miles/hour over the speed limit, and more major traffic accidents here in 2 months than I saw in 2 years in Erie. I tried to merge onto Interstate 81 while going to get groceries last week, and had to stop at the end of the exit ramp until I got an opening to merge into the right lane of traffic (on what was a 4 lane stretch of road going in that direction). No sooner had I pulled out onto what was a clear opening 5 seconds prior, than I was almost rear-ended by some maniac in a Prius blasting his horn and doing 80mph (I had to floor it to get enough speed to get going.) It's gotten to the point that I try to avoid the major interstates, and the Harrisburg Expressway (the I-81, PA 581, I-83, US 322 loop around the city) as much as possible, and try to avoid rush hour altogether if possible. While I like this area in general, I REALLY miss the friendlier customers, somewhat more considerate shoppers, and relatively tame drivers of Erie.